☀️☀️Summer Fair ☀️☀️
Saturday 9th July 11am-2pm We have lots of exciting things for all the family… inflatables, local craft stalls, face painting, BBQ and refreshments, cakes, seed swap, Paint pots Of Devon, pre-loved uniform, 100 club, ice lollies, sweets, hampers and games galore!! 🤩 Everyone should have received a letter about the raffle. We have the most amazing prizes this year and they could be yours for just £1 a ticket!! Pre order your tickets by returning your slip to school or buy some on the day. This is our biggest event of the year and, after the last couple of years of restrictions, we really want it to be a huge success so we can continue to help fund things for the children, including school trips, theatre visits, and equipment that a school budget doesn’t allow for. But, we do need your help, we can’t do it without your support. If you can spare just half an hour at the summer fair to enable another parent/carer/teacher to go and have a look around or get a cup of tea please do let us know, sign up on the board (on the drive) or just ask on the day. It really is appreciated. 🧁🍰🍪🍩 We would like to ask for donations of some cakes and bakes to sell at the summer fair. Could we have a list of allergens/ingredients for home baked goodies please. Shop bought items also very welcome. Any donations can be brought into school on Friday 8th July at the end of the day or on Saturday 9th July in the morning. Thank you in advance. ⛺️ We also need to borrow some gazebos for the summer fair, if anyone has a gazebo they could please lend us, that would be great. Please message FONTS or speak to one of the team. We hope you can all make it next Saturday Thank you for your continued support FONTS committee. Email [email protected] Or message FONTS on Class Dojo Dear North Tawton Friends and Families,
Thank you to all who were able to come to the Community Forum on Tuesday. Please find the minutes here. While we still have three weeks until the end of term we are looking towards the new year and planning ahead. You will have received an email this week about staffing. This term we sadly say farewell to Mrs Squires and Mrs Jelley. Both have worked at the school for many years supporting children with their learning. They have both decided it is now time for them to spend more time with their families and focusing on other things. We will say our goodbyes properly later this term. We also say goodbye to Miss Prince who has covered maternity leave in reception class and provided lots of outdoor adventures for children across the whole school. We wish her all the best in her future career ahead. Our staffing plan for September: Nursery Mrs Karen Tingle, Miss Lucy Lamb, Mrs Sophie Maxam Reception Mrs Jess Nuthall, Mrs Emma MacDonald, Mrs Rachel Grant Year 1 Mrs Becky Budiman, Miss Abbie Luxton, Miss Lauren Bond, Mrs Gemma Cooper Year 2 Mrs Hannah Ahmad, Mrs Natasha Birnie, Mrs Verity Moffatt Year 3 Mrs Sarah Keen, Miss Juliet Boyce, Miss Jessica Westcott Year 4 Miss Beth Radbourne, Miss Kerry Davies, Mrs Penny Bowles Year 5 Mr Jason Foreman, Mrs Danielle Day Year 6 Mrs Jo Ware, Miss Gina Ruby, Mrs Nicola Shaw We have spoken with children about staffing for next year and started the transition process so the children are ready for the new year. Mrs MacDonald and Mrs Nuthall were planning together this week and were able to say hello to many parents at the end of the day. Our Year Six children who are going to Okehampton College went to visit on Thursday. Thursday 14th July will be Move Up morning so the children get to spend time in their new rooms with their staff. Rainbow day It was great to see so many children wearing bright colours for Rainbow Day today. For me, any excuse to wear my rainbow skirt and pink wig! The children have been learning about inclusion and why bullying is not OK in our school or society. I am very proud of how thoughtful and mature they have been. Quad Kids Our team of 16 went to Tavistock Arena today to take part in the final! They competed in long jump, vortex (throwing a torpedo), a sprint and cross country run. We are waiting for the results. Mrs Ware and Mrs Jelley said they were a pleasure to be with and represented our school brilliantly. Well done Team NT - we are proud of you! Next week Thursday 7th July Sports Day - KS2 in the morning, KS1 in the afternoon Friday 8th July - Music Concert at 1.45pm Saturday 9th July - Summer Fayre Please keep an eye on Dojo for timings and details. With very best wishes, Tara Penny Dear North Tawton Friends and Families,
