Dear North Tawton Friends and Families, Today marks two years since we returned from the last Covid lock down, and two years since I became Principal at North Tawton. As I look back, I am so pleased and proud of the work we have done together. Welcoming volunteers back into school, the events organised by FONTS not only to raise money, but to also re-establish our community links, and the huge amount of work our staff have undertaken to ensure our children are happy, safe and learning. In two years our staff team have embedded our Read, Write Inc phonics programme, adopted and adapted a new history, geography and science curriculum, taken on new schemes in PE, music, and PSHE. Most importantly, we have spent a lot of time building our children’s resilience, cooperation and study skills, and assessing and addressing knowledge and confidence gaps after the disruptions to their learning and routines. Our Ofsted in June 2022, is evidence of the really hard work each and every member of our school staff team contributes to our children’s school experience. We are not complacent! We continue to go above and beyond each and every day so that all children strive to be the best that they can be. The children at North Tawton really are a pleasure to teach, their behaviour and attitude towards learning makes them a credit to you and a joy to work with. Festival of Hope Continuing our Festival of Hope, over the last two weeks of term we have taken part in a number of events to embed our Trust values. Year 7 pupils came from Okehampton College for an afternoon of reading with our Year 6 to introduce them to new texts and to support their transition from primary to secondary. We will have more events over the summer term so that our Year 6 pupils become well prepared for the next stage of their education. I have received lots of compliments regarding our school contribution to the Trust art exhibition which is now at Okehampton College. It was inspired by the book Window and is made with materials headed for the recycling bin. I have shared it before but I can't resist sharing again at the end of this newsletter! Unfortunately, we have had to cancel some sporting events due to the weather however we did take part in the football tournament this Thursday, and came second! I was so proud of our team who not only played well, but also played fairly and even lent a player to another team! (Thank you Jack!) We also had a collaborative Fun Fitness afternoon where all children took part in activities on the field. They had a great time and came home extremely muddy – apologies parents! Thank you to Mrs Ahmad and Year 6 pupils for leading this event. Swallow Project ShivDev explained to us in a special assembly that birds nesting in North Tawton, and across the country, has reduced as we use more and more plastic in construction. A way to help birds, particularly our swallows, is to put up bird boxes. She explained that Madewell in Hatherleigh produces these and it would be great if as many of us as possible could put up bird boxes in our gardens. If you are able to, please speak to the staff at MadeWell. They need to be put up high, facing between north and east. We learnt how to identify swifts, swallows and house martins. How to identify swifts, swallows, sand martins and house martins | The Wildlife Trusts Eden Project Continuing our science learning and environment awareness, Year 5 visited the Eden Project. They have been learning about biomes so what better place to go (other than on a world trip!) than the Eden Project where they could experience different climates and ecosystems. A biome is a large area characterized by its vegetation, soil, climate, and wildlife. There are five major types of biomes: aquatic, grassland, forest, desert, and tundra, though some of these biomes can be further divided into more specific categories, such as freshwater, marine, savanna, tropical rainforest, temperate rainforest, and taiga. The Five Major Types of Biomes (nationalgeographic.org) The class really enjoyed their trip and learnt a lot. Easter Art Exhibition A huge thank you to FONTS for organising the Easter Art Show. I was really impressed with the entries and did not envy our judges having to choose first and second places for each class. Nursery - Charlotte and Lucy Reception – Henry and Toby Year 1 – Freddie and Margo Year 2 -Laiton and Isla Year 3 – Evie-May and Radley Year 4 – Izzy and Ashton Year 5 – Isobel and Jessica R Year Six – Lola and Jack These will be on show at The Ruth Smith Gallery this Easter. Thank you to Ruth Smith, Philippa Simms and Carol Hughes for being our judges and thank you to all who took part. ![]() Active