Hot isn’t it!

It has been the hottest June week on record and across the country many schools, as well as hospitals and other services, have been really struggling to stay operational. At Kenton Primary we have felt like we have, at last, had a dose of good luck as our Portacabin temporary buildings are fitted with ridiculously over-specified air conditioning throughout. The buildings have been kept at a deliciously crisp seventeen degrees and it has been a beautifully calm and gentle week. We did cancel the swimming lessons this morning as we didn’t like the idea of the children sitting out on the side under the burning sun and, also, because the pool’s temperature had become hard to regulate. Other than that, the week has run remarkably normally with the small addition of a huge water battle on the playground at lunchtime. A good time was had by all – it’s going to take a while for my shoes to dry out.

Without doubt, we are very lucky indeed to have our air conditioning, it has made what could have been a very hard week much more bearable. However, we really do owe a big thank you to all the staff – teachers and teaching assistants, admin and cleaning – who worked hard to make sure that the children had a really fun and positive week. I am grateful and proud to lead such a brilliant team.

The Jungle Book 

Our performance of The Jungle Book is on Tuesday 13th July in the auditorium at Teignmouth Community. Our ‘second round’ of ticket sales will open on Monday which will allow everyone to purchase more tickets. If you haven’t bought your first round of tickets yet then I advise you to do so before Monday as if the second round is very busy it may be hard to get hold of tickets. We would love for all children in Oak and Chestnut to be able to be fully involved in the show and to have the experience of performing in front of their loved ones and it would be awful if anyone left it too late and was unable to get tickets.

Swimming Lessons

The saga of our swimming lessons is not getting any simpler I am sorry to say. The site manager at Starcross is away from the school for a fortnight and as he is the person who is certified to run the pool, that means it is out of action for the next two weeks. We want to give all the children their sessions but it will not be the next two Fridays as planned. It looks to us like it may well be Thursday 16th and Friday 17th July and that is the plan that we are working towards but, as you can imagine, there’s a few people involved and we aren’t quite over the line with it yet. We will, of course, communicate with Oak Class parents as soon as we have any new information.

Thankyou!

We all owe a huge vote of thanks to Mike Taylor and Steve Swift who have worked in the brutal heat over the last couple of weeks to replace and upgrade the plau equipment and the furniture on the playing field. It was lovely to see the new benches being used by families almost as soon as they were lifted off the trailor and wonderful to see the dangerous and rickety climbing wall going and the brand new and much sturdier version taking shape. Woody formally took possession of it by being the first to traverse it.

It has taken months and years of persuasion to get the go ahead from the parish council to get this work done. I know that the KSPA have played a role in that as have many individuals. Our children and families love the play area so much – it’s a gift of real love to get it back to this great state. The swings in the fenced area should be back in use very soon too. Thanks to everyone who played a part in pushing this along and especially to Steve and Mike for the sweat.

Birthday Treats

A special thank you to Mariia’s mum who had the brilliant idea of bringing bags of yummy fruit for the children in Chestnut Class to mark Mariia’s birthday. As you know, I am trying to end the giving away of sweets as reward or treat and am trying to promote healthier alternatives. The fruit bags were a great idea and were enjoyed enormously by the children. \It was also very kind and thoughtful to bear in mind one child’s allergies and provide something appropriate for that child. No one should feel any pressure to give other children anything, it’s kind but not something we should consider to be expected. But if you do want to, Mariia’s mum has given us a lovely inclusive and positive example!

Kenton Koncerts

Rachael Shearmur, who organised our concert performances last week, has given me a message to tell you about some musical events happening this weekend. Some of our pupils will be performing as part of the mini-recitals on Saturday Morning so we all really hope that there will be a good audience for them – do go along if you can.

Good morning!

We have two very different events taking place this weekend, as part of the slightly grandly-named Kenton Music Festival. Please note, though, that due to the somewhat larger-scale events taking place at Powderham we have relocated the Sunday afternoon concert, Colours of Sound, to St Gregory’s Church in Dawlish.

Saturday 27^th June – 10am to midday (doors open at 9.45) – All Saints Church Kenton – mini-recitals

We have many people taking part and contributing their time and skills to create a very varied programme which features harp, guitar and vocals, organ, recorders, piano, choir, violin and viola and arias from opera.

Refreshments will be available throughout the morning, from 9.45.

The whole event is free but we would be grateful for any donations which you can afford to make which will be put towards our school concerts. In 2026 we have been able to offer eight: at Mill Lane, Hazeldown and Our Lady and St Patrick’s in Teignmouth, at Westcliff and Gatehouse in Dawlish, and at Kenton, Starcross and Exminster.