As you will be aware, we had our Ofsted inspection this week. Our inspector was an HMI (Her Majesty’s Inspector) who, over the two days, observed lessons and playtimes, scrutinised pupil’s work, analysed Parent View and our policies. She met with pupils, staff, Curriculum Leaders, SENDCO, Trust leaders, Trustees and Governors She fed back her report to the Trust leaders at the end of the day. The outcomes remain confidential until the report is published, but I can tell you that it was a robust and fair process. Year Six Activity week While Ofsted was happening in school, our Year six were enjoying their activity week! On Monday they went to Go Ape in Exeter, Tuesday surfing in Bude and Wednesday a trip Woodlands in Totnes. On Thursday the class had a whole day of forest school led by Miss Prince. After school, they had a movie night and ate fish and chips. Today they went on a walk in our beautiful North Tawton landscape and had a picnic. A HUGE thank you to Mrs Ware and Miss Ruby for organising all of the activities. Refugee Awareness Week This week in assembly we thought about what it means to be a refugee. Year 4 have learnt a lot about migration this year and were able to explain that a refugee is a person who has needed to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster. We found out about some famous refugees and listened to the story of a man who who came from Afghanistan on his own to the UK as a child and has been granted right to remain. Here is a thought-provoking poem written by one of my favourite modern poets. Refugees by Brian Bilston They have no need of our help So do not tell me These haggard faces could belong to you or me Should life have dealt a different hand We need to see them for who they really are Chancers and scroungers Layabouts and loungers With bombs up their sleeves Cut-throats and thieves They are not Welcome here We should make them Go back to where they came from They cannot Share our food Share our homes Share our countries Instead let us Build a wall to keep them out It is not okay to say These are people just like us A place should only belong to those who are born there Do not be so stupid to think that The world can be looked at another way (now read from bottom to top) Rainbow Day Next Friday is our Trust Rainbow Day. We are encouraging our children to wear their favourite colours to celebrate. This is an opportunity for us to reflect upon our similarities and differences so that all of our children learn to understand that there are people in the community and wider world with characteristics similar and different to their own. It is a day steeped in respect and inclusion. We call it Rainbow Day as the rainbow is a Christian symbol of God’s love for us all. The rainbow flag is steeped in history from a symbol of maritime peace, the cooperative movement, LGBT equality and more recently, support for the NHS. The colours of the rainbow are different but come together to make something beautiful. We will be asking children to think about equality and when people may be treated unfavourable. We anticipate they will think about people with different physical abilities, cultures, religions and families. We are careful to talk in an age appropriate way and give children space to explore questions and develop their own thinking. Children who have PE on Friday, or are taking part in Quad Kids can change in school. Cost of Living The government has now announced ‘cost of living support’ and any families struggling can contact their relevant LA. Parents and families can see what support is available, including information on the HAF programme, on the link that can be found here Community Forum Tuesday 28th June 5pm – 6pm This will be an opportunity for you to hear about our progress on our school development plans including:
Summer Fair On Wednesday morning, parents met to plan the Summer Fair. We really do need lots of help to make this a fantastic event. Please contact our FONTS leaders or class reps if you can help. We need people to set up in the morning and tidy at the end, run stalls, lead activities, serve refreshments and BBQ sausages and burgers. After so long without a Summer Fair, we really want this to be a success so please do help in what ever way you can. Thank you. Dates Thursday 30th June - Y6 induction day at Okehampton College Friday 1st July - Rainbow Day – a celebration of inclusion Week of 4th July is our Festival of Hope which will be a week of curriculum activities with the theme of hope. This will include: Monday 4th July French Theatre trip Tuesday 5th July Science Day Wednesday 6th July Art Day Thursday 7th July Sports Day Friday 8th July Music Festival Saturday 9th July Summer Fayre Friday 22nd July Farewell Assembly We also have a number of class visits and visitors over the following weeks. Please keep an eye on Dojo for timings and details. With very best wishes Tara Penny Dear North Tawton Friends and Families,
This week has been a bit of a hot and sweaty one! Please can we remind parents to send children to school with hats, water bottles and sun cream as it looks like summer is finally here! Times tables Across the country, Year Four children have been logging on to a portal to do a times tables assessment. They all had 25 quick fire times tables which they typed in the answers to. There are modifications we can apply for to support children with SEND including extra time and a scribe, but they still need to know the answers to pass. This is our first year doing this and we are looking forward to seeing how our children did, which we will share with them and their parents. Parents of year two and three, please support your children by practicing at home as the expectation is that by year 4 they know them all! Thank you to our volunteers In assembly this week we learnt about the work of volunteers across the country, internationally and in our school. We would like to say a huge thank you to our Friends of North a Tawton FONTS who do a marvellous job at raising money for our school and planning events, they are currently working hard to