TeamWorkRespectAimHighIndependenceNeverGiveUp
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Heathcoat Primary School
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Aspiring to achieve our best: moving forward together!
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Newsletter | 15th January 2024
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On Thursday, 18th January 2024
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An easy way for you to help our school budget via your child's school dinner!
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Is your child in Reception, Years 1 and 2 or entitled to free school meals in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6?
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If so, please can you help by ordering your child a school dinner on Thursday 18th January 2024.
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This is the day of the School Census.
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If ALL of our children have the meals that they are entitled to, the school will be given the money required to offer free school meals to all Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 pupils as well as those pupils entitled to free school meals in Key Stage 2.
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If children do not take up their provision on Thursday 18th January, but have meals throughout the rest of the year, the cost of those meals comes out of the school’s general budget. This means there is less money to spend on teaching and learning.
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There is a huge amount of financial pressure on all schools, and at Heathcoat Primary School, we would like to spend all of our money on the children’s education.
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PLEASE help us to achieve all the funding that we can by encouraging ALL children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 to have a school dinner that day. If your child is entitled to free school meals in Years 3-6, please encourage them to have a meal on that day.
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SPECIAL PLATE PRIZES - Every child who has a school meal (jacket/main/vegetarian) on Thursday 18th January will have a chance of winning a prize. There are 8 special plate prizes that can be won (4 prizes for KS1/EYFS and 4 prizes for KS2).
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Nursery ice experiment
Nursery had fun leaving water in a tray overnight in different places around the nursery garden and putting some objects in to see what happens to the water when the temperature gets below zero. They were excited to find out the water in some of the trays had turned to ice and all the toys were stuck inside. It was a lot of fun and a great science experiment.
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Year 6 Computing
Year 6 have been learning about 'Big Data' in Computing this term. This week they learnt about bar codes and QR codes and went on a QR treasure hunt. They were very enthusiastic and completed the quiz in record time!
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Bringing in items from home
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We have many children bringing in toys, teddies, pens, pencil cases etc to school from home. Please can we ask that all these items stay at home. Children have writing resources in school and have access to sensory toys if required. This means that items from home remain safe and don't cause a distraction.
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Would you like to volunteer in school?
We are looking for parents or grandparents to volunteer in school. This might include hearing children read, helping in our library, helping in our kitchen garden, helping on trips or supporting our Friends events such as discos. If you are interested, please collect a volunteer application form from the office. You will need to provide details of 2 referees and need an DBS check as part of our safeguarding practices. We will provide you with training before starting and you will have the opportunity to work with our fantastic pupils.
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School times
The school gates open at 8.40am and are closed at 8.50am. Any children arriving after this time will need to go to the main gate and will be marked in late. The first lesson of the day starts at 8.55am, if children arrive after this they are having to come into a lesson which has already started and they may not know what they should be doing.
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Winter Weather Warnings
On the rare occasion that we might need to close the school due to severe weather, such as snow or flooding, please check the following media platforms for information. Updates will be posted on the school website as soon as a decision is made about a school closure.
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As always, we will endeavour to give a decision about school closures as early as possible to help you to make arrangements.
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Attendance
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Have you ever found that your child is poorly and you have kept them off from school, only to find that an hour after they are feeling ok again? If this happens, please do bring them into school - even if it's 11.30am or after lunch. Whilst we encourage every child to be in school on time every day, we would rather they were in later in the day than not at all. We will keep a close eye on them, and let you know if they feel unwell. Please do not send your child to school if they have a temperature.
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Extra-Curricular Clubs at HPS
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The following extra-curricular clubs are running this term at HPS.
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The children have all been asked to sign up to a club of their choice with their class teacher.
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Secret Agent Code breakers Club
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Coffee Mornings for parents of children with SEND at HPS
Now that the building works have finished, we have space once again to host some events for parents of children with SEND. We look forward to having the opportunity to meet with you, to discuss particular areas of interest over a cup of tea or coffee. These will be informal, friendly sessions and will be open to anyone whose child is on our SEN register. We intend for the sessions to be positive and collaborative, so that parents feel both supported and better informed.
