Newsletter 15th May

Dear Parents and Carers,

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.