Body, Active Mind KS2 children have been enjoying a very active start to their mornings by attending our Active Body, Active Mind sessions in the hall. A 10 minute 'wake up and shake up' to start the day in a positive frame of mind. Thank you to Mrs Day and her keep fit team for leading this. Parking and Stopping Outside our School A number of parents have taken to regularly dropping children off outside the school gates. Please can I ask you not to do this. The only exception is of course our school bus. Please park and walk like many of our parents do. I would much rather you are a little late than we have an accident outside our school. Safe inside, Safe outside In assembly last week I spoke, carefully so as not to worry children, about when it is safest to be inside and when it is safest to be outside. Children are very used to practicing fire drills and know when that hear the alarm that adults will tell them to line up quietly and sensibly so that staff can lead them outside to safety. We have practiced listening out for a whistle which lets us know it is safest to be inside. EYFS have practiced listening to instructions and coming inside quickly and KS1 and KS2 to ducking down under our tables. As with fire drills, we hope we will never have to actually use this system for real, but obviously it is worth practicing. Assemblies Of course the main them of our assemblies this term has been Easter. From learning about Lent and having pancake tossing competitions, to learning about the sacrifice Christians believe Jesus made on Good Friday and him being resurrected on Easter Sunday. One theme has been symbolism and how symbols are important in world faiths and many other areas of communication, literature and advertising! Symbols are particularly important in the Easter story, and I have enjoyed working with Y4 to explore this and why Christians call the day Jesus died 'Good Friday.' We enjoyed making our Easter Gardens which include symbols representing life, death, miracles and resurrection. Assemblies led by Rev Spence, Mr Cutler and myself, will end with a reflection and an opportunity to pray. We also have music assemblies and mental health assemblies led by Miss Boyce and Miss Keen and an end of week Praise Assembly where staff lead a celebration of learning where children receive Learner of the Week certificates, and we find out which house has won the house cup for the week. This term we also trialled a writing sharing assembly where children shared their writing with children from other classes. It was really successful, and Mrs Ware will continue these termly. Miss Bennett This week we said farewell to Miss Bennett our SENDCO. We thanked her for all of the work she has done to support children and families at North Tawton and we wished her all the best n her new role as an Assistant Principal. Parent Meetings Thank you to parents for attending parent’s meetings with teachers over the past two weeks, these are such important times to talk so we can best meet the needs of your children together. Also to the Year 6 parents who came to the SATs meeting. Mrs Ware has posted the PowerPoint and revision timetable on Dojo so parents can access this. End of Term Assembly Thank you to all who came to our end of term assembly. Each class shared some of their learning highlights of the term, we had some excellent singing of our Price Tag / Flashlight mash up by our choir, piano playing from our accomplished pianist Rebecca and we all enjoyed singing Proud, I’ve Got the Power in Me and our Festival of Hope song Future Bright. I hope the reception class Spring Chicken song becomes an annual feature! North Tawton pupils really are great singers! Thanks to Miss Boyce and Nick Bryant for all their hard work leading and promoting singing. Class Blogs As always, please look at the class blogs to see what the pupils have been learning about this week. I wish you all a very happy Easter holiday and look forward to seeing you in two weeks’ time for the start of our summer term. Tara Penny Principal Key Dates for Summer Term 17th April – First day of Summer Term 1st May – Bank Holiday – school closed 2nd May – Normandy Parent Meeting 5pm at school 8th May – Bank Holiday – school closed – Volunteers at school 9th May – 12th May – Year Six SATS 15th May – 26th May – Year 2 SATS 29th May – 2nd June – Half term Holiday Friday 9th June 7pm FONTS Quiz 15th June – Wildlife Ambassadors to Meath Quarry Friday 23rd June - Rainbow Day Saturday 1st July – Summer Fair 11th July – 15th July - Y6 Residential to France 14th July - Carnival Friday 21st July – Last day of Term ![]() Our Festival of Hope Collaborative Art Work - I love it!