Access and parking – You may be aware that the Powderham events mean that various parking and traffic restrictions will be in place. Please note, however, that these do not come into force until 2pm each day. You will therefore be able to access Kenton via all usual routes, including the A379. Once in the village, you will see various signs up in all the side roads saying “Parking beyond this point for residents only 24^th – 29^th June”. Do not be put off by these. The idea is to deter people going to the Powderham events. Please just park as you would normally in the village car park or on the street. If you are concerned, pop a note on your dashboard saying something like “Attending event at All Saints Church – will be gone by 12.30”

Sunday 28^th June – 4pm – St Gregory’s Church Dawlish – Colours of Sound with Formula 5

This is a fantastically energetic celebration of music and art, as visually entertaining as it is musically accomplished. The choice of music is very eclectic, from How to Train Your Dragon and Howl’s Moving Castle to Mussorgsky’s Pictures From an Exhibition. The unifying feature is that all the pieces have either been inspired by art, or have themselves inspired art, or are the theme tunes of films and animation.

Formula 5 are:

Alfie Pugh – keyboards

Rebecca Willson – violin and accordion

David Jones – guitar

John Donnelly – double bass and bass guitar

Gary Evans – percussion

Tickets are £16 to include interval refreshments. Accompanied under-18s can attend free. Tickets are available from:

• rachaelshearmur@gmail.com
• 07960 103 394
• www.ticketsource.com/vive-la-musique
• on the door – cash and cheques only please

Parking and access – although there are no restrictions in Dawlish the scale of the events at Powderham may result in some disruption, so please allow extra time for your journey. Please also be aware, particularly if coming from the Exeter direction, that from 2pm the A379 will in parts be closed to all but residents and Powderham ticket-holders, so Dawlish will be better accessed via other routes such as the A380. There is no parking at the church, but there is on street parking in a number of nearby roads. The closest public car park is Barton Hill.

It would be lovely to see you at one or other or both events!

With all good wishes,

Rachael Shearmur

Ivy Education Trust Recruitment

There is a new job within our trust being advertised which may be of interest. Do pass on to anyone you know who might be suitable for this role.

 Teignmouth Community School

Learning Coach- Nurture Provision

All current vacancies across our Trust are available here

The post Newsletter 26th June appeared first on Kenton Primary School.

Thanks to the twelve parents and carers who have already filled out our survey. Today is the closing day for this and I’d love to see that number double so please do click on this link and give us your views. It shouldn’t take more than five to ten minutes and goes very well with a cup of tea. I can’t tell you how important it is to take part. Whether you think we are doing a great job, an average job or a dreadful job, we really, really want to know and your responses will help us to do a better job next year.

Sports Day

I’m feeling enormously relieved that my faith in the weather was rewarded and that yesterday’s Sports Day was able to go ahead. What a beautiful afternoon it was – I’m told some people even went home slightly sunburned.

Congratulations go to the victorious Blue Team but the afternoon really did feel like a win for everyone. I saw so many examples of lovely Sportsmanlike behaviour and the children really did exemplify our values of Respect, Responsibility and Kindness. You may have seen some of the same examples that I did.

Huge thanks go to Mr Tyrrell who manages to make running this event look really seamless. The man is a diamond.

Thank you to everyone who was patient with me while I quietly kept saying that the event would go ahead.  Even though it did pay off, it might have looked daft at times. Hopefully that proves the power of positive thought!

Nursery

As many of our current Nursery children will be moving up to reception in September, we will have plenty of space in the Nursery for new two and three year olds. We would love to get those spaces booked up as soon as possible. If you know that you will be using Nursery in the Autumn please, please let us know and we will get sessions booked in for you. If you know anyone locally who might be interested in a spot in our Nursery do, please, put them in touch and I’m very happy indeed to give them a tour and let them see our lovely setting.

New Headteacher

We have been talking with our new headteacher Fran Toms and we are really looking forward to her starting in September. The pupils have met Fran and have got on well with her and I think most parents met her on the gate last week so, hopefully, some of the natural concerns are starting to settle. She will be SENDCO as well as head which is going to be a HUGE job for her but she will receive a great deal of support from the new Director of Primary Education, Annabelle Thomas, who is based on site here at Kenton. Fran has already had a good long meeting with Miss Webber and Mr Keirle to set up dates and processes for next year. She will have a full day with Bestwick to handover vital information on SEND and, particularly, EHCPs. While changing leaders is unavoidably unsettling, I think that we are doing as much as we can to ensure that it is as smooth as it can be for pupils, staff and the community.

Camp Out

We are SO excited for next Thursday’s Camp Out for all children in Key Stage Two. Details have gone out to all parents and carers via email but if you have any queries do get in touch. We could still do with help to put up tents after school on Tuesday so if you are free from about 3:45 onwards and are happy to help, do get in touch – bring a rubber mallet if you have one!

Dates for Your Diary

Willow Class Trip to Dawlish – Friday 19th June

Jungle Book

Rehearsals will take place on Monday, 13 July, and Tuesday, 14 July, followed by the full performance on Tuesday, 14 July.

Leavers’ Assembly

The Leavers Assembly will take place on the afternoon of July 23rd.

