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Dates

♦ 4/10/16 – Harvest @ 9:30

♦ 5/10/16 – Full Governors @7pm

♦ 10/10/16 – Grenville House

♦ Wb 17/10/18 – Target Setting

♦ Wb 26/10/16 – Half term.

♦ 31/10/16 – Secondary school applications in.

♦ 31/10/16 – Music Week

♦ 6/12/16 – Infant nativity @2pm

♦ 7/12/16 – Infant nativity @ 9:30am

♦ 7/12/16 – Full Governors @7pm

♦ 16/12/16 – Term ends

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thomas.devon.sch.uk

September 23rd 2016 School Newsletter

Street DanceOn Thursday Years 4,5&6 had the opportunity to enjoy a taster in street dance. There were some great moves performed and many of the children enjoyed developing a new skill! I wonder if we will see any of the moves at the next disco!

DfE Census InformationA slip has been sent home asking for the country of birth and the nationality of every child in school. We have to return this information to the Department of Education in the school’s census so need these returned by next Friday. Thank you.

Exeter Learning Trust As you will be aware before the summer holiday the Governing Bodies of Alphington, Bowhill, Ide and St Thomas all voted to formalise the partnership between the schools by converting into a Multi Academy Trust. In order to make sure that all the systems are securely in place and all actions are completed, to ensure a smooth transition, the new target date is November 1st 2016.Over the next few weeks we shall keep you up to date with the progress. Whilst there will not be any obvious changes for the children there are changes to the systems we use in school and it is essential that these are right before the conversion takes place.

Games and Online Safety!We are experiencing increasing issues around children playing age inappropriate games. Age limits on games are there to protect children from material that would not be suitable. Over the past couple of weeks we have had children who have clearly been scared by something that they have seen or experienced on computer games. Also children enact in their play things that they have seen which has led to some play that has been overly violent or sexual in nature. With so much easy access to technology it is difficult as parents to know exactly what the children are doing. This week Year 4 and 5 have been looking at internet safety and it has come to light that a couple of children have befriended people online that they have not known. Please ensure that children are playing games that are appropriate for their age and are safe when they are online. It is an area that children need good guidance in but often as adults we are finding it difficult to keep up with the changes in the technology. The CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) website has a lot of useful links and information. It can be found at https:// ceop .police.uk .

Year 3This week Year 3 have been out and about exploring Exeter with the Red Coats. Their topic is the Tudors and the children were looking for signs of the Tudor period in Exeter. This is great first-hand experience as the children learn about how the Tudors would have lived, their lifestyle, culture, beliefs and music. We look forward to seeing the children work over the next few weeks.

Justin Stone -Head TeacherEddie Brown - Deputy Head