Dear North Tawton Friends and Families, This week we held a Science Week at North Tawton. This was particularly to promote the sciences in our school and to also raise the profile of women in scientific jobs. We want all children to know that they are scientists! On Monday Reception, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4 went to Newquay Zoo. We learnt about habitats and endangered species. We spoke to zookeepers about their jobs and found out more about climate change and how we need to protect the natural world. The highlight was of course seeing the animals! On Tuesday many children dressed up as animals to celebrate World Wildlife Day. We had amazing face painting, children wearing cosy animal onesies, some impressive masks and so much animal print, Mrs Budiman would have been proud! We learnt all about veterinary care from Mrs Cutler, our local vet. She showed us how to listen to heartbeats with a stethoscope, apply bandages and the importance of looking after our pets. Key Stage Two classes learnt all about composting in our recycling workshops run by Don’t Let Devon Go to Waste. They were impressed with how many insects they found in the compost and learnt how they play an important part in decomposition. Today we all had a visit from our local police officers who talked about forensic science, showed us how to take finger prints and we all got to hear the police car siren! In our classes, the children have been taking part in investigative and competitive science experiments! It has been a great week. Thank you for organising all the activities and visitors Mrs Budiman. We are scientists! As if that wasn’t enough, today we wore red and raised money for Comic Relief as it was Red Nose Day and some people wore green to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. In assembly children shared their best jokes. Do ask them which ones they remember! (They were all vetted!) Sporting News Last Friday, our Netball Team travelled all the way to Horrabridge to play in the West Devon Finals. They had qualified by winning our area tournament a few months ago, expertly led and coached by Mrs Edwards. The team faced tough (and tall!) competition at Horrabridge, eventually finishing third overall. Mrs Edwards and I were extremely impressed with the way the team worked together and supported each other on and off the court. We have some very skilful players at North Tawton and the children should be really proud of themselves. They were particularly brilliant in their last match, which they won in style! The children represented the school superbly and were an absolute pleasure to spend time with. Mrs Ahmad Festival of Hope
Our art work is on display at Tavistock College. It will be moving to Holsworthy and then Okehampton. Our Year Two children took part in singing our Trust song for the Festival of Hope. You can see and hear it here! Festival of Hope Song Wishing you all a very happy weekend Tara Penny Principal Dear North Tawton Friends and Families, Staffing News Chloe Bennet, our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Coordinator across the Three Hares schools, has successfully applied for a new job and will be leaving our schools at Easter. Chloe has been part of the Three hares for a very long time, having started her career as a teacher at South Tawton Primary School. We are very happy for Chloe as her new job will be a step forward in her career - we wish her all the best in her new role. At North Tawton, Sarah Keen will lead on SEND in the summer term and will be supported by the Trust SENDCO team. We know she will do an excellent job. In September 2023, we will have a new Three Hares SENDCO. We know that parents and carers will want to join us in giving Chloe their very best wishes for this next step in her journey. Festival of Hope We have been inspired by the picture book ‘Window’ Jeannie Baker to create our own window of North Tawton for the Festival of Hope art exhibition. The view was made using items from around the school which were headed for the recycling bins. A huge thank you to Miss Boyce for coordinating this. Do zoom in and notice the church and children. The wool on the sheep comes from local sheep!
