Dear Parents and Carers,
Firstly, welcome back and thank you for an amazing first week of term. The children have made an excellent start and are settling back into their class routines. Thank you so much to those who completed the parent/carer survey last term – 20 people completed it compared to the 13 in February 2024. A letter was sent out by email regarding the feedback and the next parent/carer session with me later in the month.
What have we been learning this week?
Class 1 – “We have been leaf detectives! We collected lots of leaves so we could count them and put them into groups” (Sophie)
Class 2 – “During our DT project, we have been tasting different types of scone. My favourite was the chocolate one!” (Fin)
Class 3 – “In class 3, we have learning about efficient mental methods in maths and coding in computing” (Aiesha)
Class 4 – “In class 4, we tasted different types of bread as we are learning to bake our own bread in DT” (Bea)
So many super stars this week but who have been identified by their class teachers?
Class 1 – Zennoby
Class 2 – Ben S
Class 3 – Josh S
Class 4 – Diane
Congratulations to the children in EYFS and Year 2 for the best attendance this week – a perfect 100%!
Finally, on Monday 11th November, we will be remembering those who have fought and given their service to bring peace to our country. We will be holding a 2-minutes silence on the front playground at 11am. If you would like to join us for the silence, please feel free to come along.
Have a superb weekend,

Mr Kevin Fry

Poppy Appeal

On Monday 11th at 11 we will be holding a 2 min silence in the front playground.  We have a number of Poppy Appeal items in the office.

There are paper poppies, a colourful poppy sticker, a decorated slap band, reflective poppies (great on a coat zip or to attach to a school bag ) or an adjustable wrist bracelet.

The paper Poppy will attach with a sticker (no pins allowed) however I can see that these will not stay on and will get lost/torn very quickly so probably best bought on Monday morning ready for the gathering at 11am.   We will stand in the playground with the box that morning….

All items CASH only.

VACANCY

Please see links below to the school Maintenance Caretaker Vacancy which is now live :

Ventrus website:     https://georgeham-primary.current-vacancies.com/Jobs/Advert/3673495

Jobs in Schools :      Vacancy – Maintenance Caretaker

This vacancy has also been posted on South West Education Jobs.

Operation Christmas Child

ASDA cashpot for schools

If you haven’t already heard & signed up, between 2nd September and 30th November 2024 every time you shop with Asda using your Asda Rewards app, Asda will donate 0.5% of the value of your shop to your chosen Primary school. Also, every time somebody opts-in to support our Primary school, Asda will give an additional £1 to the school Cashpot. Asda are also giving £50 to every school to get them started.

The supermarket has joined forces with Joe Wicks to support the initiative – look out for the TV advert, radio ads and social media coverage!

1. Download the Asda Rewards app, register and opt-in to Cashpot for Schools (make sure you have the latest version of the app installed)

2. Choose our Primary School – either searching by name or postcode

3. Shop instore across Asda and George, or online at Asda.com and start filling your Cashpot as you shop

Asda does the rest, all money raised will go to FROGS who will help the school to spend it on the things they need the most.
Remember, anyone can sign up – so share with your families and raise funds for our school.
Get Christmas shopping and help the school at the same time.

Admissions policy for 2026-27: Annual Consultation

Along with all other schools and academies in Devon we are consulting on an admission policy for 2026-27. The Local Authority is also consulting on its admission arrangements. You are invited to look at the proposals and have your say. Our proposed policy is on the website under policies Policies – Georgeham Primary School .  You can see all DCC policies at http://devon.cc/schoolpolicy . Further information is here: www.devon.gov.uk/admissionarrangements
The formal consultation runs until 10th January 2025. Policies will be determined on 29th January 2025 and published in the same places by 15th March 2025.

the secret Panto surprise Fri 13th Dec.

The FROGS Christmas present to the school this year is a trip to see Beauty and the Beast at the Barnstaple theatre !
This is just a sneaky heads up that we will be taking your child, in case you were thinking of booking it too.

  • Packed lunches for all KS2 –  we need to leave early so the kitchen cannot operate as usual.
  • KS1 (Rec, Yr1 & Yr2) will be provided a packed lunch, but should you wish to provide your own we will need to know 2 weeks before so we have correct numbers for catering.
  • Morning lessons as usual, we will break early for lunch then coach them all there
  • Collect them from Barnstaple afterwards. we will let you know time and a safe place to collect, more than likely NOT outside the theatre, do share lifts where you can.
  • R to Yr6 only
  • Preschool will be closed this day. sorry little ones, it was felt they were just too young for us to take too. They will still party in other ways on other days, for sure 😉

 Diary Dates :

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

Please take note of our term dates for 2025-26  G’Ham term dates 25-26 pdf

Wed 13th Nov – Tag rugby festival yrs 5&6 (nb this was previously listed as Thurs 14th) letters have gone to those in the team).

Mon 25th Nov – Class 3 Basketball, am only, at Braunton Academy. letter emailed.

Fri 6th December * – Nativity in the church – *date STILL TO BE CONFIRMED* – children are expected to attend the afternoon and 6pm performance. Costume list will be distributed by Ms Boreham next week.

Mon 9th Dec – Class  Volleyball Festival, am only, Braunton Academy (tbc)

Tuesday 10th December – Robin Hood Production. Afternoon and evening performances. GHM village Hall.

Thurs 12th Dec – Children in Need Charity Christmas Jumper day

Fri 13th Dec – whole school to Panto in Barnstaple. Packed lunches please. Pick up from Barnstaple. details on that nearer the time.
Fri 13th Dec – preschool closed.

Wed 18th Dec – Christmas lunch day – the whole school will lunch together (no packed lunches) and the staff will serve !

Friday 20th Dec – break up for Christmas

Mon 6th January ’25- INSET DAY

Tues 7th January ’25- children return to school.

G’Ham term dates 24-25

G’Ham term dates 25-26 pdf

The school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead is Mr Kevin Fry
Our Deputy Safeguarding Leads are  Emma Hill and Lucy Rinvolucri
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.
    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.