plan a fabulous summer Fayre. Do come in next Wednesday morning after drop off for a cuppa and a chat about how you can help. Another big shout out to our local stake holders board, they do all sorts of work behind the scenes such as auditing safeguarding, reading policies and interviewing new staff. They are the voice of the community and contribute to our plans for the years ahead. I am meeting with them next week to review the progress we are making. We also have a board of trustees who are also volunteers, they hold the Trust to account legally and financially and support the long term strategic vision of the Dartmoor Trust. I spoke to the children about the fact that they might not always see, or understand the roles of these people, we are grateful to them, as they give of their time, expertise and passion to help us be a great school. On Thursday Mr Cutler spoke of the Bible stories about Timothy, a young boy who was passionate about volunteering and helping others. We also saw a film clip of a Thai man who does many thinks to support his local community. Year Six Activity Week Wishing year six, and their teachers, a fabulous week of activities. Mrs Ware and Mrs Ruby have worked incredibly hard to plan an exciting week. The train strike has meant a last-minute change of plan, but I am know that the class will have a fabulous week surfing, Go Ape, Forest School, Movie Night, Camp fire, a trip to Woodlands and a picnic locally. They will have great experiences and memories to treasure. Parent View Your views are important to us. All staff want to do the best we can for our children and community. If you haven’t already, please sign up to Parent View. We are expecting a visit from Ofsted this term and we would like your views of the school to be part of the evidence they collect. At the moment we do not have many, so please do spare some time this weekend to log on. Give your views | Ofsted Parent View As always, if you have a concern or suggestion, please talk to class teachers at the door, me at the gate, or contact me [email protected] or via the school office. Gardening Calling out for some help gardening! We really need some help to keep our garden areas weed free and tidy. Are you available on Thursdays? Leanne (Lara’s mum) would love some help developing our garden area. Please speak to her, or to me and we will set up a planning meeting. Many thanks in advance! Community Forum Tuesday 28th June 5pm – 6pm This will be an opportunity for you to hear about our progress on our school development plans including:
I will send a questionnaire on Monday so parents have the opportunity to ask questions and raise topics for the forum. Dates Week of 20th June Y6 Activity Week Monday – Go Ape - Exeter Tuesday – Surfing - Bude Wednesday – Woodlands – Dartmouth Thursday – Forest Day here (Bristol theatre trip cancelled due to train strike ☹) Friday – Local Walk and Picnic Thursday 23rd – 6pm LSB meeting Tuesday 28th June - 5 – 6pm Community Forum Thursday 30th June Y6 induction day at Okehampton College Friday 1st July Rainbow Day – a celebration of inclusion. Week of 4th July Festival of Hope Monday KS2 French show Tuesday Science day Wednesday Art Day and Y5 Cricket at Chagford Thursday Sports day Saturday 9th July – School Fair Wednesday 13th July Y3 and Y1 to Rosemoor Tuesday 14th July Moving Up Day Friday 22nd July Farewell Assembly Please keep an eye on Dojo for details of all of these events With very best wishes Tara Penny Dear North Tawton Friends and Families, Welcome back to the final term of this year. The next seven weeks will be a roller coaster of learning experiences and fun, and hopefully good weather too! Brace yourselves! Staffing News A warm welcome to Lauren Bond who is joining our Early Years Team. We are really pleased to have her working with us. Clubs Thank you to those of you who completed the survey regarding breakfast club and after school club. If you haven’t – please do so by Friday 17th as I am looking at feasibility to start clubs in September. I will update parents and carers about this at the Community Forum on Tuesday 28th June. This term we have: Choir Ukulele Running Club and Saints. Please see Gateway for more information Ready, Respectful, Safe This week in assembly, we reviewed our behaviour policy. Children know that if they are being ‘ready, respectful and safe’ that they are meeting our expectations and keeping our school rules. Behaviour at our school is very good, staff rarely have an issue in the classroom, however, like in all good schools, we do have children who push the boundaries at times, particularly at play time, and some who find keeping the rules harder than others for a whole host of reasons. We have had lots of training around this, and our staff are very skilled in pre-empting issues. In assembly I shared problem solving wheel. This is where children can make choices as how to best respond to an issue. On occasion, children do need the support of an adult to solve an issue and to restore peace – this is called restorative practice or sometimes called restorative justice. These are the questions adults will ask the children involved in the issue. You will notice that the two resources encourage children to take responsibility for their actions and reflect upon their feelings and decisions.
