this is my last newsletter for Kenton Primary School so I have to start off by saying a HUGE thank you to an awful lot of people.

Firstly, thank you to my colleagues who have made me so welcome for my year with the school and have shown every day their love and care for the pupils – Kenton is a very special place where every comes to work with a will to work hard and do their best for the children. There are no passengers here and no mood hoovers. Thank you to every teacher, TA, cleaner, caterer, cleaner, coach and musician… (I’m now in terror that I have left someone out)

Thanks also to the central team at Ivy Education Trust who are very much behind the scenes but who work incredibly hard to keep the Ivy schools running as smoothly as possible. I have worked in a few trusts and I really love this one. They have great values and really prioritise the human over the spreadsheet.

Thanks to all the parents and carers (aunties, uncles, grandparents and ‘next door neighbour that we call aunty but really isn’t technically a relative’ inclusive. I have been so quickly made to feel like a proper member of the Kenton Primary School Community and treated such warmth. I know that you will do the same for my successor, Francesca Toms, when she steps into role in September.

Lastly, but by no means least, a huge thankyou to the brilliant children of Kenton Primary. You have made every day a joy and I will miss you all so very much. I’m already plotting how I can get an invitation to pop in in the autumn to check in on you and see how everyone is doing.

I would like to say how humbled and grateful I have been for all the many cards and gifts I’ve received over the past few days – people have been so very generous. I know that my colleagues would join with me in saying that we have been really moved by the generosity we have been shown.

This has been a really special year for me – thank you everyone!

Message from Mrs Bestwick

Lorraine has given me a very heartfelt message to pass on to you:

Dear Families,

I want to take a moment to thank you all.

It has been such a privilege to be part of Kenton Primary School. I have loved watching your children grow, flourish, and develop into confident young people.

The sense of community here is so special, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have been part of it both as a teacher and as a SENCO.

Thank you for all your kind messages, cards and gifts, I will treasure them. As we head into the much-anticipated summer holidays, I would like to wish every family a restful, happy, and enjoyable break. Thank you once again for your kindness, support, and friendship over the years.

With warmest wishes,

Mrs Bestwick

Awesome Year Six

Our lovely year sixes did themselves proud with a great Leavers’ Assembly on Thursday. There were cute photos, memories, songs and poetry. Looking back at this past year, they have done such a great job under the guidance of care of our brilliant Mr Keirle. We’ll remember our Christmas Concert at the Church, The Jungle Book, Exe Valley Challenge, We The Curious, The Community Cafe and so much more. What Superstars!

Uniform

Over these past weeks, with the extremely hot weather, we have been very relaxed about uniform. When we return from the Summer holidays, I imagine the weather is likely to be much cooler and Mrs Toms and the teaching staff are going to be a good deal pickier on school uniform and will be trying hard to get us back to our usual smartly turned out look. If you are buying new shoes, please remember that we ask for plain black. We are just as happy with plain black trainers as plain black school shoes. We have seen quite a variety of shorts creeping in including some very short shorts and some very tight shorts – our uniform asks for a grey tailored short or skirt. Staff will be picking up on this so, if you are shopping in the summer holidays, remember that you can pick these items up very cheaply in any supermarket – no need to pay more somewhere else – particularly if you are going to get an email reminding you that your child’s choice isn’t in line with the policy!

Parking

A plea from local residents not to park in a way that blocks their drives or blocks their visibility as they try to leave their property. We have had two near misses this week and we really don’t want a serious accident. When we were based in the old school, people were in the habit of parking in the triangle and walking around the corner to the school. While I know that we are a little further from the triangle now and up a bit of a slope, I still think that this is very much a preferable option to trying to park up by the school and causing a danger. Please do park with consideration and, unless you have a specific disability which you have discussed with us, please don’t try and park right up here at the school – there just isn’t the room for everyone who might like to and it just isn’t safe.

Have a Wonderful Summer Everyone!

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

It was lovely to see the new children who will be starting in Reception next year coming for their ‘stay and play’ on Thursday this week. It’s so lovely to welcome new children and families into our school community. I think they were made to feel very welcome. Mrs Webber seemed very pleased with her new class!

It was also lovely to welcome Mr Kelly to the school, to see him making relationships with the children who will be in his Oak Class next year and to see those children really taking to him. One child admitted to me that they had been really anxious about changing class and having a new teacher next year but that they now felt really happy and excited to be in Mr Kelly’s Class. Job done!

Jungle Book

Our ‘Jungle Book’ production is in its last stages of preparation – it’s looking and sounding terrific and we are all looking forward to it very much indeed. The last tickets are on sale now – so if you need any extra for aunties, uncles, grandparents and cousins then do feel free to snap them up via your arbor log in. The show will take place at the auditorium at Teignmouth Community School – doors open at 5:00 p.m. I would advise you to get there as promptly as possible to grab your seats! If children haven’t brought in their costumes yet, can they come in first thing on Monday please – Mr Keirle is starting to feel a degree of stress as he hasn’t seen all those costumes yet.

Summer Social

We are having a big KSPA Summer Social get together on Friday 24th July at the end of the day. Everyone is invited.

