Dear Parents/Carers,
What another brilliant week of learning at Georgeham Primary. The children have once again thrown themselves into their routines and have worked extremely hard to follow our new school rules. The School Council and I met to create actions for our rules which are now being used across the school. I am delighted to see the calm transitions at break and lunch times so that the children can settle into their learning with ease.
Following our celebration assembly on Friday morning, we would like to congratulate the following children for being the Class Stars this week.
Well done children!
Class 1 – Rowan Carter
Class 2 – Jesse Matthews
Class 3 – Myla Blake
Class 4 – Phoebe Maguire
I would like to thank all parents and carers for the great response to the start of the school day – it has been clear this week that children are coming into school when the doors open at 8:45am. We love the eagerness from our children and their excitement for learning. As a result, we have noticed that the children have settled better into their routines and lessons have started promptly without disruption due to lateness.
On Monday, all members of our community will receive a letter from myself and Ali Smith, Chair of Governors, about the start of the consultation period with the view of Georgeham Primary joining Ventrus Multi Academy Trust. Within the letter, it will explain about the process of consultation and the opportunity to meet with representatives from Ventrus and the school. Furthermore, there will be information about how to provide feedback and questions. I would encourage everyone to read the letter carefully and to attend a consultation meeting. I look forward to hearing about your views and feedback.
I want to wish you all a very happy and safe weekend. Thank you again for your continued support and the positivity that you bring to the community.
Kind regards, KF

Attendance this week

Whole school attendance this week was 94% 
Reception 91.7%   Year 1  95.6%      Year 2 91.2%   Year 3 88.3%   Year 4 100%   Year 5  92.7%   Year 6 96.3%
the overall figure for this academic year is 94%

RESIDENTIAL

Class 4 residential:  Do please start making payments on SCOPAY to help spread the cost.  More very soon…. just awaiting final costs.

Class 3 – St Georges House residential – its late this year, 18th and 19th July.

SCOPAY – we are nearly half way through this half term!  We understand that January is a long tough month but do please log into ScoPAY and pay what you can toward dinners, jumpers (BC ASC),  science club, swimming, and next weeks Planetarium dome (C2 and C3 only). Its a good idea to keep on top of it as its a short term and our request is for all balances to be settled by the end of this term (29th March) and financial year end. (April 6th).
If you have not already done so set yourself up a ScoPAY alert, its a great reminder to help keep on top of it; absolutely come and see us if you have any questions, we are here to support.  SCOPAY: https://www.scopay.com/login

Devon Early Years and Childcare Service are running some online sessions for parents in February to give an overview on what funding is available, the eligibility criteria, how they need to apply for different funding streams and how a child can access funded time. Providers, please share with families, parents and carers.  https://www.devon.gov.uk/eycs/parent-information-sessions-around-funding-for-childcare/

Diary Dates and communications this week:

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

Monday 22nd – Yr 5 Basketball CANCELLED.

Wednesday 24th  – C2 and C3 – The Planetarium Dome comes to school !

Wednesday 31 Jan 2024 – a day of cricket ! We have a lovely chap coming in to inspire each class to play cricket and maybe join a club ! The Braunton Cricket Club is a wonderful place and has a very good junior section… a new season is coming up – try it out.

Friday 9th Feb –  break up for half term.

HALF TERM – Monday Feb 12th – Friday 16th  + Monday 19th February 2024- INSET DAY

February 27/28/29th !!  – Bikeability for year 5 – few more forms to be returned please. Check out the size of your bike…..

Thursday 7th MARCH = WORLD BOOK DAY

Last day of term Thurs 28th March 2024

HERE ARE THE DATES FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 2024-2025

INSET DAY Tues 3rd September 2024
INSET DAY Wed 4th September
Start Autumn Term 2024 Thurs 5th September
INSET DAY Fri 25th October
Half term break Mon 28th Oct to Fri 1st Nov
End Autumn Term 2024 Friday 20th December
Start Spring term 2024 Monday 6th January 2025
INSET DAY Fri 14th February
Half term break Mon 17th Feb to 21st Feb
End Spring Term Friday 4th April
Easter Holidays Mon 7th April to Monday 21st April
Start Summer Term 2025 Tues 22nd April
Half term break Mon 26th May to Fri 30th May
INSET DAY Fri 27th June
End Summer Term 2025 Tues 22nd July
Click here  for the school calendar which can be found at the bottom of the website home page.

The school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead is Mr Kevin Fry
Our Deputy Safeguarding Lead is  Emma Hill
Our SENCo is Mrs Lucy Rinvolucri.
Make contact with us via  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/

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.