Please do use these at home to support solving disputes! Parent View Your views are important to us. All staff want to do the best we can for our children and community. If you haven’t already, please sign up and add your views to the Parent View here Give your views | Ofsted Parent View As always, if you have a concern or suggestion, please talk to class teachers at the door, me at the gate, or contact me [email protected] or via the school office. Curriculum Development Today I am at a LYFTA training day with Mrs Underwood. We are looking at how we can further enrich our curriculum so that our children have the widest and deepest learning experiences. LYFTA is a resource which teachers have started to use this year. Our vision at Lyfta is that by the time a child leaves school, they will have experienced and connected with a meaningful human story from every country in the world. In doing so, they will have experienced different cultures, different languages, different jobs and perspectives. They will have seen hundreds of positive human stories modelling resilience, problem-solving, teamwork, and many other critical skills, values and competencies. By the end of their schooling, they would understand for themselves how interconnected and interdependent we are, and would have gained a deep awareness of their power and role in the world. (From the LYFTA website) I am looking forward to coming back to school on Monday with lots of new and exciting ways to use this platform across the year groups. Gardening Calling out for some help gardening! We really need some help to keep our garden areas weed free and tidy. Are you available on Thursdays? Leanne (Lara’s mum) would love some help developing our garden area. Please speak to her, or to me and we will set up a planning meeting. Many thanks in advance! Community Forum Tuesday 28th June 5pm – 6pm This will be an opportunity for you to hear about our progress on our school development plans including:
I will send a questionnaire on Monday 20th June so parents have the opportunity to ask questions and raise topics for the forum. Staffing for next year I am in consultation with staff regarding staffing for next year. After such a turbulent few years, we want to keep things as consistent as possible for our children and where there are changes, plenty of time for them to feel ready for September. I will let children and parents know as soon as we have finalised our plans. Dates Week of 20th June Y6 Activity Week – an exciting week of adventurous and cultural activities Tuesday 28th June 5 – 6pm Community Forum Thursday 30th June Y6 induction day at Okehampton College Friday 1st July Rainbow Day – a celebration of inclusion Week of 4th July is our Festival of Hope which will be a week of curriculum activities with the theme of hope. This will include: Monday 4th July French Tuesday 5th July Science Wednesday 6th July Art Thursday 7th July Sports Friday 8th July Music Saturday 9th July Summer Fayre Friday 22nd July Farewell Assembly With very best wishes Tara Penny ![]() I hope you all have a fabulous extra long Bank Holiday Weekend! Have you found all of the lost corgis in North Tawton and returned them? Don't forget the one outside school! Our Jubilee Quiz How old is the Queen? How many corgis has she owned? How many Prime Ministers have we had during her reign? How many countries have been in the Commonwealth? Let Miss Penny know your answers on Tuesday. We loved making bunting with Philippa Sims and Ruth Smith. Do have look at it outside the church - it looks stunning! See you all on Tuesday 7th July at 8.45!
Our friends at Merry Go Round have raised £408.25 for our school!
Please do pop in to their shop, it is a trove of treasures! Dear North Tawton Friends and Families, And so we come to the end of our very short term! This week our Year 2 have completed their SATS. They did a great job of keeping calm and showing us their best work. After the break, Y1 will have their phonics assessments and Y4 their times tables tests. On Tuesday we had a visit from a Viking, Ancient Greek and Thomas Farriner, all in the form of the incredibly talented story teller Steve Manning. He was really impressed with our children’s historical knowledge and was able to stretch their thinking and understanding of the periods of time. Yesterday a group of children visited Okehampton Primary for the grand opening of the science lab. There were investigative activities for them to take part in, and again stretch their understanding.
