Newsletter: 22nd July 2022
Posted on July 22, 2022 | By Mr Cole
Business Week Success!
It’s been lovely to see Business Week flourishing in both Buckland Brewer and Parkham schools this week. The children have researched and set up their own mini-enterprises with advertising, a set-up grant and stock ready for yesterday’s sales on the school playgrounds. The diversity of ideas from the children has been fantastic and, perhaps more importantly, the understanding of profit and loss, and of marketing techniques has made the venture very worthwhile. So, whether you were washing cars, selling cakes, Soaking-A-Year-6 or selling your own beautifully crafted items, well done Eagles and Hawks!
Eagles Class raised an amazing £162.72, which will go towards a class treat on Wednesday and when we have a total for Hawks, I’ll post it here too.
Science Week Prizes
Last week, we shared some of the amazing science research projects the children had carried out as part of Science Week. We were delighted to share the winners in assembly this week, judged for the best research, interesting idea and presentation of investigation. They were:
Buckland Brewer
- 1st Molly and Jess
- 2nd Isaac, Jay and Rudy
- 3rd Ava and Bella
Parkham
- 1st Ava and Elodie
- 2nd Kitty and Lacie
- 3rd Violet and Emmelene
Woolsery
- 1st Scarlett and Harrison
- 2nd Mary-Jane and Millie
- 3rd Emily
Well done everyone!
Website and Contact Changes
Over the summer holidays, the final part of the integration of Buckland Brewer and Parkham’s IT system with Woolsery’s system will take place. For the most part this won’t have a huge effect on anyone other than staff but there will be some changes parents and friends need to be aware of:
Firstly, the website address for the three schools will change to www.villageschools.org.uk for everyone. Buckland Brewer and Parkham parents may have noticed this re-direct has been in place for a while now, but over the summer it will apply to Woolsery as well. Both of the existing websites will be withdrawn in August and replaced by a new one, so please take a look over the holidays so you’re familiar with the new layout.
Secondly, for Woolsery families, whole-class communication which currently takes place through class Facebook Pages will switch to an mobile app called School Jotter. This is free and you will need to download it ready for the Autumn Term. You will then receive push notifications of any class-wide news or things which affect the whole school, bringing Woolsery in-line with the great system Buckland Brewer and Parkham have been using for a while. The Class Facebook pages will be withdrawn at the end of the holidays. Instructions for downloading and setting up the app will be sent out at the start of term.
Finally, our email systems will all change. At the moment, most email addresses for school use the @flyingstartfed.org.uk or @woolsery.devon.sch.uk domains. All addresses will change to use the @villageschools.org.uk domain. The first part of the email address will stay the same in most cases but our school admin addresses will all be updated. Please see the table below to you can see the new set-up:
| Mailbox | Current Address | New Address |
| Mr Cole |
mcole@woolsery.devon.sch.uk or mcole@flyingstartfed.org.uk |
head@villageschools.org.uk |
| Buckland Brewer Admin | bbadmin@flyingstartfed.org.uk | buckland@villageschools.org.uk |
| Parkham Admin | padmin@flyingstartfed.org.uk | parkham@villageschools.org.uk |
| Woolsery Admin | admin@woolsery.devon.sch.uk | woolsery@villageschools.org.uk |
| Attendance | – | attendance@villageschools.org.uk |
| Governing Board Clerk | cboother@flyingstartdfed.org.uk | clerk@villageschools.org.uk |
| – | – | – |
| Mrs Urquhart | bridget@flyingstartfed.org.uk | burquhart@villageschools.org.uk |
| Mrs Davis | adavis@flyingstartfed.org.uk | adavis@villageschools.org.uk |
| Ms Peter | lpeter@flyingstartfed.org.uk | lpeter@villageschools.org.uk |
| Mrs Parkhouse | cparkhouse@flyingstartfed.org.uk | cparkhouse@villageschools.org.uk |
| Mrs Lewis | slewis@flyingstartfed.org.uk | slewis@villageschools.org.uk |
| Miss Shorney | gshorney@flyingstartfed.org.uk | gshorney@villageschools.org.uk |
| – | – | – |
