Thank you for your donations to the harvest festival. We still have room for more, so do send some in on Monday if you can. We look forward to you joining us at the church at 1.30pm on Monday. Unlike previous years, we will walk all the children back to school and will end the day at 3.15pm as we normally do. Next week, on Thursday, governors are hoping to begin the interview process for candidates who have applied to be headteacher here. This is obviously an important day for the school and we may have to make some changes to our normal arrangements. Our newly elected school council are preparing questions to ask the candidates. Everyone is focussed on making sure that we appoint the very best person to lead this very special school!    JG

and who shone brightly this week…. these super stars 🙂

In early years –  Jasiah Longmuir

Class 2 – Tess Hill Dymond

Class 3 – Bodhi Whitney

Class 4 – Ned Matthews

Attendance this week

Whole school attendance this week was 93.6%
C1  100%      C2 97%      C3 85.9 %     C4 95.3%
our whole Autumn term school figure is 95.2 %

Please remember to email or call the office before 9am should your child be too unwell to attend school, stating the reason.
It is a requirement that you inform us every day that you are keeping them at home. Thank you.

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)

Charity days – We would like to trial a new way for the school to support national charity days , whether it be in support of Spotty days for Children in Need, or Christmas Jumper day, Red Nose or Sports Relief everyone likes to take part but in recent years our donations have dwindled and we wonder if it that’s because hardly anyone has a pound coin in their pocket anymore !?  So, we have a suggestion, we thought we could add a £1 donation to SCOPAY when these occasions pop up. It would be voluntary and there would be no more than five in an academic year (i.e. max £5 spread over the year). The teachers will ensure that the message of the day gets across to the children before and on the day of the event, (its not just about wearing your own clothes !) and it would lend to a BIGGER sense of Community.  Would you be up for this ? Love to have your feedback….

X Country Running Club:
Well done to those who ran in last Sundays Bemco Cross Country run… What fun !

Here are the future dates:  please see their website for further information re start times and venues…    https://northdevonxcleague.weebly.com
Race 2: Sun 5th Nov – Northam Burrows (short course tbc)
Race 3: Sun 26th Nov – Coxleigh Barton Equestrian Centre
Race 4: Sun 14th Jan – Northam Burrows (Long Course tbc) PLEASE NOTE LATER START TIME
​Race 5: Sun 4th Feb – Shebbear College
​Race 6: Sun 3rd Mar – West Buckland School FINALS & PRESENTATIONS

and in the local Community ….
Eat, Meet, Make.  Studio KIND and ZestLab are teaming up to offer 7 weeks of FREE warm food, warm space, and fun creative activities. 
 
During the cost of living crisis, autumn and winter can be a difficult time for many of us who are struggling to afford nutritious food, heating and hobbies. Come and spend some time with us to relax, take part in some fun art activities (suitable for beginners), meet other people, and enjoy some homemade soup, bread and warm cuppa.
Mondays (1-3pm) at Studio KIND. Unit 3, Velator Way, Braunton, EX33 2AY (round the side of Tesco). There is plenty of free parking and disabled access. 
It is free to attend but registering is necessary.
There will be different creative activities to have a go at over the weeks:

*Pressed flower lanterns   * Coil clay bowls  * Autumn Trees – watercolours  *Collaged greeting cards  *Pierced metal insects  *Woven place mats

The sessions have been funded by Devon County Council and the John Patts have donated the soup ingredients for the first week.
Head to https://zestlab.org/events/124886 to sign up.  If you don’t have access to the Internet, you can ring 07796446608 and speak to Alex.
We also have funding for two free places for disadvantaged pupils aged 7+ that you feel would benefit and enjoy attending our next block of Saturday art club sessions running after half term. These places have been funded by a local councillor grant.

Georgeham and Croyde Annual WI Coffee Morning.

Wednesday 25th October 2023  10-11.30am  (This is in half term break) Produce sale > Books >  Tombola > Refreshments and Cakes

ALL PROCEEDS WILL GO TO FROGS  how kind is that! Do go along. 

LIGHT PARTY – 5-7.30pm
Tuesday 31st October, Georgeham village hall.
£1 per child to include food. (an adult must attend too, no charge 🙂 )
Tickets now available from the school office and the local post offices.
www.stgeorgeham.org

Diary Dates of note: 

Monday 9th October – Harvest festival – 1.30pm in the church.  We would like all children to be able to place an offering during the service from the collective donations we receive – lets make it our best collection yet. 🙂

Tuesday 10th October –  Phonics workshop – led by Mrs Emily Parker:  Parents can really help to back up school learning at home but do you know the ins and outs of phonics !?! come along and find out at 5pm, just 45 mins.  Please email Mrs Parker if you intend to come along, just to give us an idea on numbers.

Wednesday 18th October – C2 day trip to Dunster Castle

Fri 20th October – the last Friday of this half term is an INSET day. Pre school will be closed too. 

Click here  for the school calendar which can be found at the bottom of the website home page.

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.

Nut free !  This is really important as there are nut allergy sufferers in the school.
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 !

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/