Last Day of Term

School will finish for the end of the school year at the normal time on July 24th

The post Newsletter 12th June appeared first on Kenton Primary School.

Time certainly flies by when you’re having fun! We have come to the end of another half term and it’s time for a break – a chance to look back on a lovely few weeks and to look forward to lots more fun coming down the before the end of summer term.

Looking back, stand out memories of this term for me will be the amazing May Day organised by the KSPA, the joy of children learning to take pride in their work – some for the first time – the event of our We Are Ivy Week, the Community Cafe in the church, the brilliant calm and gentle attitude of our Year Sixes taking their STAs and the brilliant calm and gentle behaviour of the other classes who made sure that their friends could do their best. I will remember all the singing and dancing, the fun and stories that come back from Forest School – and much much more.

Looking ahead to next term, I’m looking forward to our great Camp Out in Willowland, our production of The Jungle Book, lots of fun playing on the field when the weather is good. Something else that I am really looking forward to is getting to know our new headteacher, Miss Toms, she has already been on site here to help us with our recruitment of our new teacher for next year. Most of the children have met her and she has spent a little time alongside staff – most of the parents met her on the gate this morning in fact. Miss Toms will be with us for a day a week after half term, she will be learning how the school operates, getting to know children and families and generally becoming not just a member of our Kenton family but its leader. She’ll be supported by Annabelle Thomas, the Director of Primary Education, whose office is upstairs in our admin block and who is likely to be here on site most days.

Lorraine Bestwick

Some news, after working with Kenn and Kenton Schools for many years, Lorraine Bestwick is moving on to pastures new. This is happy news for Lorraine as she is looking forward to taking on new challenges and exploring a new chapter in her life, but it is sad news for us at Kenton as she has been an absolute rock for the school in general and most particularly for our pupils with special educational needs and for their families. She will be very much missed.

The plan is for Mrs Toms to take on the role of SENDCO alongside the role of headteacher. This isn’t an uncommon set up in small schools like ours and it does come with some advantages. Mrs Bestwick was only able to be here on site once a week, Miss Toms will be here every day which means she’ll be able to check up on provision for children with Special Educational Needs very much more frequently and also have a lot more flexibility in times when she can meet with parents and specialists.

I know that when the time comes at the end of term – still nine weeks away – you will all want to join with me in thanking Lorraine for all her work over the years and to wish her all the best for her future endeavors. Up till then we have a good long time for Miss Toms to have a thorough handover from Mrs Bestwick so we can make sure that the baton is not dropped.

New Teacher Appointment

We are delighted to announce that we have appointed a very experienced teacher to join the team from September, Mr James Kelly. Mr Kelly will be teaching Oak Class. We will allow Mr Kelly to introduce himself to you very soon.

Police Visit

Willow Class and Nursery had a visit from the police as part of their topic on ‘People Who Help Us’. Everyone seemed to have a brillaint time and I’m told there was lots of great talking and thinking. The photos certainly suggest that the children enjoyed their day!

Family Questionnaire

Earlier this week I shared a link to a questionnaire for parents and families asking for their views about our school. I would love as many people as possible to fill this out. If you have a child at the school you have the right to have your voice reflected in the survey. You may have views which are strongly positive, strongly the other way or you may be right in the middle. There may be parts of what we are doing and how we do them that matter a great deal to you and other parts you barely think about. It’s important that all of that is reflected in our results so please do take five minutes to fill it out.

I have included the link to the questionnaire in the email I sent out to share this newsletter. If you didn’t receive the email but would like the link, just drop me a message.

Dawlish College Tours

Our colleagues at Dawlish College have asked me to share details of their school tours for Year Five pupils who are considering their applications for Upper School.

The post Newsletter 21st May appeared first on Kenton Primary School.

What a week!

Our Year Six children absolutely knocked the challenge of sitting their SATS tests out of the park – and also managed to have an absolutely awesome week of ‘proper’ learning too.

You will know that at Kenton we know very well that SATS aren’t the be all and end all of primary education. They test a narrow set of skills so that the school can be compared with other schools nationally. They don’t tell us anything very useful about the children in a more holistic sense. We do them, and we do them as well as we possibly can, but we also celebrate and work hard at other things – for example our production of The Jungle Book which is coming along very nicely. My good friend Mike shared a poem we’d written for all the pupils taking SATS – I’ll pop it at the bottom of this newsletter.

The Jungle Book

The children practiced this morning with the help of our dance teacher Katie Whenman and those routines are looking very good indeed – this show promises to be easily just as good as last year’s epic production of Matilda.