It’s been great to see everyone dressed up today, a special shout out to the corgis, the glitz and glam and the parents who were face painting early this morning! Today KS2 participated in our OCRA ‘Quad Kids’ sports event and a group of Year 5 children were also involved in a recruitment process with DMAT executive leaders. Never a dull week here at North Tawton Primary! Farewell This week we say farewell to Lacey Lethbridge who has been on a student placement with us. She has been reading with children across the year groups, but has spent the majority of her time supporting learning in Year 4. We all wish her all the best in her career ahead. Community Forum Tuesday 28th June 5pm – 6pm This will be an opportunity for you to hear about our progress on our school development plans including:
I will send a questionnaire after the break so parents have the opportunity to ask questions and raise topics for the forum. Do see Dojo for all of the events taking place over the half Term and Bank Holiday Don’t forget to look for those corgis around North Tawton and please go and admire our bunting at the church. Next Term Week of 20th June Y6 Activity Week Tuesday 28th June 5 – 6pm Community Forum Thursday 30th June Y6 induction day at Okehampton College Friday 1st July Rainbow Day – a celebration of inclusion Week of 4th July Festival of Hope – more details after half term Thursday 7th July Sports day Friday 8th July Music Concert Saturday 9th July Summer Fayre Friday 22nd July Farewell Assembly I hope you all have a lovely week, don’t forget we are also closed on Monday! See you on Tuesday 7th June With very best wishes Tara Penny Dear North Tawton Friends and Families, This is a very short term; I can’t believe that next week is the last before the holiday! As always, there is a lot to learn and accomplish so staff and children are working hard. Year 2 have started their Standard Assessment Tasks (SATS) These are tests which we administer in school and use to inform an assessment of their understanding in reading and maths. I have been really impressed with their hard work and attitude. Keep up the hard work Year 2! Base Curriculum As I have explained before, each class teacher has a curriculum responsibility across the school. This term there has been a lot of work across the Trust developing our history, geography, and science curriculum. Miss Radbourne and Mrs Budiman have been working with colleagues from other schools in the Trust and national specialists to develop our own Dartmoor Trust Base curriculum. They have both worked incredibly hard over the year and we are very proud of our ambitious and progressive curriculum. As always, do look at the class blogs to see what each class have been learning this week. Behaviour Behaviour at our school is very good. As I walk around the school each day, I see children in class focused on their learning and being collaborative and cooperative with their peers. Like every inclusive community school, we have a few children who have plans in place to support their behaviour development. These children are supported by staff working with our SENDCO to make sure they are accessing the curriculum and making progress with specific strategies in place. This may be shorter session in class, movement breaks, 1:1 work or adapted timetables. These children are closely monitored, parents are involved in their plans and are making great progress. I am always proud to show Trust staff and prospective parents around our school as I know the children will be engaged and enjoying their learning. Over the past three weeks, we have had a few incidents of name calling and rough play between a group of KS2 children at playtime. These incidents are always followed up immediately by staff with appropriate consequences and parents are informed. I will be monitoring this closely as this needs to stop. Please support the school expectations by not allowing name calling and rough play outside school and reminding children to talk to us about issues so we can support them. Thank You! FONTS On Tuesday, a team of brave parents joined me in sorting out the resources in the FONTS cupboard. This is a storage area which goes on and on under the school! We emptied the cupboard and sorted through Christmas decorations, summer fayre games, art and crafts and some old school technology. There are a lot of great resources which needed a dust down, and equally a lot which needed to be thrown. A huge thank you to Katie Hillier, Kate Keast, Laura Dennis and Danielle Dale for the time and good humour as we sorted through the dark and musty cupboard and got soaked on our trips to the skip! Benches The children are loving the new picnic benches! A huge Thank You to R L Taylor and West Devon Fire Protection for sponsoring two of these for us. We would love more, so if you know a company who would like to sponsor a bench, please let FONTS know! Volunteers
