Seaton Primary School
Valley View, Seaton
Tel: 01297 20922
www.seatonprimary.co.uk
NEWSLETTER
13th October 2017
Dear Parents & Carers,
We have had a very busy week at school. Behind the scenes the teachers from all the schools in the Federation have met to discuss the assessment and progress of the children’s writing and a number of events are being planned for the near future too. I hope you find this newsletter useful and informative and well done to all those children who received certificates in Celebration Assembly today.
GOOD LUCK RUNNERS!
Good luck to the team running in the Exeter Great West Run Half Marathon on Sunday. The weather looks good and the team are more than ready for the challenge. The run starts at Exeter Arena and it would be great to see supporters out on the route. Good vantage points include John Lewis (approximately 2 miles), The junction of Streatham Drive and B3183 (New North Road) where you will see runners at 3.5 miles and 9.5miles and also the roundabout at the top of Sidwell Street (just past the Odeon Cinema) at 10.5miles. Come along and give them a shout and don’t forget the jelly babies!
OPEN DAY – WEDNESDAY 29TH NOVEMBER – 9.30am to 11am and 2pm to 3pm
We will be holding an open day on Wednesday 29th November for prospective parents to come and see our school. Please come along and see what we do at Seaton Primary, meet the teachers and get to know us. Please encourage anyone you know with a child that is due to start school soon to come along.
CAR PARK SAFETY
Please can I remind you that the Doctor’s surgery is NOT to be used as a car park for school drop-offs. It’s an extremely busy car-park and children should also not ride scooters through it. Recently a child was spotted crouching down on the floor collecting acorns in the middle of the car park entrance. Obviously this could have caused a serious accident so please ensure your children take care.
STAFF VACANCIES
We currently have several staff vacancies for Teaching Assistants and a Cleaner. Adverts are attached. Please see the school website for application forms and further details.
CASUAL, RELIEF MEALTIME ASSISTANTS
We are looking for temporary, relief meal time assistants to be able to work on an ad-hoc basis to cover absences and sickness sometimes at very short notice. If you are available please let the office know.
SWIMMING GALA RESULTS
A huge congratulations to both teams, Seaton Stingrays and Seaton Sea Dragons, who competed in the Year 5/6 Swimming gala at Axminster Flamingo Pool. The children took part in a range of races including, front crawl, back stroke, breast stroke and the woggle relay. Every child showed determination and resilience, trying their best for their team. Thank you to Miss Crockett and Mrs Winnett for taking the team and organising the children in a noisy and frenetic environment. A special thank you to Paul Snowball for your continuing efforts during swimming lessons and for selecting/preparing the children for the event. Our position is the highest we have finished in recent years and shows the level of enthusiasm and competition being developed at Seaton.
Mr Delfosse
Year 5 Teacher & PE Coordinator
Overall Positions:
Seaton Stingrays – 2nd
Seaton Sea Dragons – 5th
APP SPRING CLEANING
Although autumn is well upon us, it is always good to have a “spring clean” of the apps that you and your children use. Developers frequently update apps giving additional features that they assume we will want and often the privacy settings are set to public. Please review the privacy settings of the different apps that you use and ensure that if you wish to keep it restricted, set it to private or just to friends. Please don’t assume that if you set it once, it will always stay that way. If you haven’t used an app in a while, consider deleting it as it can still be sending your data to the developers in the background. Remember that should you be concerned about an app or activity online, you can come into school and we can often provide help or direct you to someone to help.
HEIGHT AND WEIGHT CHECKS FOR RECEPTION AND YEAR 6
Children in Year 6 and Reception have been sent home with a letter regarding height and weight checks. If you did not receive it please contact the office.
TEA-TOWELS
We still have a few tea towels left to sell at £3 each or 2 for £5. These would make excellent Christmas presents. Please come to the office if you would like to purchase.
YEAR 6 SENIOR SCHOOL APPLICATIONS
Parents and carers of pupils in Year 6 are reminded to apply for senior school places by the 31st October deadline.
MACMILLAN CAKE STALL
Thank you to everyone who bought cakes from the MacMillan cake stall a couple of weeks ago. You helped raise £180 which made up a total of £1145.24 for the whole day.
COFFEE & PASTRY MORNING – MONDAY 16TH OCTOBER IN THE STAFF ROOM
Please note that the venue has changed for the Coffee & Pastry morning and it will now be held in the school staffroom instead of the hall. All parents and carers are welcome for free coffee, pastries and chat on Monday 16th October from 9am - 10am. Please come along to thisfree social event organised by the PTA!
NEXT PTA MEETING – TUESDAY 17TH OCTOBER
All parents are invited to come along to the next PTA meeting on Tuesday 17th October at 3.25pm in the reception classrooms.We hope to see lots of parents at the meeting as we start planning the Christmas Bazaar. As one of the biggest fundraising events on the PTA calendar it would be great to have all hands on deck.All new and existing members welcome. Children of all ages are welcome to stay and play.
CHRISTMAS BAZAAR – FRIDAY 24TH NOBEMBER 5.30PM TO 7.30PM
Please put the date in your diaries for our much anticipated annual Christmas Bazaar which will take place in school. This is a family-fun event organised by the PTFA to get you into the festive spirit with a mix of stalls, games, raffle prizes, Santa’s Grotto, mulled wine and hot food. All money raised on the evening will go towards the PTFA fundraising target.
SIDMOUTH SCIENCE FESTIVAL
Saturday 14th October is "Super Science Saturday" where lots of talks and science themed activities will be happening in and around Sidmouth. Colyton’s Science Outreach team will be running lots of“hands-on" science activities for children and adults alike at All Saints Church Hall from 11am-5pm. There will be cake cooling racks as you have never heard them before, growing your own magic flower in a matter of seconds and a chance to meet a monster. Some of the activities are “make and take” so the science fun need not stop when you have to go home.
