Dear Parents and Carers,
What a week it has been – it has been a pleasure to have so many children come to my office to share their learning. Key Stage 2 have been extremely busy writing letters to children at the Child of Hope School in Uganda whilst the children in Key Stage 1 today welcomed the author, Sean Taylor, to our school as part of the the Appledore Book Festival.
Congratulations to the following children for being the class stars of the week:
Class 1 – Jasper
Class 2 – Bluebell
Class 3 – Koa
Class 4 – Phoebe M
Furthermore, well done to Class 1, Year 3 and Year 5 for having 100% attendance this week!
Don’t forget that we have the Walking Bus every Wednesday which leaves the Georgeham Playing Field at 7:55am (on the dot!).
On Friday 4th October, we will be attending our annual harvest service at St George’s Church which will commence at 2:30pm. If you would like to walk with the children to the church, please be at school for 2:10pm. Our end of day routine will remain the same (collection from school). Additionally, if your child could bring in a non-perishable food item for the service that would be amazing.
Please be aware that we will hosting our Autumn term parent/carer evenings on Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 23rd October – we will be sending out information about appointment bookings shortly.
I hope you all have a fantastic weekend,

Mr Kevin Fry

Headteacher
Georgeham CofE Primary School 

School Census

A School Census occurs three times a year. It collects information from primary schools, secondary schools, special schools, maintained nurseries, academies and pupil referral units.  It’s produced electronically via a schools MIS, and the first census of this academic year will be taken on Thursday 3rd October.
School lunches are part of the information/algorithm that builds the amount of funds we are given by the Government.
As Fish and Chip Friday is our most popular lunch we are moving it to Thursday next week, so we can promote meals on the census ! (100% take up would be good)
So, on Thursday 3rd October the menu will be Burgers, cheese pizza, chips pasta peas, jacket or a roll as usual, with a (Ventrus approved) chocolate chip cookie for dessert, this should help us put forward our best numbers to the census for the best possible outcome. Thank you 🙂

(Friday, will be pork meatball in tomato sauces with pasta, baked cheesy tomato rice,  sliced carrots and sweetcorn, jacket or a roll. Fresh Fruit dessert.)

Flu immunisation consent – you must opt in to receive.

A message from the Cornwall and Devon School Age Immunisation Service,  Kernow Health CIC.

We are due to visit your child’s school on the 11th of October 2024.
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 on the Tuesday 8th of October 2024 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 in to the programme. If a consent form is not submitted your child will not be vaccinated and you will have to arrange your own visit to an appropriate centre delivering the vaccine.

FLU 5 Reasons to vaccinate – primary

Nasal flu letter to primary schools Cornwall and Devon 2024-2025

Cross Country Running Club (Wednesdays at 8am)

We have a maximum of 20 children that we can take out for this activity and we have reached that capacity. Should your child no longer wish to continue then do let us know as we do have a waiting list.

If you have not already signed your child up to this, then do take another look at the dates of the events. As a reminder you would be responsible/liable for your own entries/attendance and safety at the events should you decide to enter, but do let us know if you have entered as Ms McCormick and Mr Fry will for sure attend one or two of the Sunday events to cheer them on !  It would also be good to know so if parents want to create a group WhatsApp, (someone pls agree to be admin for that) then we can let you know who has signed up (please give permission to share your name and number when you email georgeham@ventrus.org.uk to let us know you have entered. Thanks)

Musical Theatre –  ‘Hoodwinked – The Robin Hood Musical’

We had a fantastic turn out for the first session this Tuesday. We are already humming tunes, and hearing the children chattering about it.

As a reminder:

  • Auditions will be held next Tuesday 1st October. Once your child has been given a part we ask for full commitment to the show.
  • Children from year 2 through to year 6 are invited to come along.
  • Rehearsals which will take place every Tuesday in the school hall, from 3.15 to 4.30pm, until approx 2 weeks prior to the show when there will be a few at the village hall and dress rehearsals. We will let you know when that happens and when you should pick them up from the village hall.
  • Performances will be in Georgeham village hall on  Tuesday 10th December 2024, one afternoon show and one in the evening (6pm).
  • Tickets will be sold to cover the cost of putting on the production (copyright/hiring of the hall/any props we may need to purchase however we can distribute a props and costumes list, so do please help where you can.)

All aboard the Walking Bus!

If you’d like to join in please be ready at :
1. Georgeham Playing fields (leaving at 7.55am)
2. Georgeham Village store (leaving at c 8am)
3. Georgeham Village Hall (leaving at c 8.05am)
Arrive at school for breakfast and pre-morning fun.
You do need to sign up the first time you come, (ask Mr Fry for a form when you see him there) but thereafter if you are at the stop the gang will give you a high five and welcome you ‘aboard’. Its a swift service so please try to be at your stop a few minutes before its leave time. (see above).

Parents Evening

There will be a parents evening for all classes held from 3.30pm  to 6pm on  Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 23rd October.

A google form will be emailed out and go live on Monday next week.

Diary Dates :

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

Thursday 3rd Oct – TBC Indoor Athletics,  year 6, Braunton Academy, 4-6pm

Friday 4th October – Harvest Festival, all welcome 2.30pm in the Church. The children will walk back to school afterwards.

Wednesday 9th Oct – Curriculum Afternoon for parents and carers. Mr Fry, School Hall.

Thursday 10th Oct – Girls KS2 Football Tournament – all day at Kingsacre (tbc), 8 per team. (tbc)

Fri 11th Oct – Flu vaccines for ALL children Reception to Year 6.

Fri 18th Oct – Stephen Shield Cross Country Run – Torrington (for selected children, Ms McCormick to communicate)

Tues 22nd & Wed 23rd October – parents evening – all classes. 3.30 to 6pm – sign up via Google form coming next week.

Tues 22nd – Indoor Athletics,  year 6, Braunton Academy, 4-6pm TBC

Wed 23rd October – Romans workshop for Class 3 – in the school hall, get your costumes ready !

Friday 25th October – school closed for the staff VENTRUS INSET DAY

Thurs 7th Nov – Netball High 5 (Ms McCormick will communicate)

Thurs 14th Nov – Tag rugby festival yrs 5&6 (tbc)

Mon 25th Nov – Basketball, am only, Braunton Academy (tbc)

Mon 2nd Dec – Danceathon, whole school.

Mon 9th Dec – year 3&4 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 20th Dec – Basketball yr 5 – afternoon event- pick up from Braunton Academy. (Ms McCormick will communicate)

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 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.