If you would like to volunteer at school, we would really appreciate your support! Do you have a few hours a week to support with reading, gardening, running a club, or going on a trip? We will need to apply for an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check (DBS) The certificate will contain details of convictions and conditional cautions. The school will organise this with you as we will need identification and your permission to see this record. You will also need to attend a school safeguarding and code of conduct training session so that you know our procedures to ensure chid safety. More information and applications are available from the office. Breakfast Club and After School Clubs A number of parents have asked why we do not have a breakfast club in the morning, and why we do not have provision in school until 6pm. I know that this is something the school did provide in the past, but due to lack of take up, both became unfeasible. Please see your email for a questionnaire so I can assess what the need is now, and if we can make this a financially viable provision in the future. Many thanks Next week Year 2 continue their Standard Assessment Tasks (SATS) On Monday FONTS are meeting at school to plan the summer fayre. We have a storyteller visiting classes to enhance the history curriculum. We are hosting interviews for a Trust wide chaplain next Friday, so will not have a parent assembly, so look out for a class video update on Dojo next week! And please dress up on Friday for the (early) Jubilee! Children can wear red, white or blue, be a prince or princess, or wear fancy celebration clothes. More details from FONTS to follow. I will of course use this as an excuse to wear my tiara! Looking Forward After half term we have a lot of events to look forward to including our Festival of Hope. Week of 20th June Y6 Activity Week Tuesday 28th June 5 – 6pm Community Forum Thursday 30th June Y6 induction day at Okehampton College Friday 1st July Rainbow Day – a celebration of inclusion Week of 4th July Festival of Hope – more details after half term Thursday 7th July Sports day Friday 8th July Music Concert Saturday 9th July Summer Fayre Friday 22nd July Farewell Assembly With very best wishes Tara Penny Dear North Tawton Friends and Families, It’s been a very important week here for our Year 6 class as they sat their Standard Assessment Tests (SATS) for Reading, Maths, Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation . They have shown increased maturity over the past months and this week showed us that they can not only focus on working hard under strict test conditions, they can also support each other. Thank you to Miss Ruby, Mrs Jelly and Mrs Ware, all the staff who have taught and supported this class during their time at North Tawton, and to all of you at home for supporting them. They really did themselves, and all of us proud. What have you done today to make you feel proud? We started the week with an assembly where we considered what pride means. I asked, ‘What have you done to make you feel proud?’ This is a great question to ask your children at home, tell them what you have done that you are proud of, and what makes you proud of them. We shall be learning the Heather Small song ‘Proud’ for our Festival of Hope in July. Trying new foods We have an exciting new menu, but we have noticed few children choosing the new dishes. Mandy and I have been encouraging children to try new foods and have been introducing ‘tasters' at lunch time and break time. This week we offered Quesadillas (cheese and onion tortillas) and many ate raw peppers for the first time. Please encourage children to try new things at home, as I told them. they might be missing out on something delicious! ![]() Absence Policy Children have missed so much school time over the past two years due to Covid 19 lockdowns and illness, we are working hard to plug gaps in learning, socialisation, and emotional wellbeing. Now we are, hopefully, over the worst of our infections rates, it is vital that children are in school every day. If your children complain of sore tummies, please send them in! Unless they are physically ill with diarrhoea or vomiting, then they really need to be here. We will always call you if they are ill in school. As far as possible, please arrange for medical appointments in the school holidays, or close to the beginning or end of the school day so as little learning time is lost as possible. Holidays in term time are not authorised. Persistent absence will be followed up with our Educational Welfare Officer and can result in a fine. If you are struggling with attendance, please let me know and we will offer support through Early Help and social care. Currently our attendance is below the average for Devon, and for our Trust. I would like to see full attendance for the final months of the school year to bring our attendance figures up and to give our children the very best opportunities to succeed as possible. Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)
The staff have taken part in very important first aid training. Please click on the link https://www.bhf.org.uk/how-you-can-help/how-to-save-a-life/how-to-do-cpr/learn-cpr-in-15-minutes It’s an online CPR refresher. It is only 15 minutes long, interactive (you have your camera on so it can monitor your CPR rate) and you get a certificate at the end! Job Opportunity We are recruiting for a Teaching Assistant to join our team. If you are, or you know someone who would be interested in applying, please direct them to the Dartmoor Multi Academy Trust website – see the link here. Vacancies - Dartmoor Multi Academy Trust (dartmoormat.org.uk) Reminder Monday 6th June, school will be closed in lieu of the Queens Jubilee Bank Holiday which falls on the Thursday before during our half term week. With very best wishes for the weekend, Tara Penny Principal |
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