First of all we would like to invite parents and carers to join us for a very special final assembly in the hall at 2:45 p.m. where we will be celebrating our year together and saying goodbye to some very special people. At the end of that assembly we will ask parents to go back outside the gate and then release children to them in the normal way. We imagine that will probably end up being just about our normal home time so if you cannot make it to that assembly please don’t worry – children will go at the normal time of 3:30.

After that, there will be a big old picnic and get together on the school field. Do bring picnic blankets, camping chairs, water pistols and whatever else you need. Please do not try to drive up to the school – there just isn’t the room and people will end up getting blocked in. The celebrations are expected to go on until 5:30 p.m. but just stay for as long or short a time as you like.

Frozen Fridays

The KSPA are going to be selling ice lollies at the end of the school day each Friday from today till the end of term. It will make life much easier for everyone involved if you are able to bring some cash!

Summer Clubs

Andy Tyrell and Katie Whenman will be running Summer Clubs which your children might like to take part in. They will take place at Trinity Primary School in Exeter – have a look at the programme and see if you might be interested in taking part.

Swimming

Oak Class will have their final swimming sessions next week on the 16th and 17th July. Drop off arrangements will be as for previous sessions. The teachers from Dolphin Swim School have been SO complimentary about the children and their behaviour – it has been a delight to hear and no doubt it will continue.

Exe Valley Challenge

Some of our Key Stage Two children will be taking part in the Exe Valley Challenge this Sunday. We can’t wait to hear how it goes – we know that you’re going to smash it. Huge thanks to Mr Keirle for making sure that this opportunity happens for our children.

Reading Party

The end of term celebration for children who have reached their Reading Challenge will take place on Wednesday 22nd July. It’s going to be a super fun one so do encourage your child to read and enjoy and quiz at least enough to make sure they do read their target in time. The targets we set are intentionally to make sure that they are achievable and I promise you that there is still time for every single child to reach their target even if they are on a very low score right now.

Autumn Menu

The School Meal Menu will be changing with the new school year. I will attach it below.

Mrs Best and the Teachers are pleading with you please to book school meals including letting us know if you intend to give your child a packed lunch. It would save me ten minutes every morning if I didn’t have to go through the lunch menus and check what each child is having. Ten minutes a day is fifty minutes a week – that’s a lot of lost learning. As a parent I know that this is an irritation, as a teacher and headteacher I know how much difference it would make in class, how much more quickly we could get on with the more fun and productive parts of the day. Perhaps that should be a new school year resolution for September!

Meal Menu Autumn 2027

The post Newsletter 10th July appeared first on Kenton Primary School.

The songs from our production of The Jungle Book seem to be on a permanent loop as rehearsals kick up another gear. The show is imminent now so please don’t hesitate – do buy your tickets if you haven’t done so yet. All remaining tickets will be released for purchase on Monday. It’s looking good.

Football

England are playing Mexico in the World Cup in the early hours of Monday morning. School will open up at the usual time and we do hope that our brilliant pupils will attend as usual. I will be on the gate as usual looking to greet them.

We asked around to see if there was an interest in us opening up school from 7:45 in the morning on Monday so children could watch the match with friends before school starts. Almost no one at all said they would take us up on that offer so we won’t do that – we will simply run the day as normal. I expect we will find some way to watch the highlights in class and to celebrate/commiserate as appropriate.

Toys and Random Objects

There seems to be more and more toys and random objects from home coming into school at the moment. The very best case scenario is that these end up being a distraction. The worst case scenario is the more usual one and ends up with these precious things being borrowed, lost or broken. A good rule of thumb is that if your child’s teacher would like them to bring in something for ‘show and tell’ then they will message on Seesaw. Otherwise, can toys, souvenirs, ornaments, costume jewellery and gadgets please stay at home? Your support in this matter will make the teachers lives a great deal calmer!

Mrs Rose

Children in Chestnut Class and across the school have enjoyed having our student teacher Mrs Rose in school for the last few weeks. She has been just brilliant and we’ve been very lucky to have her. Mrs Rose will be finishing her studies next week and ‘passing out’ as a fully qualified teacher. We will miss her so much and we wish her all the best in her new school.

SATs Results

We were expecting to receive our Year Six pupils SATS results early next week. Sadly we have received an email from the Department for Education explaining that the contractors who have been running the assessments, Pearson, have been experiencing a great deal of technical difficulties and the results will be a week late this year. I do not, personally, think that SATS results tell me anything about the children that their teachers and I don’t already know. Certainly, their new upper schools will have much more important things to do with their time than worrying about those results. Nonetheless, it is disappointing. We will let the children and parents know the results as soon as we have them.

More Hot Weather

We are expecting next week to be very warm again. We hope it won’t be as hot as it was last week but it will certainly be worth keeping an eye on.

With the very hot weather we suggest that the children wear their PE tops rather than standard uniform, that they wear a hat, bring sunshine and have plenty to drink. Children can, of course, refill their bottles at school as often as they like but it’s a nice idea to pop a spare bottle in the freezer overnight so children can have a cold refreshing drink through the day as it thaws. Our classrooms and school hall are air conditioned and in hot weather we keep them chilled right down so that the children and staff are really comfortable – it is certainly cooler in our school than in the vast majority of homes.

The post Newsletter 3rd July appeared first on Kenton Primary School.

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.

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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.

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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.

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