| Mrs Bird | lbird@flyingstartfed.org.uk | lbird@villageschools.org.uk |
| Miss McCann | lmccann@flyingstartfed.org.uk | lmccann@villageschools.org.uk |
| Miss Orchard | norchard@flyingstartfed.org.uk | norchard@villageschools.org.uk |
| Mr Marks | dmarks@flyingstartfed.org.uk | dmarks@villageschools.org.uk |
| – | – | – |
| Mrs Miles | smiles@woolsery.devon.sch.uk | smiles@villageschools.org.uk |
| Mrs Bryant | tbryant@woolsery.devon.sch.uk | tbryant@villageschools.org.uk |
| Ms Richardson | – | jrichardson@villageschools.org.uk |
| Mrs Kersey | skersey@woolsery.devon.sch.uk | skersey@villageschools.org.uk |
| Mrs Morrison | hmorrison@woolsery.devon.sch.uk | hmorrison@villageschools.org.uk |
| Mrs Farmer | cfarmer@woolsery.devon.sch.uk | cfarmer@villageschools.org.uk |
| Mrs Oyarzabal | soyarzabal@woolsery.devon.sch.uk | oyarzabal@villageschools.org.uk |
| Mrs Phillips | kphillips@woolsery.devon.sch.uk | kphillips@villageschools.org.uk |
Forest School Expansion
Next term, I’m really happy to say that our Forest School programme will be fully expanded so all schools benefit from regular Forest School sessions as part of the children’s core learning. Mrs Louise Grout, who is Forest School Leader at Woolsery and has been running some “test” sessions at Parkham this half term, will be rolling out a programme so that all classes have some Forest School experience through the year.
For that to happen, we will need to recruit a new bunch of “Forest School Rangers” – the title we give to Parent Helpers who can commit to one afternoon per week in their child’s school for a minimum of one term. If you have some spare time and enjoy being in the outdoors (in all weathers…) please could you let me know by email (head@villageschools.org.uk) and we will put a list together of people who can help. If you can let me know if any particular days are best for you, Louise will be able to draw up a timetable for her sessions across the Partnership. Thanks.
Surprise Visitor
It was lovely to welcome Mrs Finch, the previous Headteacher of Buckland Brewer and Parkham schools back on Tuesday. Mrs Finch, who is now a headteacher on Shetland, broke up for her summer holidays on 1st July (although term for her begins again in mid August!) so was able to drop by and say hello to everyone. At the time of leaving her schools, Mrs Finch had Covid so was unable to say a proper farewell to the children and staff back in April.
Mrs Finch has written a message to both school communities, which can be found HERE
FOBBS thanks
FOBBS would like to say thank you to everyone who donated to the Bag2School collection. It raised £120 which will go towards fun activities for the children and equipment for the school
Uniform Orders for September
This weekend is the last opportunity to place pre-orders for Woolsery School uniform via this link: https://forms.gle/pH3gP6ztoa1aArcS6 On Monday the order will be placed ready for September and no further orders will be made until after the beginning of term. Please remember you don’t need to pay for your uniform order when you fill the form out – you will do that when the stock comes in and it’s released to you.
Buckland and Parkham schools carry some stock to meet demand but it would be really helpful if you completed a paper order form before Wednesday if you think you will need new items for September. However, if you are buying over-the-counter items during the holidays, please remember our preference is for yellow polo shirts at Parkham and light blue polo shirts for Buckland, in order to fit with our new branding across the Partnersahip. Thanks.
Sports Day at Buckland Brewer
I know that for all of us – children, staff and parents – it has been extremely frustrating to still not have successfully held Sports Day for Buckland Brewer. On the original date, there were staffing issues with the PE company that were organising the day and then on Tuesday of this week we had to make a decision early in order to give families time to adjust plans. When we made the decision, there was a thunder storm and heavy rain and MET Office projections were for this to continue until after 1pm… which of course turned out to not be the case and it was a glorious afternoon!
