Dear Parents and Carers,
How are we already half way through September? It has been a brilliant start to the academic year and we are delighted with how the children have settled. Our new Pippins children have been very excited to come to North Town and it has been wonderful to welcome so many new faces.
I am very much aware that I am extremely privileged to be head of this wonderful school and there have been a few things that I have witnessed these past days from the children and parents that reminds of this. Thank you to you all for being so kind and so supportive.
Staff News
We would like extend a very warm welcome to Ms. Coles who has joined the admin team and Mrs. Lan who has joined the LSA team. We also welcome Miss Roberts and Miss Halsey to our Nursery Team. We have also welcomed three LSA apprentices who will all be completing their apprenticeships at North Town in partnership with Huish College and they are Mrs. Davey, Miss Heathers and Miss Swanston. We wish them all every success for their time at North Town.
School Improvement Priorities
Every year all schools across the country will have clear priorities that they identify. This year our school priorities are:
1) Continue to develop quality first teaching.
2) To develop the teaching and learning of Speaking and Listening, Phonics and Reading across the whole school.
3) Ensure that children are learning the most important knowledge in each subject and that they remember more of it.
4) Ensure a continued focus on children’s behaviour and attitudes to learning as well as a focus on the wellbeing of the whole school community.
Parent Calendar
The school calendar for 2022/23 was emailed to all parents back in July. We have also put this up on our main notice board and in the office reception area. It is also on our new school website. We hope this will keep you informed with everything that is happening at North Town.
Photographer
Tempest photography will be visiting North Town to take individual portrait photos only on Friday 23rd September.
We also have Tempest booked to come in to school again on Tuesday 15th November to take photos of our Nursery children and family groups. We have found due to the size of school, trying to accommodate this all on one day proves stressful and chaotic and it is hoped that splitting the sessions will ease this.
Curriculum Update
As you’ll see above, one of our school improvement priorities this year is to help ensure our children remember more of the important knowledge they are learning in each of their subjects. This week, you should have received a copy of your child’s Curriculum Statement. We’re really proud of the broad and balanced curriculum we have in place at North Town – meaning that the children get to regularly experience a range of different subjects – and this important document sets out exactly what your child will be learning this term. You should also have received an accompanying Knowledge Organiser, which we hope helps to explain the ‘bigger picture’ of the Project, including some of the key knowledge and vocabulary that we want all of our children to know. To help support your child with their learning, we ask all parents and carers to regularly share these documents with their children and talk to them about what they
are learning. You could check your child’s understanding of the key vocabulary included in the glossary of the Knowledge Organiser – including how to spell these words – or make up some short, fun quizzes to see what they know! If you have any questions or feedback about either of these documents, or about our curriculum in general, please speak with Mr Kerton.
If you want to find out more about our curriculum, be sure to check out our new website and curriculum section, including a new video explaining more!
Reading at North Town
It is so important that children have as many opportunities to read as possible both at school and at home. Mrs Holmes will be contacting you regarding our new reading initiative which we will be launching during assemblies next week.Reading logs will come home next week and these will include Bronze challenge stickers with a range of challenges for the children to choose from. Our new website has a link to the CBeebies Bedtime Stories website and this will give you access to many enjoyable stories read by famous personalities. We will also be loading videos in the coming weeks of North Town staff reading a story. In the build up to Christmas we will be giving all parents a list of recommended reads that may make good stocking fillers. A member of staff will also be giving parents and carers the names of their top three favourite books to read and hope this may help you when looking for good stories.
My top three favourite children’s books are:
- Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo – Recommended for age 8 and upwards.
- Goodnight Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian – Recommended for age 9 and upwards.
- Danny the Champion of the World – Recommender for age 7 and upwards.
I am also a HUGE fan of the Harry Potter stories! My favourite being Prisoner of Azkaban!
Reminder
A small reminder that the school and nursery will be closed on this coming Monday 19th September, as this will a bank holiday for our Queen’s funeral.
Play Equipment
Unfortunately we are unable to allow the children and families to play on the pirate ship at the end of the school day. Sadly, there have been occasions in years gone by where a child has been hurt and their parent has been caught up talking with another parent. We just want to ensure all children are safe. We also provide our KS1 children many opportunities to enjoy the pirate ship throughout the school day.