Zoo Trip Children need to be in school uniform on Monday. Please make sure they have a waterproof coat and comfy shoes or trainers. Please remember they need a packed lunch. Please be in for 8.45 so we can leave promptly and make the most of our exciting day. We aim to be back for 3.20. Class Blogs As always, please look at the class blogs to see what the pupils have been learning about this week. Don't forget that children can dress up as an animal on Tuesday to mark World Wildlife Day. Tara Penny Principal ![]() Dear North Tawton Friends and Families, Ready Respectful Safe We revisited our behaviour expectations in assembly on Monday. Behaviour in classes is very good, all visitors comment upon this and our Trust learning audits and Ofsted report evidence this! However, we do have some occasional unwanted behaviour at lunch and playtimes. Our Young Sports Leaders are doing a grand job modelling turn taking and sportsmanship and our staff are working hard to praise the positive and continue to have high expectations of all of our children. Please do support this at home by talking about being ready and respectful and safe in your daily routines. World Book Day Once again the children, and staff, looked amazing dressed up as inspired by their favourite books! Lots of popular classics such as Where’s Wally, Disney princesses and Roald Dahl characters, but also some new costumes including Frida Kahlo, Marie Curie and a chess piece! ![]() Head to the school blogs, Dojo and our FONTS Facebook page for more photos! Our bunting winners were: N Amelia Jane R George Y1 Margo B Y2 Margo W Y3 Natan Y4 Marnie Y5 Laura Y6 Jessica R Thank you to FONTS who organised this and provided prizes. Children were engaged in lots of activities in classes to celebrate the love of reading. There are lots of good videos and advice on line to support parents reading with children at home. Such as https://youtu.be/iRPNPCAf84E Dressing Up We are aware that some children do not like to dress up, and it can cause additional strain on families. I would like to remind you that this is never an expectation. However, for those who do like to dress up, our next non uniform day will be on Tuesday 14th March for World Wildlife Day. Children are allowed to dress up as an animal, or plant! Mental Health Physical health, and to an extent spiritual health, have been taught in schools for a long time. However, mental health is something which has only recently become part of our school curriculum. I strongly believe this is of huge benefit to our children that they are learning from a young age how to look after their bodies and their minds. This is a wonderful poster made by Year 4.
Festival of Hope Next week we launch our 2023 Festival of Hope. This a collection of events linking us with other schools across our Trust. Today we completed our collaborative art piece for the Trust art exhibition. I will reveal it in next week’s newsletter! Class Blogs As always, please look at the class blogs to see what the pupils have been learning about this week. With very best wishes for the weekend Tara Penny Principal Key Dates for your diaries Wednesday 8th March – Cross Country at Chagford Thursday 9th March 6pm LSB Monday 13th March – R, Y1, Y2, Y3 & Y4 Zoo Tuesday 14th March – World Wildlife day – dress up as an animal *Wednesday 15th March – Strike day *Thursday 16th March – Strike day Monday 20th March – Fun Fitness 2 – 3pm Friday 24th March– Author Visit Tuesday 28th March – Y6 SATs meeting 5pm Thursday 30th March – Y6 at Oke Football Comp Friday 31st 1.30 – 2pm Normandy Meeting Y6 Thursday 30th March – Art exhibition in the hall after school. Friday 31st March Parent Assembly 2pm 8th May – Bank Holiday following King’s Coronation – Volunteers at school Friday 9th June 7pm FONTS Quiz Friday 30th June - Rainbow Day Saturday 1st July – Summer Fair 11th July – 15th July - Y6 Residential to France 23rd July - Carnival Friday *not confirmed yet ![]() Dear North Tawton Friends and Families, Welcome back! We have lots to look forward to in this short term ahead including our Trust wide Festival of Hope which will include music, sports and art events, World Book Day and our school Science Week. These are going to be great experiences for our children, please keep an eye out for emails and dojos for details. School Grounds During the half term week, Gary and Jamie from our Estates team swept and power washed the decking outside Y5 & Y6, the tables and area outside N & R and the playgrounds. They have done a great job and it really makes a difference to the look of the school. The daffodils are blooming and I am hopeful the new bulbs we planted last year will start coming through soon. We have had a donation of frogspawn in our pond so we will be on the look out for frogs! We have lots of plans in the pipeline for the memorial garden and the forest school, if you have an interest in gardening, or reading with children, please come along to the volunteers meeting on Monday at 9am. Lent In our assemblies this week we have learnt and thought about Lent, why Christians give things up, or take things up during the 40 day period and why many people enjoy pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. On