Lyme Slime Halloween Festival
The brand new ‘Lyme Slime Halloween Festival’ descends on Lyme Regis during the October half term holidays and is billed to be an autumn event like no other. The spooky-extravaganza offers a whole week of frightfully fun family activities in venues all around the town, including the Bloor Homes Spine-tingling Whodunnit Town Trail, beastly baking, creepy crafts, pumpkin pizzas, spooky children’s workshops and of course culminating in the fiendishlyLYME SLIME 1K & 2K FAMILY FUN RUN, with obstacles such as the ‘Sticky Spider Web Crawl’ the ‘Radioactive Liquid Station and the ‘Trick or Treat Table. View the extraordinary programme of events at www.wackynation.com/lymeslime
LADIES NIGHT
Raising money in aid of Mental Health U.K. - £10 a ticket Venue: Seaton Town Football Club.Date: Fri 10th Nov
Dress Code: Something blue (fancy dress is preferred) Disco/cocktails - 7 for 7.30pm til late. Your ticket number will be entered into a prize draw. For tickets, enquiries or donations please message. Sharon Rooke on 07817911525 Tickets are limited and selling fast.
SEATON AND DISTRICT HOSPITAL LEAGUE OF FRIENDS NEEDS YOU!
The League are opening a brand new Charityshopin Seaton next monthand are looking for volunteers. The newshop will have asparkling interior with carefully selected clothing and accessories.
We arelooking for keen,creative individuals who are willing to give up some of theirtime to help make this new venture a roaring success. Volunteers will need to take on various tasks such as serving customers,helping to sort,prepare and pricedonations, alsodisplaying donations to look theirbest.
We have some exciting plans alongside the new retail outletand would love to have your ideas and enthusiasm to help us achieve them.
For further information, or an application form, please contact Louisa Clarke on 01297 598040 or call into our present charity shop (next to Ackermans).
HALF TERM EVENTS IN EAST DEVON
Tree trail, Saturday 7 October to Monday 30 October, The Lookout at Seaton Wetlands
Explore Seaton Wetlands and discover 6 species of tree living on the reserve. Name all 6 using clues and interesting facts provided along the trail. Collect a trail leaflet from the Lookout. Return your completed trail to Seaton Jurassic for a free child’s entry to the exhibit.
No booking required, £2 per trail. Find out more at wildeastdevon.co.uk
Exmouth Mud Walk, Monday 23 October, 1:30pm to 3:30pm, Exmouth estuary
Wrap up warm and come exploring with the Education Ranger. Dig for Esturine worms, fish for shrimp and discover what is living in the mud of the Exe estuary!
Booking required, £4 per child. Find out more and book online wildeastdevon.co.uk
Bird watching for children, Tuesday 24 October, 2pm to 3pm and 3pm to 4pm Tower hide at Seaton Wetlands
Come and learn about the birds found at Seaton Wetlands, there will be bird spotting sheets and binoculars to borrow.
Booking required, £2 per child. Find out more at wildeastdevon.co.uk
Hedgelaying day course, Wednesday 25 October, 10am to 4pm, Knapp Copse Local Nature Reserve
Celebrate Devon Hedge Week with the Countryside team. Learn the traditional art of laying a Devon hedge with a Countryside Ranger in an East Devon Nature Reserve. No dogs.
Booking required, £25 per person. Find out more at wildeastdevon.co.uk
Halloween crafts at Seaton Wetlands, Thursday 26 October, 10am to 12noon, Reed Base, Seaton Wetlands
Join the Education ranger and make autumnal and Halloween themed crafts using natural materials.
No booking required, £3 per child. Find out more at wildeastdevon.co.uk
Windrush willow: Rush matts and vases, Saturday 28 October, 10am to 4pm, Reed Base at Seaton Wetlands
Come and make a rush matt and a vase with Windrush Willow in the beautiful setting at Seaton Wetlands. Learn to make a check weave square, a pairing weave to shape the items and finish with a simple track border. All instruction and materials provided.
No booking required, £42 per person. Find out more at wildeastdevon.co.uk
HOLIDAY REQUESTS
We cannot authorise holidays in term times unless these are exceptional circumstances. (e.g parents of forces children). Devon County Council are now tightening their rules on this issue and fines are again being issued for 5 or more days absence. I totally understand some of the circumstances on the request forms, however, rarely can a holiday be authorised. Any time off school must be requested via the absence request form available from the office.
ABSENCES
Parents and carers are reminded to contact the school by 9.30am if their child is going to be absent from school due to illness. Please use the Parentmail app, leave a message on the answerphone (01297 20922) or email . If your child has an appointment that you know about in advance, please ensure you have informed the office. Please do not rely on children to pass on messages - instead please write a short note to the office staff or let us know by phone or in person at the counter. The school has a duty of care to know the whereabouts of children and when we have not been informed of the reason for a child’s absence the office staff have had to spend a great deal of time phoning various contact numbers to find out why a child is missing from school.
FREE SCHOOL MEALS
To qualify for free school meals parents need to be receipt of one of the following –
· Income Support
· income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
· income-related Employment and Support Allowance
· support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
· the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
· Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
· Working Tax Credit run-on - paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
· Universal Credit
If you qualify then please, please see the office. They will help you with the application process. Not only will your child will benefit from a dinner each day but the school receives £1320 towards supporting your child’s education!
NUTS – ALL YEAR GROUPS May we respectfully ask parents NOT to provide their child with nuts for their mid-morning snack or lunch as some children have severe nut allergies.