May Day

Astonishing news from the KSPA – they have finished counting all the coins and doing all the sums following their super, super successful May Day event on the field. Here’s a message from KSPA team:

Transport during ‘Powderham Live’

A message from Heather who has taken on a new role…

Heather McGrouther and Jennifer Rowland

Swimming

Swimming Lessons for Oak Class get underway after half term. I know that the cost to parents is a big step up from last year and I really do apologise for that. Sadly, it’s beyond our control – for a variety of very boring reasons, we have been unable to book into the Dawlish swimming pool this year. We are instead using the pool at Starcross Primary School and we are very grateful to them for making that possible. The reason for the increased price is that we have to employ our own teachers and we have to employ sufficient to maintain safe ratios. That means that instead of paying for a couple of hours of time for people already employed by the leisure centre, we are contracting in qualified swimming teachers from the Dolphin Swimming School in Cofton. Half a day each for their instructors costs us more than a couple of hours of people already working at the pool.

We really do regret this price increase but it is beyond our control, we have to teach swimming and we have to do it safely and properly. I believe that I’m right that in previous years the KSPA has helped to part fund swimming lessons which has been very generous of them, this year – quite reasonably – their priorities are elsewhere and we cannot assume that they should want to fund this important part of our curriculum when it des not directly benefit every child in the school community.

I am particularly passionate about making sure every child leaves primary school able to handle themselves safely in the water because I know how badly this can go wrong. Back in my old home town of Oxford, we would lose young people every summer who went for a cool dip in the river and found that the situation got out of control quickly. Here, living by the estuary and close to the beach the risks are very high and very scary indeed.

I do hope that people can understand this and able to make the payment via Arbor to allow this to go ahead.

Inset day May 22nd

Please do not forget that next Friday – 22nd May is an inset day and that the school will be closed for staff training. We will be doing important work on site to improve our curriculum and make sure it best fits the needs of the children.

Mike’s SATS Poem

My good friend Mike, who was headteacher at Haywards School in Crediton for many years, shared this poem with me and I asked his permission to share it with you all.

SATs don’t measure sport

SATs don’t measure art

SATs don’t measure music

Or the kindness in your heart

SATs don’t see your beauty

SATs don’t know your worth

SATs don’t see the reasons

You were put upon this earth

SATs don’t see your magic

How you make others smile

SATs don’t time how quickly

You can run a mile

SATs don’t hear your laughter

Or see you’ve come this far

SATs are just a tiny glimpse

Of who you really are

So, sitting at your table

With a pencil and your test,

Remember SATs aren’t who you are,

Remember you’re the best!

Attendance Letters

Earlier this week, we sent every family a letter letting them know their children’s current attendance figure. We do this periodically so that you are fully aware of your child’s percentage and so that there’s no surprise at the end of the year when the attendance figure is given on the report. In general we would say that we have no concerns about any child whose attendance is above 95% – that’s what I think of as the green zone. When attendance falls below 95% is when I get concerned and below 90% is when I’m worried. If your letter gave you any cause for concern, do get in touch for a chat.

World War Two Experience Day

Once they had seen the SATS off and then worked very hard on the Jungle Book performance, the children of Chestnut Class then spent the rest of Friday dressed up in 1940’s clothes immersing themselves in the lives of British people in the Second World War. Our brilliant TA Miss Williams organised for her father, Paul, to come and visit us with his extraordinary collection of WWII memorabilia including his 1940’s US Army Jeep. What a sight! The children had officially the best time ever. Huge thanks to Miss Williams and to her dad for giving us this experience. Paul is enormously knowledgeable about the second world war in general and especially the D Day landings, he was able to answer all the children’s questions. Abbie and Paul were very keen to make sure that the children understood that the guns they brought in are replicas – not originals – and that they are absolutely not capable of firing – even if there had been any ammunition involved.

The post Newsletter 15th May appeared first on Kenton Primary School.

Just a quick catch up to say again how pleased, proud and impressed I was with Monday’s May Day celebration. What a brilliant team of organisers and what a spectacular day they put on for our community – it was a privilege for me to be part of it. My friends from The Crediton Strummers (now also known as ‘Katie and The Acorns’ were all hugely impressed by the day. My bandmate Mike, a retired headteacher, messaged me to say;

Absolutely cracking afternoon at Kenton Primary School. So well supported, so many turns and activities, and a great crowd. Well done Ed to your school organisers. Proper job!

We’ve seen some lovely photos but if you have more please do send them in so we can create a record of the day

SATS Tests for Year Six

Next week is the week of our Statutory Assessment Tests for the children in Year Six. The children are well up for the challenge and couldn’t have been prepared better. As you know, at Kenton we know that every child counts for far more than any test could ever show. Our children are musicians, athletes and gymnasts; they are kind friends and staunch allies, they are funny, kind, cheeky and steadfast. They multitudinously curious. They are three dimensional people and they are very much themselves. We want our children to be as well prepared as they possibly can be for these tests, just as we would want them to be well prepared for the challenge of a performance or a sports fixture – because we want them to feel that they have represented themselves to their full potential. We know that you, as parents and as community members, will never, never mistake a child’s performance in a test for any sort of judge of that child’s worth or as any sort of predictor of their future attainment. We wouldn’t ever do that either. We are excited to see how the children deal with their SATS but we are, whisper it, maybe even more excited to see how they get on with Sports Day and The Jungle Book later in the term.

