Dear Parents and Carers,

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 27th 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 24th – 29th 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 28th 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:

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