Dear Parents and Carers,
What a busy week at Georgeham CofE Primary School! On Monday, we observed Remembrance Day together with a 2-minute silence. Children from Reception to Year 6 met at the front playground and were absolutely fantastic in remembering those who have served to bring peace to our country.
A big well done to our tag rugby team, who performed brilliantly in the annual local school tag tournament at Tweedies field. Despite missing players, they played excellently while working in collaboration with Southmead Primary to come runners-up, having just lost in the final to Caen Primary A.
This week, our children have been learning:
Class 1 – Joey ” we went on a nature dectective welly walk “
Class 2 – Bodhi  “we’ve been designing and tasting scones”
Class 3 – Oscar HS  ” we programmed our own games”
Class 4 – William HD ” we had fun using boom wackers to play “we will rock you” in music.
Congratulations to our amazing class stars of the week:
Class 1 – Romi
Class 2 – Jasiah
Class 3 – Alfie
Class 4 – Barny
We have noticed an increase in illness this week at Georgeham, mainly due to coughs and colds. As the weather is getting colder, I remind all families that children must come to school with appropriate clothing,  (e.g. long trousers or tights, a warm coat, hats and gloves – its going to be cold next week).
Well done to Year 5 for having the best attendance of the week – a perfect 100%!
Next week, we will be raising awareness around anti-bullying by discussing this year’s theme, ‘Choose Respect’. On Thursday, 21st November, there will be an ‘odd socks’ day for children and staff to participate in.
At 4:30 pm on Thursday, 21st November, I will be hosting a virtual parent/carer session on Knowledge Organisers and Home Learning. This will be an opportunity to share information on what you can do at home to support your child’s learning. Please find the link below to the session:
Have a fantastic weekend and thank you for your continued support.
Kind regards,

Mr Kevin Fry


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

Interview to be held on Fri 6th Deccember.

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


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.

I am contacting you with information on our new MCC Foundation Hubs for Girls in East and North Devon. Please can you share this within your School network and encourage any Girls you have at your Club to sign up for this FREE coaching programme at their nearest Hub. This programme will support the growth of Girls cricket in the East and North Devon area.

A Cricketing opportunity

I am contacting you with information on our new MCC Foundation Hubs for Girls in East and North Devon. Please can you share this within your School network and encourage any Girls you have at your school to sign up for this FREE coaching programme at their nearest Hub. This programme will support the growth of Girls cricket in the East and North Devon area. Here is information about the North Devon hub…
MCC Foundation Hubs
What is it?  A 10-week winter coaching programme with summer match opportunities
Who is it for?  State school Girls in School Years 6 – 10 who are not in the Devon Youth Development or County Age Group pathways
North Devon GIRLS ONLY Hub Information
Taster Session: Thursday5 December 2024, 5:30 PM – 7 PM at The Park Community School, Barnstaple EX32 9AX
Weekly Sessions: Wednesdays 7 PM – 8:30 PM, 8 January – 5 February and 5 March – 2 April 2025 at Pilton Community College, Chaddiford Ln, Barnstaple EX31 1RB
Cost: FREE
Parents can complete the expression of interest form here – https://app.upshot.org.uk/signup/ba7c7851/ – or scan the QR Code on the attached Poster.
Hub Managers will then be in touch later in November with more information about the Taster session.
Regards, Martin Brice,  North Devon Community Cricket Coach.   07939 015663   martin.brice@devoncricket.co.uk

Swimming

Whilst in the spring term C3 will, as part of the curriculum, have a swimming lesson every Thursday afternoon the Ilfracombe pool asked us to send out this flyer to stress the importance of  water confidence, urging you to invest in the continuing ability and skill of your children in water. This applies to swimming pools, rivers, lakes, and luckily for us the sea.
Take a look here….

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 everyone there.
  • Collection will be 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

Thurs 21st Nov – Odd sock day 😉

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

** Tues 3rd December * Nativity in the church* – sorry for all the changes. children are expected to attend the afternoon and 6pm performance. Costume list will be distributed by Ms Boreham.

Mon 9th Dec – Class 3  Volleyball Festival, am only, Braunton Academy.

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

Thurs 12th Dec – Save the Children 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.