Thursday, Mr Cutler led a pancake tossing competition! Fustal Year 3 and Year 4 took part in OCRA futsal games on Thursday – apologise they came home so muddy, I am sure washing machines were spinning across North Tawton! Class Blogs As always, please look at the class blogs to see what the pupils have been learning about this week. Tara Penny Principal Key Dates for your diary Mon 27th Feb – 9 am Volunteer meeting in hall Wednesday 1st March – Book Day – dress up as a book character Thursday 2nd March - Strike day, school open for Nursery and Y6 only Wednesday 8th March – Cross Country at Chagford Thursday 9th March - 6pm Local Stakeholders Board Monday 13th March – R, Y1, Y2, Y3 & Y4 Zoo visit Tuesday 14th March – World Wildlife day – dress up as an animal *Wednesday 15th March – Strike day *Thursday 16th March – Strike day Monday 20th March – Fun Fitness 2 – 3pm Friday 24th March– Author Visit Tuesday 28th March – Y6 SATs meeting 5pm Thursday 30th March – Y6 football team at Okehampton Friday 31st March 1.30 – 2pm Normandy Meeting for Y6 Friday 31st March - Parent Assembly / Art show time TBA 8th May – Bank Holiday following King’s Coronation Friday 30th June - Rainbow Day 11th July – 15th July - Y6 Residential to France 23rd July - Carnival Friday *not confirmed yet Dear North Tawton Friends and Families, The end of this term marks halfway through our school year! We have certainly achieved a lot so far: making progress with improving our outdoor areas; further developing our curriculum and working with FONTS to put on great events. In terms of pupil achievement, we are working hard as a school and with others in our Trust to ensure all children are supported and challenged to be the best that they can be academically and personally. We have so many plans for the coming months, including: The Festival of Hope; a KS1 and lower KS2 zoo visit; further developing our outdoor areas; music concert; Rainbow Day; Y5 day at Escot; Y6 residential to France; lots more sporting events and of course further developing our curriculum which we are building and improving all the time. I am also looking forward to the longer days and warmer weather Spring and Summer promise! This week, as every week has been packed with exciting events including: Reception Phonics Meeting A group of parents came to school to join our reception class to learn more about our phonics programme Read Write Inc. Thank you Mrs MacDonald – parents said it was really helpful and supportive. Volunteer Meetings I held two Volunteer Welcome Meetings where parents and members of our local community came to find out more about roles they can play in our school, how to ensure children are safe and our relevant policies. I am so excited that so many people are passionate about supporting us and I look forward to thus building more and more. I’ll hold another meeting on Monday 27th Feb at 9.00 for people who could not make one of the meetings this week. Do come along, and / or nudge someone else to! Sports Events We had children represent our school at OCRA cross country and swimming events. As always their efforts and attitudes were commendable. Tiverton Museum Year 4 went to Tiverton Museum to learn more about their history topic Anglo Saxons. Leadership Conference On Thursday I had a really encouraging and productive day working with Trust leaders. We are working hard to be the best leaders of our services and schools so that our children have the greatest opportunities to thrive. School Disco What a fabulous end to the half term! A huge thank you to Rob Holmes for providing the music and light and our FONTS team for organising decorations and refreshments. A great time was had by all. Apologies that my photos are dark and blurry! Farewells
Miss Wallis and Mr Hunt have been working in Y4 over the past three months as an essential part of their course to qualify as teachers. Today we had to say goodbye ☹ We wish them all the very best in their careers ahead and thank them both for all their hard work. Class Blogs As always, please look at the class blogs to see what the pupils have been learning about this week. Wishing all of our families a very happy half term Tara Penny Principal Dear North Tawton Friends and Families, Thank you for the support you have given us regarding the industrial action. As you know, the staff are passionately committed to the education of our pupils and taking strike action was not an easy decision to make. Some parents have asked why North Tawton was closed while other schools were not. The reason is that education staff across the country belong to one of several unions, or none at all. While all unions have been asking for fairer funding, only one union voted for industrial action, the National Education Union (NEU) Unlike some schools, all of our teaching staff are in the NEU, therefore there would not be any teachers or safeguarding leads on site. Some parents were not aware that teachers do not get pad if on strike, and also that they did not have to give notice of their intentions (I am very grateful that they did.) The NEU is not just a union for teachers; principals, including myself, and CEOs including our Trust leader are also NEU members. I will write more about this in the March edition of Roundabout. It looks like the strikes on Thursday March 2nd will be going ahead, so school will again be closed. I will be in touch regarding this straight after the holiday. Developing our Outdoor Education Area Last week we had an incredibly generous delivery of donated slate chippings. At the weekend, our school pond was bordered with the chippings and looks amazing! Huge thanks to Evie and David again for their hard work and connections. After half term, I will organise a number of ‘Ground Force’ days to continue this great work. Volunteers