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We will need parents to book in advance, as we can only really accommodate about twenty parents at a time in our Community Room. If many parents wish to attend, we may need to allocate places over the term, so that every parent can attend at least once. The meetings will be hosted by Mrs Alphey, our SENDCo, and Miss Ford, our Assistant SENDCo – though we will invite visiting speakers from time to time.
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Dates for the Spring term are as follows:
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Tuesday 30th January 9:30-11am – An introduction to DIAS, with visiting speaker Katy Isaac from DIAS. Katy will explain how DIAS can support families and young people, and there will hopefully also be an opportunity for parents to discuss anything specific afterwards, on a one-to-one basis.
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Tuesday 27th February 9-10am – Supporting children with autistic spectrum difficulties at home and at school.
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Tuesday 26th March 9-10am – Supporting children with speech and language needs at home and at school.
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We have picked Tuesday mornings in the first instance, though we are open to suggestions for alternative timeslots for sessions in the summer term. We know that Tuesday morning timeslots may not suit everyone who wishes to attend. We are also open to suggestions for topics you would like to discuss. To book sessions, or to share your suggestions with us, please click https://forms.office.com/e/7Rc4Dj0Rz4
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Do you have access to your child’s passport online?
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Most of our parents who have children with SEND already have a log in to Edukey Provision Map software, to see how we currently support their child(ren) at school. A child’s passport has details of their strengths, interests and likes as well as information about their areas of difficulty, their dislikes and useful teaching strategies. We often ask parents to contribute to their child’s passport and it is useful for all parents to have access to them online, so that information can be checked at any time and we can be as consistent as possible between home and school. If you do not yet have a login for some reason, do email ruthalphey@heathcoat.devon.sch.uk and we can easily set this up for you.
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Getting Involved
Devon County Council is inviting parents-carers whose child has an Education Health and Care (EHC) plan to discuss potential improvements to the EHC processes. This builds on the work already done with families in the autumn of 2023 as part of the wider SEND transformation programme in Devon.
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An in-person workshop is being held later this month where we will be sharing the findings on the current EHC process and gathering feedback on potential improvements. Unfortunately, we don’t have any more places available on that workshop, but we are also organising further workshops, one-to-one sessions, information sharing sessions, and opportunities to feedback throughout the year, that we would like to invite you to. Depending upon the level of interest, we will try to accommodate you on your preferred session. To register your interest please complete this form and we will get back to you . Alternatively, please follow us on Devon SEND Local Offer | Facebook, where will be promoting each session. Where sessions are oversubscribed, participants will be selected randomly until all places are taken.
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Childcare Choices
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Thousands of families could be saving money on their childcare costs. But some simply don’t know what support they might be eligible for.
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Congratulations
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Phoenix in year 3 has received some exciting news....his book "The crazy drone" is available for loan at Tiverton library.
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Swimming success
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Congratulations to Kelsey & Mason who represented Tiverton swimming club at the Devon inter club & Devon County relay galas, on Saturday 13th January at the Plymouth Life centre. Tiverton swimming club came 3rd in the inter club gala and Kelsey & Mason won several team medals when they competed in the relay gala.
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Best Attendance
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Classes with attendance over 97% -FSDB, 1B, 2P, 3/4CB, 3/4CP & 5K
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Diary Dates
School Disco - 7th February
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Term Dates
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Spring Term Half: Monday 12th - Friday 16th February
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Last day of Spring Term: Thursday 28th March
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First day of Summer Term: Monday 15th April
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May Bank Holiday: Monday 6th May
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Summer Half Term: Monday 27th - Friday 31st May
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Last day of Summer Term: Friday 19th July
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Heathcoat Heroes
The children below have all reached the very top of our learning behaviours and expectations system last week.
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FSA - Darcie FSDB - Tommy
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2G - Eric, Harry, Jack, Effie, Alicia, Ellie S & Jayden
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Absence reporting email
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If your child is unwell, please contact the school office by 9.15am by telephone (01884 252445) or email (attendance@heathcoat.devon.sch.uk), on each day that your child is absent. Please could we ask that you include the child's name, class and reason for absence (i.e. sickness). If no contact is made, we will follow our attendance procedures and a member of senior leadership may visit your home address.
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Are your contact details up to date?
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Please advise the office of any changes in your contact details by emailing admin@heathcoat.devon.sch.uk
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