Dear Parents and Carers,
It was absolutely wonderful to open the gates on Monday morning to excitable children and equally excitable parents and carers! I hope you all had an enjoyable Easter!
It has been a really enjoyable first week back and we are gearing up for a busy summer term. We are delighted that we are full in Reception for next year and there is a waiting list for children to start at North Town.
We are delighted that we have secured some funding from Somerset County Council to improve aspects of our premises including new sound clouds in our new library and the go ahead to have 4 new intervention rooms in our library. This will reduce the size of our library a little but it is clear that we are in need of additional room to complete small group work.
Enjoy every minute of the summer term and thank you, as ever, for your continued support and kindness.
Mufti Day
We will not be having a Mufti day on Friday 5th May 2023 but we will be holding ‘Dress Up for Dementia’ day on Friday 19th May. Also on 19th may, you will be sent a link to a ‘Just Giving’ website where you can make any donations directly for this.
Proposed Strike Action
You may or may not be aware that the NEU have announced two further dates where strike action has been planned and whilst we do not envisage having to close the school or any class/year groups we would like to keep you informed. At the time of writing, we have not been made aware of an intention to strike by any of our teaching staff but if this should change, we will of course let you know as soon as possible. Please bear in mind that teaching staff are not obligated to inform us of an intention to strike.
The dates are:
Thursday 27th April 2023
Tuesday 2nd May 2023
Thank you for your understanding.
North Town Wrap Around
The wraparound contact telephone number is 07566 733010 . This will be on during the hours the provision will be open. Please also use this number when coming to collect your child in the evenings when arriving at the Staplegrove Road gate. We will eventually have a gate buzzer but unfortunately this has been delayed.
We also have a contact email address: wraparound@nt.huish.education for any queries you may have.
Parking at the Back of School
Once again, we have received complaints from local residents regarding the parking of some of our parents in the residential area. Please could we remind you that you can park in the main Wood Street car park for a period of 20 minutes without charge. If you do need to park on the road, please be considerate of the people who live in the area when manoeuvring. Please also take care when swinging car doors open as there may be children or pedestrians on the pavements.
Play Equipment
You may have noticed that we have new play equipment appearing in the playground with the addition of a climbing wall within the KS1 playground area. Please remember to ensure your children are not playing on any of the equipment before or after school as we have experienced many children having accidents over the years at these times.
Scooters and Bicycles
A reminder that all scooters and bicycles should be dismounted before entering the school grounds and walked to one of the many racks provided. This also applies at the end of the day when we expect the children (and adults!) to walk with their scooter or bicycle until they are outside of the school.
FREE Parenting Course
We are pleased to be able to offer parents the opportunity to attend an Emotion Coaching Parenting course. The first 6 week course starts on May 4th, and will take place every Thursday afternoon in school at 1:30pm, ending at 3pm. To reserve a place on this course, or to register for a course later in the year, please ring our PFSA, Elaine on 07522 237006 or via the usual school number.
Donations for Uganda
One of our parents has been invited to form a small group to go to Uganda for 2 weeks in June. The group will consist of a physiotherapist, midwife, neonatal nurse and occupational therapist. Whilst w there the group will be supporting the charity Action for Children’s Trust who support children with disabilities and their families. Whilst we are there, we will be holding clinics and going out to the villages offering our advice.
We would like to take some resources with us and we were wondering if we could ask the children and families of North Town if you have toys or shoes you’d like to donate: please see further details below for the types of items. We would suggest a maximum of one item per child. A box will be provided in reception to collect any donated items. We request any items are donated by Friday 12th May, to give us time to collate, pack and ship all the kit.
Suggested items for donation
Various sizes balls
Bean bags
Toys with variety of textures, colours and sounds.
Wooden toys
Scooter board
Bubbles
Sensory play mat
Toys with mirrors
Stacking and threading toys
Rain tubes
Water toys
Toys to be not too big
Toys not to be battery operated
Also good quality shoes (not sandals, wellies or crocs)
Taunton Flower Show – Get Involved
There are many ways for families to get involved in Taunton Flower Show 2023. Discounted tickets are available until 30th June and children are free with a paying adult.
Design a Badge Competition – Enter our ‘Design a badge’ competition to design the winning badge given to all the children’s competitions entrants. Deadline is 4th June 2023
Download the form from our website https://tauntonfs.co.uk/design-a-badge-competition-2023/
Children’s Competitions – Our competition schedule has a whole section of classes for children to enter ranging from fun with flowers, cookery, arts and crafts and photography. There really is something for everyone. View it online at https://tauntonfs.co.uk/competitors/
Enter our Ready Steady Garden Competition – We are looking for teams to enter our Ready Steady Garden competition and we would love some family teams to take part. This year, 4 teams of 2 people will compete to make a planter using some plants provided and a tractor tire as the plant holder. We would love to have some families groups enter. If you would like to find out more please email info@tauntonfs.co.uk
Dates for the diary – 2023
Tuesday 25th April – Year 4 Strike & Field Festival – Richard Huish College
Monday 1st May – Bank Holiday – School Closed
Wednesday 3rd May – Year 5 Strike & Field Festival – Castle School
Monday 8th May – Bank Holiday – School Closed
Tuesday 9th May – Friday 12th May – Year 6 SATS Week – All Year 6 children must be in school.
Tuesday 9th May – Year 3 Strike & Field Festival – Richard Huish College
Monday 15th May – Friday 19th May – KS1 SATS Week – All Year 2 children must be in school.
Wednesday 17th May – Pippins Multi Skills Festival – Castle School
Friday 19th May – Dress Up for Dementia (red & yellow day)
Friday 26th May – Last Day of Summer Term 1
Saturday 27th May – Sunday 4th June – Half Term
Monday 5th June – School Open – Start of Summer Term 2
Mark Braund
Head Teacher