Monday is the last opportunity to hold Sports Day for the school, I’m afraid, and the forecast doesn’t look promising – however, we’ll try our very best to hold the event even if we have to curtail some fo the races if the grass is too slippery- we know how important it is in the school calendar, particularly so for the Year 6s.
The last Headteacher Awards of the school year were given out this week. Well done to the following…
Buckland Brewer
Owls: All of Owls (Bees) – working together to create our science fair project. All the children contributed and collaborated and had a go at the experiment themselves in explore and learn time; George, Leah and Jacob (tortoise) for being brave and standing up in front of the whole school and explaining our science fair board
Falcons: Sophi & Wren – Dolphins for hard work at home and school on their science projects; Connie – Dolphin for coming third in the Merry Harriers Gnome Garden competition.
Eagles: Lilly & Ella (dolphin)- diving into school life at this busy part of the year. They have become key members of the class in such a short time. We are all very glad they are with us.
Parkham
Kestrels: Jake (spider)- Jake takes time to explore and understand the patterns in numbers. He is now able to recall numerous multiplication facts; Olivia (Dolphin) – Olivia has been much more engaged with her reading and has read with greater fluently
Buzzards: Ruby (bee) – When completing a joint science project, Ruby worked well with her partner, she listened to their views and supported them in completing an award winning project; Ashley (Tortoise) – Ashley has worked hard in maths and shown resilience when things have got tricky, completing work independently and answering additional questions.
Hawks: To follow
Woolsery
Cranford: Oscar (Bee) – being a great friend and sharing toys; Elowen (Tortoise) – drawing an amazing pirate ship with great attention to detail
Burscott: Logan (Tortoise) – overcoming his fear of writing to produce a lovely independent recount of our trip this week; Monty (Cat) – asking great questions to further his understanding in history during out trip with week.
Stroxworthy: Lyonie (Tortoise) – improving her English skills when writing instructions for how to wash a woolly mammoth; Alfie (Dolphin) – diving into his learning during our five week science experiment ‘Understanding what plants need to grow strong and healthy’.
Alminstone: Lilly (Dolphin) – engaging well with out SCARF lessons as well as settling in and getting to know the other childrne in her new class; Isla (dolphin) – engaging with our SCARF lessons this week, well done!
Ashmansworthy: Faris (Tortoise) for persevering with his work and making good progress in class; Hope (Bee) – being a good role model for the younger children and being a good friend.
| Monday | Buckland Brewer Sports Day (pm) |
| Tuesday |
Buckland Brewer Leavers’ Assembly Parkham Leavers’ Assembly |
| Wednesday |
Woolsery Leavers’ Assembly End of Term – School reopens on Monday 5th September |
Happy Holidays!
What a term! It seems a long time already since the beginning of the Village Schools Partnership but in the three months since we started properly on this journey, I have really enjoyed getting to know two new school communities over the course of this term and we’ve already achieved much together.
This is also a sad time of year, though as we say good-bye to our wonderful Year 6s who are ready to move on to their new schools, and also several families who have been pivotal in each school community for many, many years as their youngest child leaves us.
So, goodbye and good luck to:
Buckland Brewer: Troy, Oakley, Rudy, Isaac, Kane, Maisey and Sam
Parkham: Xander, Nathan, Sophia, Maddison, Grace, Luke and Kitty
Woolsery: Bobby, Emily, Owen, Mary-Jane, Henry, Georgia, Finley, Arthur, Molly, Holly, Josie, Santino, Morgan, Alyssa, Maisy, Ralph, Evie, Isaac, Ravi, Isla, Hope, Sebastian, Imogen, Louie and Farley
We will miss you all very much and wish you every happiness and every success in your new schools!
Finally, I’d like to wish every one of you a happy holiday when we finally break up on Wednesday – what ever you’re doing over the summer break I hope you have some amazing family time together and look forward to welcoming everyone back to school for the Autumn Term on Monday 5th September.
With best wishes
Matt Cole, Headteacher