Teacher Vacancy at Kenton

We are advertising a position for a new teacher to join the team at Kenton. We will let you know all about this as soon as it is appropriate for us to do so. We would like to recruit the best possible teacher for the role so, if you know of a brilliant teacher who would fit our ethos here please do pass the news on. Feel free to share this link.

Class Photos

We will be taking Class Photographs on 19th May, let’s all be as smart as we can possibly be so we represent ourselves and our schools with pride.

World War Two Day

Chestnut Class have been studying World War Two. They will be having an ‘experience day’ next Friday 15th May. Children in Years 5 and 6 are invited to come in a period costume.

Inset Day

A reminder that we have an INSET Day on Friday 22nd May. School will be closed for all pupils.

Powderham Garden Festival

We were so delighted to be invited to take a group of children to Powderham Garden Festival last week. We sent our Green Team along to represent us and to see what they could learn along with a couple of responsible adults. The looks on the children’s faces (as well as on Liz’s and Rachael’s faces) when they got home spoke of a long, happy and rather exhausting day. The children has tales to tell and also a couple of freeby watering cans that they had acquired along the way.

These pictures tell the story better than I could. A huge thank you to the team at Powderham who invited us along and gave our children such a lovely day.

The post Newsletter 8th May appeared first on Kenton Primary School.

I’m very pleased and proud to be able to introduce the new Headteacher for Kenton Primary, Ms Francesca Toms.

Thank you for your patience while we have been holding on to this information – we wanted to give Francesca’s current school plenty of time to communicate with their own community in a calm and timely manner.

New Director of Education for Primary

Ivy Trust has made the decision to restructure staffing in Primary to clarify structures and make savings. The role of Executive

Dear Parents and Carers,

I am writing to introduce myself as the Director of Primary Education as of the 1st May for Ivy Education Trust. I will be working closely with the Headteachers from the five primary schools at Kenn, Kenton, Cockwood, Starcross and Teignmouth. I have worked within education for 20 years, and have been a school leader at Teignmouth Primary School since 2011, and more recently an Executive Headteacher across Starcross and Teignmouth Primary Schools.

The Primary Director of Education will provide strategic leadership, oversight, and support for the primary phase across Ivy Education Trust. They will ensure high standards of teaching, learning, and pupil outcomes across the five primary schools, aligning with the Trust’s vision, values, and improvement priorities. Working closely with the Executive Director of Education, and school leaders, they will drive school improvement, strengthen leadership capacity, and ensure compliance with statutory frameworks and Trust policies.
They will aid collaboration and learning from each other to bring about change.

I will be based at Kenton Primary School, but will be visiting each setting regularly to support them on their school improvement journey. I look forward to meeting some of you on the gate and please do come and say hello!

Kind regards,

Annabelle Thomas
Director of Primary Education

Building Update

Work on the new school building has been continuing in the background. While we aren’t seeing work on the ground at the moment, huge amounts is going on behind the scenes and the plans are still to get that building built and Kenton Primary moved into its forever home as soon as possible. I asked for an update and was given this:

“We are at the feasibility stage, where we are exploring the best school design to suit the location and create a concept that can be developed and refined into a final proposal. The design will meet the DfE’s specification requirements, as well as the needs of the Trust and the school. The DfE and the Trust are committed to sustainability; the new school will be designed with sustainability and ecological benefits at its heart. Plans include green spaces and planted areas for pupils, staff, and visitors to enjoy. These outdoor spaces will support wellbeing, learning, and a connection with nature.

As the designs develop, we will share further updates and more details with you.”

Bank Holiday

Just to remind you – Monday is a Bank Holiday, there’s no school!

You are, of course, welcome to our May Day Celebration – in fact we hope very much that you will be there.

May Day

This is your final reminder that on Monday we have our May Day Celebration from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m.

There will be lots of fun to be had including games to play, music, dancing, our green man procession and lots more. Mr Finch will be going in the stocks at some point so you can enjoy throwing wet sponges at him. There will be owls, morris dancers, a circus, pizza, a tea tent, a toy stall – it’s going to be a really good day.

It would really help if you bring the money you are intending to spend in cash and, as an especial help, if as much of that could be in smaller denominations as possible, that would be really helpful.

There will be NO PARKING available up here at the school – that will all be needed by traders and stall holders – so please walk if at all possible or, if you need to drive, park in the triangle or at The Victory Hall who are generously letting us use their parking for the day.

Remember that we do not allow any dogs to come on to the school field. Not even very nice ones. I understand that there was some friction over this last time we celebrated a May Day, hopefully there won’t be any this time. Of course guide dogs for the blind are an exception to this but I don’t think there is any other wiggle room – I can’t have children playing on grass which has been recently pooed or weed on.