I will be holding two volunteer meetings next week on Wednesday 8th February at 10.30am and Friday 10th February in the school hall. We have invited people who have already applied to volunteer, but his is open to those who have not yet. I will talk about:
There will be lots of opportunity for questions and discussion. It will take no longer than 1 hour, and there will be biscuits! Please do come along if you have time to volunteer, particularly to read with children. Do encourage locals to attend. Dress to Impress! For Children's Mental Health week, the children can wear their favourite clothes on Friday 10th February. It should be whatever they like to wear. If you have PE and the clothes aren't suitable for PE, please send PE kit in as well so they can get changed. School Disco The children are very excited about the disco on Friday! Please collect your tickets from our FONTs reps at the gate before or after school. Class Blogs As always, please look at the class blogs to see what the pupils have been learning about this week. With very best wishes, Tara Penny Principal Dear North Tawton Friends and Families, Burns Night The 25th January is an important day for Scottish people – it’s the birthday of the great Scottish poet Robert Burns. If you have not heard of him, you may well have sung Old Lang Syne at New Year – which is probably his most famous poem. In assembly I told the children how I celebrate Burns Night with (vegetarian!) haggis, tatties and neeps! We listened to bagpipe music – not everyone’s taste, and said the Selkirk Grace which is a thanks for the food we have. The Dogs Trust
This week Emily Mayo visited us to talk about how to be safe around dogs. She led an assembly and then a workshop in R – Y6 classes. She was really impressed by our delightful children. A message from Emily Mayo – Dogs Trust Thank you for inviting me to come into your school. The staff and children made me feel very welcome and I was really impressed by questioning, speaking skills and thoughtful responses given in the workshops. Your pupils had some great answers to my questions and I hope you all learned more about How to Behave Safely Around Dogs. Your school felt like a really happy place to be with a great and positive team. I genuinely enjoyed my days there. Please see the link to the 'Be Dog Smart Leaflet https://www.learnwithdogstrust.org.uk/safety/bedogsmart-parentsleaflet.pdf This is for all families, those with dogs and those without! The Dogs Trust believe that by educating young people about staying safe around dogs, we can really improve dog welfare for the better. Our experiences show that teaching compassion, care and respect towards animals can also enrich children’s lives in many other ways. Farewell Today we said farewell to our student teachers Marnie Collins who has been in Y6 and Charlotte Genduso who has been in Y2. They have both been a fabulous addition to our team while they have been here. We wish them all the very best in their careers ahead and thank them both for all their hard work. Industrial Action North Tawton Primary School will be closed to all pupils on Wednesday 1st February and Thursday 2nd March. If a pay deal is still not met, the NEU will launch further strikes on 15th March and 16th March. Parents and Carers, please see the email I sent today about arrangements. Class Blogs As always, please look at the class blogs to see what the pupils have been learning about this week. Sycamore Class With very best wishes, Tara Penny Principal Dear North Tawton Families,
As I am sure you have heard on the news, the teaching union NEU has called for strike action. To this end, North Tawton Primary School will be closed to all pupils on Wednesday 1st February and Thursday 2nd March. The strike is happening because of a national dispute between the unions and the government over pay, and not because of any issues at our school. If a pay deal is still not met, the NEU will launch further strikes on 15th March and 16th March. I’m sorry about the disruption to you and to your child’s education. I understand that this situation may be frustrating, and ask that all members of our school community understand that this decision has not been taken lightly by our staff and is not the outcome they wanted either. We shall provide guidance on learning activities your children can access on these days and we will provide a packed lunch for children who are in receipt of pupil premium funding the day before. If you wish to discuss this further, please speak to me, With best wishes, Tara Penny Principal |
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