Drop Off Times
Thank you for your support and co-operation with our drop-off and pick-up times. This is something that has enabled us to ensure that all children and families can come on to the school premises and leave the school premise safely.
Just a reminder that the times are as follows:
Start Of the Day
8:30-8:40am – Key Stage 1 children only (age 4-7)
8:40am – Siblings
8:45am – Key Stage 2 children (age 7-11)
8:50am – Gates closed
End of the Day
3:00-3:10pm – Key Stage 1 children only (age 4-7)
3:10pm – Siblings
3:15pm – Key Stage 2 children (age 7-11)
3:20pm – Gates closed
Parent Survey 2022
Thank you once again for the many parents and carers that took the time to complete our school survey back in May. The results were really useful and we were delighted that our children enjoy coming to North Town and also that they feel safe at North Town. We recognise that COVID certainly has put huge restrictions on school gatherings and thankfully the summer term saw a return to all events that we longed for such as sports days, the fete, the year 6 production, the music event and the leaver’s service. This term we will holding meetings such as year groups expectations, supporting with phonics, supporting with maths and much more. Please do come and speak to me and my brilliant team if ever you have any questions or are unsure about anything. Mr Kerton, Mrs Screech, Mrs Hampshire, Mr Reading and I are on the gates throughout the week.
Helping with maths at home
We are inviting all parents to a ‘helping with maths at home’ event at the school on Thursday 6th October at 1:45pm. This will be led by Maths consultant, Jo Cronin. Jo is well known in Somerset schools and has endless ideas on how parents and carers can help with maths. More information will follow soon
Harvest Festival
We are really excited to welcome our KS2 parents to our Harvest Festival at the school on Tuesday 11th October. At this moment we are awaiting confirmation of a time from the Reverend Fabian.
Contact Number for the School Office
Please ensure you have the correct contact number for the school office to report any absences, pass on messages etc. Nerrols School have been receiving some of our calls.
The number for North Town is 01823 284676, please check your mobiles and ensure you have this saved.
Coffee and Tea mornings
A huge thank you to Mrs Screech and Mrs Duley for hosting our first Coffee and Tea morning at North Town on Wednesday. This will be every week from 8:45am – 10am and all are welcome. It is an opportunity to meet new parents and have a chance to sit down and chat for an hour. There will never be an agenda planned for these mornings, it is purely to enjoy the company of others and enjoy a cup of tea/coffee and some biscuits on us.
Wrap Around
Thank you for the many comments I have had on the gate regarding our plans for Wrap Around care from April 2022. Mr Kerton is already having meetings with our Trust Estates Manager and Mr Reading about a full refurbishment. He will update as the project progresses. Gemma Connah has been so supportive with her knowledge and ideas and we appreciate this very much.
Website
The school website is now live! Please do take the time to visit the site. There are still areas we wanted to develop on it and we will be striving to keep it updated as often as we possibly can.
A Google translate option is also available and this will enable the pages to be translated into many different languages.
Assemblies
Celebration Assemblies are being moved this year to a Monday afternoon. These will be on a Monday afternoon from 2:30 and the office team will notify parents if their child/children will be receiving a certificate with plenty of notice.
Christmas Jumpers
I am really sorry to mention Christmas jumpers in September! This morning James Braund excitedly informed me that it was 100 days until Christmas!!! Can I please ask if any parents/carers have any Christmas jumpers that are too small for their children if they would be kind enough to donate them to the school so that they can be given to other families. We will leave a box in the office reception area for donations.
School Uniform
We are really appreciative of the many school uniform donations we are given. We will be putting these on rails at key events for families and there will be no charge for the uniform. As we will not be charging for the uniform parents and carers are welcome to make a small donation but there is no expectation to do so.
Mufti Days
Please see below the dates for our mufti days for the autumn term:
Friday 7th October – Wear something yellow for St Margaret’s Hospice
Friday 4th November – non-uniform for North Town PTA
Friday 18th November – non-uniform for Children in Need
Friday 25th November – non-uniform for a chocolate donation for the chocolate tombola (Christmas Fayre)
We ask for a monetary donation for these days (except for the non-uniform for a chocolate donation) but please do not feel that you have to donate £1 for every child in your family. Please donate what you can and please do not feel that you have to make a donation.
Kind regards
Mark Braund
Head Teacher