As a sidebar, don’t forget to enter your pets for the competition to pick a mascot for The Dolphin. All creatures great and small are welcome and newts are as likely to win as chinchillas so don’t hold back. The link to enter is here. The closing day is TOMORROW May 2nd, don’t miss your chance!

We Are Ivy Week

This past week, every school in Ivy Trust has been involved in activities of service to build children’s pride in their communities – the community of coastal Devon, the community of our trust and, most clearly, the home communities that we live amongst. Our Willow Class children got busy collecting litter around the village playing fields, Oak Class tidied in the churchyard and cleared some overgrown graves as well as following up the Willow litter pick and Chestnut Class ran a pop up cafe down in the church and welcomed members of the community for a cup of tea and a slice of cake – raising money for local projects in the process.

These activities have ben very happy ones indeed and allowed us to have powerful conversations about caring for where we live and for connections to community. As of right now, my website platform is being very naughty and refusing to let me upload photos. I’ll try to add some as soon as it starts behaving!

Sports Day

Our Sports Day this year will be on Thursday June 11th. As ever, Mr Tyrell will be running a carousel of activities for the children to participate in. As always, he will spend his session with them the week before introducing all those activities so that they aren’t new and overwhelming on the day. We will let you know timings and other details closer to the day.

Swimming

There will be swimming lessons for children in Oak Class after half term. |We are just nailing down the last details regarding minibuses and timings so bear with us. We’ll let you know details as soon as we can.

Jungle Book

Our amazing production of The Jungle Book will take place at the auditorium at Teignmouth College on Tuesday 14th July. All children in Key Stage 2 will be involved. Please, please keep that day free. We will get tickets on sale after half term.

Parking

Once again I have to ask people please to avoid parking on East Town Lane as much as possible and absolutely definitely to avoid parking on the tight corner directly opposite the gates onto the school grounds. We had a horrible situation yesterday when a local resident and a minibus from the school met without any space to pass and with reversing made almost impossible by the traffic piling up behind them. I understand it was a fraught encounter. Personally, I would prefer that the corner opposite the school had double yellow lines as it really is not safe for people to park there and I feel that, if the situation continues as present, it is only a matter of time before we have a serious incident.

The post Newsletter 1st May appeared first on Kenton Primary School.

what a glorious day it is today! I very much hope you are all able to enjoy getting outside and having some important sun time this weekend. It almost feels like the start of summer. Naturally we are looking forward to all sorts of things over the next few weeks – swimming lessons, a camp out, our May Day and more – but it’s worth me saying here that I am also really looking forward to letting you know about our new permanent headteacher who will be starting in role in September. The selection process was very rigorous and we are pleased that we have appointed a really strong candidate. We want to give our new head a reasonable amount of time to tell their current school that they are moving on before we put the word out here so please bear with me for just a few more days. I expect to be able to let you know all about them in this newsletter next week. Thank you all for your patience and understanding.

Nursery and Reception are just LOVING the additions to the EYFS garden. I cannot tell you what joy it has given me to see the children exploring and experimenting with the new features in the area. I see jumping and balancing, I see thinking and tinkering, I see bravery and imagination. I’d like to give an enormous thank you to the parents, carers who came in over the Easter break to dig, plant, hammer, saw, screw, nail, plane and work magic. A huge thanks also to RGB construction supplies in marsh Barton who donated cast amounts of materials to make this happen – they were very generous indeed. Also to Taylor Construction Management who were very generous in time and expertise.

May Day

Our wonderful May Day Celebration is on May 4th from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m.

The KSPA have been working incredibly hard on this and they are preparing a wonderful day for us. There will be so much fun to be had and so much connection to be made. Get it in the diary, invite every friend and neighbour you can think of and don’t forget to make sure you have cash – with mobile reception being so poor we can’t rely on sum up machines and the like.

The Dolphin Are Looking For A Mascot And It Could Be YOU(r pet)

The community group working to bring the pub back to life want to choose a mascot for the pub. Send in a photo of your pet and you could revel in the glory. The winner will receive a framed photograph of their pet and a copy will be proudly displayed in the pub when it reopens. They tell me it doesn’t just have to be a cat, a dog or even a mammal – goldfish, axolotls and bearded dragons are all equally welcome as entries and equally likely to win.

The link to enter the competition is https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18eGJ7AspX/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Camp Out

On the night of Thursday 18th June running into Friday 19th we will have a big camp out at school for all children in Year 3, 4, 5 and 6. We will be sleeping in the bell tents that we have used before – you may remember them from the last week of Summer Term when we ran our ‘tent school’ in the grounds at Kenn Primary. The tents will be put up in the grassed area behind the Willow classroom and Nursery so that it will be entirely within our secure perimeter and with toilets very close by.

