Welcome to Holsworthy C of E Primary School's Web Site!

This site has been designed to give you all the information about us that you may need. If there is anything this site does not answer for you then please do not hesitate to contact us.

The school policies and Ofsted documents can be viewed under the parents link

Nursery information can be found on the Foundation Stage Unit page here

Latest News

The deadline for the return of the school class and team photos is by the end of Monday 20th May 2013. Any orders received after this date will have to be sent straight to Tempest Photography direct and will incur a late payment fee.

As the sunny weather looks likely to last could you please ensure your child is sent to school with suitable sun protection.

All parents should have received information explaining the new school homework routine for all year groups. Details can also be found inside homework books as a reminder.

There is a new discount purchasing scheme starting in the Holsworthy area called GrooVees and they have offered the school a donation for all new registrations this summer term. Please take a look at their flyer

Our school day starts at 08:50 when the doors and gates to the school are opened. We have noticed a rising number of pupils arriving at school significantly earlier than this and would like to remind parents that we only take responsibility for children from 8.50am onwards and that before that time the children are unsupervised. We would prefer that children are not on the premises before the doors open, especially if unaccompanied by an adult.

Thank you so much for all the newspapers we have been able to collect so far. The company we work with have asked if the school could increase the amount of newspapers that we collect as they are in need of many more to turn into insulation. We would love to have as many newspapers as possible until the end of the school year.

Sports News

The netball team continued their unbeaten run with wins against Woolsery 21-0 and Shebbear College 13-5. This means that the team have won their league convincingly this season. Well done to all the pupils who have played in matches this season

Appeals for Help

Please contact our Office staff if you can assist with any of our appeals

We need to put out another plea for spare clothes for our youngest pupils. If it is necessary to change your child in school would you please return the spare uniform to use as soon as possible. We also desperately need spare socks for all ages in the school especially as the weather turns wetter and the ground gets muddier!

If there are any parents who would be able to give half an hour a week to help with reading sessions, for Year R to Year 6, we would love to hear from you. Our reading sessions are from 9.00am-9.30am and 3.00pm-3.30pm.

As a busy Eco School our grounds are very important to us all. However, the upkeep of our gardens takes a lot of time and more than the gardening club can manage. Can anyone help the school with jobs such as weeding, sweeping and general garden jobs? Even half an hour volunteering a week would be fantastic, whenever it suited during school hours. Please let the office know if you would be able to help.

We are still looking for extra casual meal time assistants to provide cover as and when needed.

Clubs

Lynda Milne will be running a games club for KS1 children on Fridays at lunchtimes. The club will be good for teaching children how to play a variety of board based games, but also how to share well, take turns, follow rules etc. Lynda will be taking 12 children initially for this half term and, as many children have expressed an interest, she will offer places to other children each half term. Please reassure your child that they will get a chance to join but they may have to wait for their turn.

Our breakfast club is on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings from 8.10am-8.50am in the new kitchen area outside the Year 3 classroom. New members are always welcome to attend. Please contact the Office staff if you would like your child to join. The cost is £2.50 for one session or £4.00 for both sessions.

Events

Please read the latest newsletter for details about forthcoming events

Recent Fundraising and Donations

Amelia and Abbey from Year 3 managed to raise £101 selling cakes at the Junior Disco for the Exeter Leukaemia Fund.

Thanks to all that came to the Bingo in the school hall - we raised a total of £153.45 for school funds

Thanks to all who dressed up for Red Nose Day - we raised a total of £251.94.

Friends of Holsworthy Primary

The new committee members of the Friends of Holsworthy Primary School were elected as follows:

• Chairperson - Megan Lewis
• Vice Chairperson - Emma Wright
• Treasurer - Edwina Williams
• Secretary - Harriette Farrell
• 100 Club secretary - Emma Wright

100 Club

We have plenty of spare numbers available for our 100 Club

Entry costs £12 per year and you could find yourself winning the Christmas Draw prize of £50 or the monthly prizes of £25, £10 or £5. If you wish to add your name to the list please enquire at the School Office.

All money raised from the 100 Club is collected by the Friends of Holsworthy CE Primary School to help fund resources for the children.

Uniform

Parents should now be able to purchase uniform items with our school logo on through the Tesco website. Items available are sweatshirts, sweat cardigans, polo shirts and t-shirts. You will also be able to buy a full range of other uniform from the same website. Purchases of uniform will earn the school 5% commission on ANY items bought. If you wish to use this service please visit Tesco Clothing and follow the links to school uniform. Fleeces and sweatshirts can still be purchased from the school office as usual.

Support Programmes

Our THRIVE programme has been successfully introduced into school to support the emotional and social development of all our children. THRIVE is now widely used in Devon as well as many other parts of the UK because it has been so successful in helping children who have difficulty learning to get back on track.

As a school one of our main priorities is to continue to try to improve the standards of reading, particularly of our younger children from Year R to Year 2. Each child has daily phonics teaching and a daily reading session and all children are heard reading on an individual basis each week, some several times a week. We track and review the progress of the children each half term. Many parents are very good at supporting their child's reading development at home and we are actively encouraging all parents to help their children with reading. All of our teaching staff will be very happy to discuss ways in which you can help if you have any concerns or questions.

Healthy School Award

We are extremely pleased to have been recognised by Devon as having outstanding practice in the Healthy Schools Plus award scheme

Free School Meals

If you think you are eligible for free school meals, or you are receiving free meals and your circumstances have changed, please notify the office staff as soon as possible.

School Parking

We would like to remind parents that the access driveway at the rear of the school and the staff car park are restricted areas, please do not park in these locations when picking up or dropping off children.

Facebook

Some members of staff have received requests from pupils in the school to become Facebook friends. The school has major concerns with any child at Primary School having a Facebook account as this breaks the terms and conditions of Facebook under "Registration and Account Security" article 5 - "You will not use Facebook if you are under 13".

Under no circumstances should any member of staff accept these friend requests and should they do so, we ask that you inform the school immediately as it may be someone pretending to be a member of staff. Many of our staff do NOT use Facebook and the site is not available in school.

Facebook does not provide extensive child security measures for minors because it is not aimed at very young children. Your child is potentially unsafe when using Facebook if you ignore this restriction and lie about their age to gain an account. If you insist on allowing your under age child to have an account, please register yourself too and make sure your child adds your account as a 'friend' so that you can monitor their communications and who they are adding as 'friends'. Also change all account privacy settings to their highest level to restrict the information that can be viewed by the public.

Although chatting online can be great fun, young people can sometimes find themselves in situations where they are out of their depth. Risks can arise when young people give out their personal details to strangers believing them to be friends. The online world is very different to the real world and people can be tempted to say and do things that they wouldn't dream of if they met face to face. This can include giving out personal information such as mobile numbers, pictures of themselves and where they can be located.

For further information about internet safety and the risks of using online social sites, please see the resources at the Thinkyouknow website run by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre.

Photographs

Here are some children using our traversing wall in the junior playground.  Hold on tight.

Our bike shed now complete with a table tennis table.