Dear Parents,

What a wonderful first five-day week back we’ve had here at Georgeham School! It has been great to see children settling into their new routines and diving into their curriculum work for the Autumn Term. We also enjoyed our first assembly from the Rev. Tim of our local St Georges Church. Thank you too to all the parents who came in this week to meet with teachers—your support and partnership is invaluable to your children’s education and growth.

I’ve enjoyed speaking to many of you out on the playground as well; it’s always a pleasure to hear from you. If you have any concerns at all, please don’t hesitate to bring them to us. We want to make this the best year possible for every pupil.

I look forward to our short meeting next Thursday at 2:45pm, where I hope to get your feedback on what you appreciate most about Georgeham School and how you think we can improve. Your perspective is so important.

Have a lovely weekend!

Warm regards,

Jonathan Gower

We are community

Our school is a community, but we are also part of a wider local and global community.
We encourage a sense of belonging and responsibility towards each other, our environment and the world we live in.

‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’  (Matthew 22 v39)

 

Attendance this week

Here are this week’s attendance stats…
Whole school attendance this week is 96.47%
C1 100 %      C2 97%      C3 92.2 %     C4 98.3%
The aim as always is for 100% attendance

As the weather changes so start the autumn coughs and colds. Please support us in encouraging the children to catch and bin their sneezes and coughs in a tissue, and to wash their hands before touching door handles chairs desks pens laptops etc. Whilst we know that children actually need a bit of this and that to develop their immune systems we understand also that if they are hit hard they should not be in school as they cannot concentrate, or they need the rest if they have a restless night.

The Government reminds us that not only is it parental duty to ensure your children attend school, it is also your responsibility to inform the school of any non attendance.
Please email or call the office before 9am should your child be too unwell to attend, stating the reason.
Please remember to inform us every day that you are keeping them at home. Thank you.

(There is more information on the Attendance page  of our website )

Attendance… We report the attendance of individual year groups as it’s a really good way to see if school attendance is at a good percentage…  as high as possible of course! The DfE have a target of 96.5%
Attending school regularly is vital to help children achieve and to give them the best possible start in life. It’s also the legal requirement of parents once children are of school age and enrolled in mainstream education. Ofsted has a strong view about attendance of course. Too many absences can lead into difficult discussions about how we can support children to achieve and do well – we could even be downgraded for our current Good status as a result.
Absences will only be authorised if they meet exceptional circumstances. With only 190 statutory school days in the year, there are 175 days (weekends and school holidays) left to plan for family visits, non-urgent medical/dental appointments, holidays etc. School holidays are published well in advance and parents are expected to plan and take family holidays at this time so as not to disrupt their child’s education. We also try to arrange our Inset (training) days to provide time for travel… such as this term’s Friday October 20th.
Holidays… are almost always not recognised as meeting ‘exceptional circumstances’ and therefore an absence would be unauthorised. This could result in a penalty notice being issued by DCC.
Punctuality is important too, and the earlier we get our children into the right habits, the better. You may not realise that being just 5 minutes late every day equals 3 days of school lost a year. Please bring your child for 8.45am when they door is open and the classroom has a learning activity ready for them.

The class stars we celebrated in assembly this week were :

In early years…  Molly Conle

Class 2… Bodhi Krarup

Class 3… William Hill Dymond

Class 4… Josh Barrow

The School-Age Immunisation Service is delivering the flu immunisation programme in Cornwall’s and Devon’s schools on behalf of NHS England & Improvement. Flu can be a very unpleasant illness and sometimes causes serious complications. Vaccinating your child will also help protect more vulnerable friends and family by preventing the spread of flu. In 2023/24 all children in Primary Schools from Reception to year 6 (inclusive) will be offered the vaccine. The vaccination is free and recommended for young children; it is administered by a quick and simple spray up the nose.

Please enter www.nhs.uk/child-flu to access information explaining the vaccination programme which also includes details about the small number of children for whom the nasal vaccine is not appropriate. The patient information leaflet is also in the attached link: FLUENZ Tetra, INN-influenza vaccine (live attenuated, nasal) (medicines.org.uk).
We are visiting your child’s school on 27 th September 2023. In order to access the online consent form, please enter or click on the following link https://www.kernowimmunisations.co.uk/Forms/Flu

PLEASE ENSURE YOU ENTER THE FULL UNIQUE SCHOOL REFERENCE CODE. The code for your child’s school is: DV113375

Please submit your consent form by midday 25th September 2023 to ensure your child receives their vaccination. If you experience any problems accessing the form please telephone 01872 221105 for Cornwall schools and 01392 342678 for Devon schools and the team will be happy to help.

Please note that as in previous years you must opt into the programme. If a consent form is not submitted your child will not be vaccinated. 

If your child becomes wheezy or has their asthma medication increased after you submit this form, please contact us on the numbers above.

If you decide you do not want to vaccinate your child against flu, it would help us if you still complete and submit the consent form giving the reason.
This will help us to plan and develop the service. Please tell us if you need this information in a different format.

Piano, saxophone or flute ?! Do please ask your children if they would be interested in learning to play any of these instruments.  Mrs Parker, our school music lead, will be the contact for further information.

Extra curricular reminders:

*Guitar and singing lessons with Sarah Cox take place on a school afternoons from Wednesday to Friday.

* Beginner’s French Club is after school on Mondays, last years other two clubs have joined together on a Tuesday after school.  For times and costs please directly email  sarahcoxtutoring@gmail.com

* Cross Country club: for years 4-6 at 8am will be running on Wednesday mornings. permission slips are required to be returned for participation in this activity.

* Choir:  NO choir this term, there is a musical theatre group instead starting on Friday 22nd Please contact Mrs Parker if you wish to take part in the production of Peter Pan !

* C3 football:  is on Tuesday afterschool 3.30-4.30

* C4 football: is on Wednesdays afterschool 3.30-4.30

* Art club:  for those who signed up for it Art club (now being run by ZestLab) starts next week on Monday  3.15 – 4.30pm  for 10 weeks. Costs are to be paid directly to ZestLab.

* Tennis/Gym/Basketball  – please communicate directly with Rob by email for details (day/time/cost) for any of these extra sports clubs  rob@devonshiretennisacademy.com

Diary Dates of note: 

Tues 26th Sept– Class 3 River Lynn all day trip.

Wednesday 27th Sept – whole school flu nasal spray vaccination – please follow the links to opt in or out. https://www.kernowimmunisations.co.uk/Forms/Flu

** Fri 20th October – the last Friday of this half term – is an INSET day **

The school calendar can be found at the bottom of the website home page, but here is a link for speed : Click here 

We are a Nut free school, this means that peanuts and most kinds of tree nuts such as almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, and pine nuts, should not be brought into school in any form i.e. in snack bars, peanut butter sandwiches, or even as pesto pasta ! So sorry 🙂
Keri is super aware about keeping our staff and children safe by ensuring the kitchen and surrounding areas are kept allergen free; she is very happy to speak with you if you have concerns.

The school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead is Mr Jonathan Gower
Our Deputy Safeguarding Lead is  Emma Hill and our interim SENDCo is Laura Hapgood
You can contact us on dsl@georgeham-primary.devon.sch.uk

If you have any concerns that you’d like to discuss, please call through to Lottie and ask for an appointment.
You may also find some useful or helpful information on our Safeguarding webpage… https://georgehamceps.wpengine.com/staying-safe/