We’ll be asking you to bring your children along after an early tea and we will entertain them until bed time. In the morning we will give them some breakfast and toddle them along till school time. If you want to whisk your child away for breakfast and a shower in the morning that’s fine and we’ll keep the register open until 10:00 a.m. for those children to return – but there’s no need. We will make sure that Key Stage have a very gentle day indeed on that Friday as some may not have slept very much and might have missed home a lot – that goes for the staff too!

Some children will be very comfortable with sleeping away from home but we know that for some this will still be a challenge. That is precisely the reason that we are running this opportunity – we are thinking especially of the children who will be going on the residential trip in the autumn, we want to make sure that they all have the opportunity to try this one night camp out in a very familiar place as a sort of ‘dry run’ before the autumn and the longer time away from home.

We are IVY Week

Next week is we are Ivy Week – classes are all doing things to benefit the community. Chestnut Class are running a cafe for the community in the church on Monday morning and Friday morning, Oak Class are taking some time to help tidy up the churchyard – including cleaning up gravestones, and Willow Class are doing a big litter pick around the school field. More information has gone around on Seesaw and the WhatsApps I believe.

We are IVY week runs right across the trust with all eight schools running a variety of community events that serve to embed our shared values. As a part of the week we will also have a friendly football match between our pupils and children from Cockwood School. Mr Keirle has asked that pupils in Chestnut Class bring in boots and shinpads if they have them so that they can take part.

INSET Day 22nd May

Please do note that school will be closed  to all pupils for staff training on Friday 22nd May. The following Monday is the May Bank Holiday so you have a cheeky four day weekend to enjoy there. Book those campsites before they sell out!

ADDENDUM! A Message from the KSPA

The post Newsletter 24th April appeared first on Kenton Primary School.

A joyful Happy Easter to all our friends and families, do have a great break. We look forward to welcoming everyone back after the holidays.

Work Party

We will be gathering at school on Thursday April 9th for a work party to improve the Nursery/EYFS Garden. We have all sorts of plans afoot but need some strong and willing workers to help out. Come along to school from 10:00 a.m. If you are handy do bring along tools. Even if you are not handy, do come along and we will find work for you to do! There is a second work party planned for the Tuesday focussing on gardening and on painting pallets so they can be used for the more construction based jobs. I believe that work party is being coordinated through the WhatsApps so do look out for messages there.

Bug Hotels

After Oak Classes trip to Powderham to build a bug hotel last week, this Tuesday it was Willow’s turn. The short walk down to the Riding School felt like a jolly long way for some of our smaller people but they held it together and we got there to eat our packed lunches in one piece. We had a great time filling up our bug hotel with leaves, pine cones, twigs, bamboo tubes and all sorts to create sheltered living places for a whole variety of mini beasts.  One junior farmer even showed us how to get the string off a hay bale with predictable results – there was hay EVERYWHERE! I hope to pop back in a few weeks and see the place teeming with bugs.

Book Fair

Thanks to Mrs Best for organising our Scholastic Book Fayre which ran after school on Monday and Tuesday. I’ve seen a lot of children around who look very happy with their purchases! I understand the QR system wasn’t great due to the flaky Kenton mobile signal – we would need a better option for a other year I think.

May Day

Another call to put the date for our May Day Bank Holiday celebration in your diaries and to invite grannies and grandpas, aunties, uncles, friends and neighbours. There’ll be pizza, a barbecue, morris dancers, owls, circus and all sorts of fun, plus, of course, the legendary may pole dancing. Do not miss it.

We are collecting toys for a big bring and buy so do clear your attics. Speak to Heather if you can spare and hour or two to help out on the day.

We the Curious

Chestnut Class had a terrific day at We The Curious in Bristol. They had an amazing time working with chemicals to create different colours, experienced and planetarium and got hands on with all sorts of other fascinating scientific adventures. Thank you to Mr Keirle for all that organising and driving, it must have been a long and exhausting day but it looks like it was well worth it.

Gymnastics Club

Mr Tyrell’s brilliant Thursday Morning Gymnastics Club finished their term in style this morning by giving the whole school a performance of what they have been working on. There were back bends, flick flacks, cartwheels and who knows what all. Every child was a superstar and it would be wrong to pick any out in particular but I am going to give special mentions to Mollie for confident leadership, Grace for extraordinary bendiness and Robyn for being a smiling superstar. It was a lovely way to start our last morning of the term and at least one of us adults had a tear in our eye as we reflected on the bravery and brilliance of our pupils.

That’s all for now – have a wonderful Easter Break and see you soon everyone.

Best wishes,

Ed Finch (head teacher)

The post Newsletter 2nd April appeared first on Kenton Primary School.

Gosh what a busy week! I think we are all ready to drop. I hope you get a relaxing weekend then come back bouncing ready for the last week of term. DOn’t forget that there’s no school on Friday – this last week of term is just four days.

