2 May 2008 - May Day newsletter!

May 2^nd 2008 

Dear all

First of all an apology!  There is a mistake on the ‘Dates’ sheet that was sent out recently – as most of you would have realised the school will be closed to the children on Monday June  2^nd, not May 2^nd as it stands on the sheet.  Thank you for bringing that to my attention!

Welcome

We will be welcoming a new member of staff to our friendly little school from half term – Miss Sally Rudkin will be joining us as a teaching assistant in Forde class.  I know you will all make her feel very welcome when she arrives, particularly as she is relocating from Bideford!

Congratulations

Some of you will have noticed that Mrs McAdams was unexpectedly not in school on Wednesday – this was because she was being interviewed by Devon Education Services for the position of Support Teacher for Assessing Pupil Progress, and I’m delighted to tell you that she was successful!  Only a small number of teachers have been selected from across Devon, so this is quite a coup for our little school.  It can only have a positive impact on our children as it means we will be at the forefront of the new national initiative on assessing pupil progress, and Mrs McAdams will be part of the team rolling this out.

Arts Week

I can confirm now that following a very successful Arts Week last year, culminating in the beautiful mosaic in the playground, we are going to hold another one this year, from Monday June 16^th to Friday June 20^th!  This year’s theme will be South America, and we already have our very own Samba kit (delivered yesterday) so we can start practising!  Other planned activities include a school football tournament with Mr Robinson – so any budding Ronaldinhos step forward!  If you have any resources or special skills that could support this week, please let us know.

Other new dates

Thursday July 10^th will be the induction day at Knowles Hill, and Teign will be holding their induction day on Thursday July 3^rd, with an optional Sports and Arts day on Friday July 4^th.

The RNLI will be visiting us on July 17^th to give the children a presentation on their very important work – they will be talking to the KS1 and KS2 children that morning.

Clubs

Computer club will start next Friday for the year one and two children – this club is always oversubscribed so I’ll need to draw names from out of the hat I’m afraid!  Guitar club started this week with Mrs Ware, as did Mr Robinson’s sports clubs.  Further information about other clubs will follow.

Design an egg box competition

Please find attached a competition entry form for this – please return to school before half term so I can send them off!  If one of our pupils win, we receive £500 of art materials, which would be great for Arts Week – so get cracking! (sorry...)

New Foundation Stage Parents and Children

You will shortly be receiving a letter from us regarding the induction process if your child is starting here in September.  There will be three classroom sessions for the children, with the fourth session being an invitation to the School Sports Afternoon and Family Picnic.  There will also be a meeting for parents at school at a new time of 3.45 pm, with a crèche provided for the younger children.  You will have a chance to meet other parents, the teachers and representatives of the Governing Body and Friends’ Association at this meeting, as well as myself!

Reminder

There’s no school on Monday as it’s a Bank Holiday – hooray!

With best wishes

Susan Rowe-Jones

Headteacher