Dear Parents and Carers,
I cannot believe we are about to enter the final week of the spring term! It has been a really busy and enjoyable term at North Town and we are really looking forward to the summer term. You will see below that Mrs Hayes is inviting parents and carers to a Reading Workshop at the school next week. This is a brilliant opportunity to learn from the highly respected Ann Harvey on how you can support with reading development at home. Ann is very sought after and I appreciate Mrs Hayes creating these opportunities for North Town Parents and Carers to work with her.
Have a smashing weekend and don’t forget that the clocks go forward!
MCAS App – Wraparound Bookings and more
Hopefully, you will have received an invitation to register for the MCAS app this week. If you have not received a registration email, please speak to the school office who will be happy to help.
Primarily the app will be used to make booking for North Town Wraparound for after Easter, but it is hoped that many of the other functions we currently use Parentmail for will transfer to MCAS in the coming months, please do take the time to register in preparation for this.
Therefore, even if you are not planning to use our wraparound care it would still be a good idea to create an account. If you already use Tawnies Breakfast & After School Club – you will still need to make future bookings via the app.
If you are planning to pay by voucher, please be aware that the cut off for voucher payments will be Wednesday 29th March 2023. This is to ensure the payments reach our bank account in sufficient time to be uploaded on to your MCAS account.
We fully appreciate that this is a new way of booking for wraparound, and we have been in in depth conversations with Richard Huish Trust and they have assured us that in the long term that this system works.
Please do continue to pop into the Office is you require any help or assistance.
Reading Workshop
We all know reading is important for our children and immersing them in an environment with rich reading experiences is beneficial for many reasons. Sometimes though, the reality of this and knowing where to start can be overwhelming. Towards the end of March, we are lucky to have Ann Harvey joining us to share good reading tips, offer support and further expand our knowledge of why reading is so important. Ann works within the Somerset Literacy Network team and has worked with many schools in Somerset sharing her vast amount of knowledge and experience. We would like to invite you in for this session. Nursery and KS1 parents and carers talk will be on Wednesday 29th March at 2:00pm and KS2 parents and carers talk will be on Thursday 30th March at 2:00pm. The sessions will last for roughly an hour. We can’t wait to see you there.
Coffee Mornings
A reminder that we are still running coffee mornings on a Wednesday from 8:45 am, we would love to see you there.
Lateness
Despite many reminders, we still have some children arriving late after registration and this has an impact on them and their class. Please ensure that your child arrives at school on time and ready to learn. Please see below for a reminder of the timings:
Pippins, Year 1 & 2: 8:30 am – 8:40 am
Sibling Groups: 8:40 am – 8:45 am
Years 3,4,5 & 6: 8:45 am to 8:50 am
Safety
Please ensure that you drive safely in the vicinity of the school, particularly as we have lots of children and parents walking and crossing the roads in the area.
Back Gate
Please remember the timings for dropping off and collecting your child to and from school. In particular if you normally enter school by the back gate (Wood Street entrance). The back gate is closed at 8:50 am and is not re-opened again until the end of the day at 3:00 pm ready for home time. The gate closes again at 3:20 pm and if you are going to arrive after this time you are expected to use the Staplegrove Road entrance.
Dates for the diary – 2023
Wednesday 29th March at 2pm – Nursery & KS1 Reading Workshop with Ann Harvey
Thursday 30th March at 2pm – KS2 Reading Workshop with Ann Harvey
Friday 31st March – INSET Day – School Closed to Children
Saturday 1st April – 16th April – Easter Holidays
Monday 17th April – School resumes – start of Summer Term
Tuesday 18th April – Year 2 Trip to Glastonbury Abbey – more information to follow.
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 – 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