Ivy Music Festival

A group of children from Oak Class impressed us all with their performance on stage at the Langstone Cliff Hotel as part of the Ivy Music Festival on Thursday evening. They had worked with Pat and Elfyn from Sonopera to write their own song based on their own ideas about working together and performed as part of an evening where each of the eight schools in the Ivy Trust showcased their own composition. It was a jolly long old day for the children who rehearsed from 1:00 p.m. and gave two full performances – as well as courage to perform and responsibility to each other they showed us bags and bags of resilience. Miss Phippen and Mr Finch were very, very proud of each and every one of them.

The Girl Locked in The Library

Last week we hosted a theatre performance from MED Theatre of their show ‘Locked in the Library’ about a girl who finds herself, as the title suggests, locked into the library by the fiendish Rumpelstiltskin and has to prove she knows about lots of the characters in the books in order to be let out. One very clever performer played lots of characters – Heidi, Mr Toad, The Grumpy Ladybird and a very funny bookworm. The children were very engaged in the show, they liked the way that the performers gave them lots of ways to join in and feel part of the show and they thought the performers were very clever with their puppetry skills and their range of funny voices. It was a very happy afternoon indeed with children from Nursery to key Stage Two all sitting and enjoying the show together. Who knows, it might even encourage them to widen the scope of books they check out in the library!

Scholastic Book Fayre

We have a Big Book Sale after school on Monday. Come along at Pick Up Time and have a look at what we have. There are books for all tastes and price bands as well bookmarks, pencil sharpeners and other items at pocket money prices, nothing is more than ten pounds. Children who are going to after school club will have a chance to visit the fayre before they leave for Starcross so they can bring some money in an envelope to buy a book – otherwise all payments will be made through a clever QR code system. If it’s hard to make time to visit the library or a book shop then this is a great way to give your child the chance to make a choice for their own reading. A little bonus is that we get to choose some books to keep for school – the more you buy, the more we get to keep!

May Day – a message from the KSPA

The children have been preparing for May Day by brushing up on their Maypole Dancing skills.

Work Party Call Out

We will be hosting two work parties in the first week of the Easter Holidays to create some fun and interest in our foundation unit garden. This grassed area was reseeded over the summer and is now just about ready for children to play on – time for us to get our work gloves on and make something of it.

On the 7th we want to get together to paint a whole bunch of pallets. With many hands this shouldn’t take too long we just need people who don’t mind getting their hands mucky, who can get some paint on and who can bring a brush or two to do it.

On the 9th we need people who are reasonably handy with tools and can follow instructions and plans scribbled on envelopes to makes some things like a water wall, a big mud kitchen, a music board and so forth. Exact timings for both days to be agreed and publicised next week. Do get these onto all the class WhatsApp groups if you can please as I know some people see those who don’t always read this newsletter.

We’ll provide all the tea you can drink and maybe some biscuits and snacks too.

Mike Taylor – Hugo and Mabel’s dad – has cleverly sourced lots of materials for us to work with but we are still looking out for things like offcuts of chunky timber 2″x4″ and 4″x4″ in particular. We are also on the look out for decking boards – these could be offcuts and we don’t mind at all if they’ve been used already. Any car tyres you can lay your hands on would be put to good use. If anyone has guttering clips or downpipe clips going spare we would be very grateful for them. We would REALLY like a couple of sheets of marine ply – we know that’s a bit of an ask but just in case you know someone in the business – that would be SO helpful. We are more than happy to thank suppliers or trades on our social media or to do a little local news story if that would be persuasive to anyone.

If you have any thoughts or queries about this, do have a word with Ed or Mike.

Bug Hotel Project

This afternoon, Oak Class are off to Powderham to create a bug hotel. We are looking forward to taking the muddy route over and finding out exactly what they have in store for us – will it be a bug palace? A bug tenement? A bug castle! Hopefully, by the time you see this newsletter, I will have added the photos! Next week it will be Willows turn – what fun!

UPDATE: Yes – it was lots and lots of fun and the Powderham staff were incredibly kind and welcoming. HOw nice to run into friends from Starcross School while we were down there too.

Fun in the Sun

The brief window of lovely weather last week may have proved to be a false spring but it still gave us the chance to get out and enjoy the sunshine. We have been back out on our field for the first time in what feels like a long time. Willow Class even got the parachute out and enjoyed playing games together.

Ordering Meals

Thank you to everyone who is ordering meals on Arbor, it’s is now the majority of the school and it is saving SO MUCH TIME and making our mornings a lot more seamless. It really, really helps us if you can record that your child is bringing a packed lunch from home – we can’t safely assume that or some children would be going hungry. It’s worth noting that if you need us to provide a packed lunch for a trip, we really need to know at least a couple of days before the visit so we can order it from the kitchen at Kenn and get them to bring it over the day before. If you order it via arbor on the morning we really cannot help. The best thing to do is to speak to Tammy on reception or send her a message at least two days before the trip takes place.

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