Newsletter 27th June

Jubilee Tea Party
On Friday we celebrated the Queen's Platinum Jubilee together with members of the community. CHildren came to school dressed as royalty which, of course, they could interpret as creatively as they wished. We had lots of fabolous dresses and smart suits, any number of crowns and tiaras, a good few people looking like a casula minor royal dressed for a day at the polo and at least two fervent republicans who insisted on wearing heri uniforms. The staff got into the spirit of the ocassion and there were lots of lovely summer dresses and fascinators around the school. Mr Finch dressed as Rock Royalty in his Slash style top hat.
In the afternoon, friends from the memeory Cafe for senior citzens joined us for a 'garden party' on the field with scones with cream and jam for everyone. Someone remind me which is supposed to go on first? We had a game of Jubilee Bingo and the children sang some of their favouriote songs and a good time was generally had by all. 
For a,lot of us older people, the day brought back memories of the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977. Many years have passed but the fun of a celebration and of spending time togethr is the same. I hope that some of the children will treasure their Jubilee Bookmarks (donated thanks to the PTFA) as much as we treasured those Jubilee mugs back in '77.
Huge thanks to Miss Paddon whose project this party was and to members of the PTA, especially Chloe Brookes Warner, who coordianted scones, jam and cream to feed a multitude.
Most especially, thanks to our guests from the memory Cafe and their supporters who helped to bring them - after the difficult pandemic years, it's lvoely to be getting back to the kind of intergenerational connection that helps make our links to our community feel properly three dimensional.

> SAVE THE DATE - CELEBRATION OF BEES!
As part of the ongoing monthly COP26 Celebration of the Earth events, we will be celebrating bees, and their extraordinary lives and fascinating habits. The church will be filled with the sound of honey bees buzzing, there will be music, and poetry performed by one of our pupils, and an extraordinary interactive bee pod will be installed as the centrepiece. Our pupils will be making little bees on their first day back, so we are hoping for a little swarm of them to perform that evening, while Mr Finch plays and sings “Be More Kind”. We would love to see as many of you there as possible, so please put 5:30 pm 7th June in your diary. It’ll last about 30 minutes, so you’ll be home in time for tea!

Concert for Midsummer
Last Saturday, 22nd May, we had the most extraordinary evening in the Church of St Michael the Archangel. Amye Farrel and her accompanist Rupert Egerton-Smith played a beautiful selection of music from Beeethoven, Scarlatti, Chopin and Rachmaninov that filled the church with sound and our hearts with joy. It was lovely to see so many of the school community there and to share that experience with them and with the wider community. Amye and Rupert gave their time and taloent for free so that every penny raised could go to support the production of A Midsummer Night's Dream that we are currently preparing at school. It was very moving to see the whole community come together to support this project and even more moving to hear that music in the beautiful interior of St Michael the Archangel. A Huge heartfelt thankyou to Amye and Rupert for giving this blessing and gift of an evening.

School Closed Monday 6th
Due to the Jubilee Bank Holiday being subsumed into the pre-existing half term break, schools were instructed to find a day in the year to give the pupils, families and staff that day's break. Along with the majority of other schools that I am aware of, Chagford Primary has opted to take that day on Monday 6th JUne which is the closest calandered day to the bank holiday. The school will not be open on that Monday.

School Lunches
Once again, huge thanks to every family who have been booking meals ahead of the day so that Marie can order mre accurtately and get on with preparing the food straight away in the morning. We are now instructing teachers not to check lunch registers in the morning as the vast, vast majorioty of meals are being ordered ahead of time. Marie is now creatinbg much less waste as she is not needing to figure in slack for un-ordered meals. Of course, if a child ends up without a meal ordered for them we don't let them go hungry - we can find a sandwich for them if need be but they may not be able to get their first choice which can disappoint. We are down to very, very few instances of this now. COuld be none soon!

Swimming after Half Term
Don't forget that pupils in years Three, Four, Five and Six will be swimming every Tuesday from half term to the end of term. Tey will need to bring their swimming kit and a towel with them. We need volunteers to walk to the pool and back with calsses. If you are able to help out on a Tuesday please let us know.

Chagford Primary in the News
The Moorlander put us on the cover this week with a story about Sarah McIntyre and Philip Reeve's visit earlier this term. It's a nice piece and it's lovely to see student's work featured in the paper.