Dear Parents and Carers,

As a part of your child’s education at the Link Academy Trust we promote personal wellbeing and development through our comprehensive personal, social, health education (PSHE) curriculum. This subject area gives young people the knowledge, understanding, attitudes and practical skills to live safe, healthy, productive lives and meet their full potential.

The Department for Education has announced changes to relationships and sex education (RSE), which is part of our PSHE Jigsaw program of study. These changes will come into effect from April 2021 and all schools will be required to comply with the updated requirements. This means that we have been reviewing our RSE curriculum and policy so we can be sure our provision is appropriate for our pupils based on their:

• Age
• Physical and emotional maturity
• Religious and cultural backgrounds
• Special educational needs and disabilities

PSHE is taught throughout your child's school in every year group and is monitored and reviewed regularly by the staff and governing body. All teaching takes place in a safe learning environment and is underpinned by our school ethos and values. As a school community, we are committed to working in partnership with parents and all stakeholders within it and as such we need your feedback to help us do this.

We would like to invite you:

• To take the opportunity to view our Jigsaw guides on RSE including curriculum intentions
• Complete a questionnaire in order for your feedback to be captured by Thursday 11th February 

The Jigsaw guides are attached  and the questionnaire can be accessed through the following link:

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=yQ0V4_Sec0WRRGeMKx2k_Sua_bLsCMxKgLaeU8ImAjdUOFQ4WFdESVg4WDFWNE9WT1k4R0c5RzM2MC4u

Yours sincerely, 

Emma Marsh

Link Academy Trust PSHE Hub Chairperson

Key Worker and Vulnerable Children registration week commencing 11th January

Dear Parents and Carers

Please follow the link below if you need to book places for your child/ren to attend school next week.

In order to arrange staffing we ask that the form be completed before Friday 8th January please.  If you have already contacted us and we have confirmed places for next week we would be grateful if you could still complete the form for next week.

The booking form will be sent weekly for your completion  

Children will require Sports Kit on Tuesday.

Dear Parents, Carers and Prospective Parents

As you will be aware due to current restrictions we are unable to allow parents and prospective parents to visit our school and we will not be able to hold our annual Open Afternoon. 

With this in mind we have put together a short film which we hope will provide you with an insight of life at Broadhempston school and what has been going on this term. 

The admissions portal for children due to start school in September 2021 is now open until 15th January 2021.  To apply for a place for your child please contact  the Education Helpline on 03451551019.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like any further information. 

01803 812689  / adminbroadhempston@thelink.academy

Please click on the link above  

Class 1 Parent Consultations

Monday 9th November and Thursday 12th November 

Parent Consultations for Class 1 will take place on Monday 9th and Thursday 12th November from 3.30pm - 6.30pm  Please book your appointment by following the link below.  Click in the appropriate date and time and fill in your details. 

Each appointment will last 10 minutes and we ask that you try to keep to these timings to enable the evening to run smoothly and fairly for everyone.  If for any reason your scheduled meeting does not take place we will call you the following day to reschedule. 

If you have any queries please contact the school office on 01803 812689 / adminbroadhempston@thelink.academy

Thank you for your support. 

Keyworker Definition - Urgent Request 

Dear Parent / Carer,

We now understand a Key worker is defined by the Government as one of the following:

1) Members of the police force or police service support workers.

2) Members of the armed forces.

3) Doctors or nurses working within the NHS

4) Workers in the social care sector (ie care home worker)

5) Members of the fire and rescue service.

6) Members of the ambulance service

7) Administrators or members of support staff in the NHS, Fire service , Ambulance service or Armed Forces.

8) Civil contingency planners at a council

9) Key workers for power or water providers who are involved in emergency planning or response.

10) Any worker involved in the production of medical ventilators

11) Delivery Drivers working in essential supply chains

If you are not a key worker, there is no need for you to respond to this letter. You will not have a place in school for your child until further notice.

Please can you let the school know by email not 'phone,  based on this list, whether you and your partner fall into one of the above key worker categories. 

Also if you would like your child/ren to attend one of our 'open' schools 

These schools are:

• Bearnes in Newton Abbot,
• Cheriton Bishop for the Woodleigh Hub,
• Harbertonford and Landscove for schools in the Totnes area,
• Moretonhampstead for the Moorland primaries and
• Otterton for Raleigh Schools.

These schools will be open from 8 am until 4 pm during normal term time.  

Arrangements for the Easter Holidays will be clarified later next week.

The staff at the schools will be drawn from the schools local to the 'open' setting, i.e. those that are not open. By using staff from more than one school we are able to keep the named schools open as our staffing numbers are already considerably depleted and could not be opened unless this arrangement is in place.

We are really aware that this is not ideal and some parents will have to drive children to the schools or organise lifts, which we will endeavour to help with. However we are doing our best to offer the best learning opportunity possible given the position we are in.

It would be helpful if you could do this by 12 noon on Friday 20th March to enable us to complete planning for Monday

Kind regards,

Nicky Dunford

​

LINK ACADEMY TRUST

L a n d s c o v e S c h o o l H o u s e                      

L a n d s c o v e , Nr A s h b u r t o n

Devon. T Q 1 3 7 L Y

T e l : 0 1 8 0 3 7 6 2 1 1 3

19^th March 2020

Arrangements for Educational provision across the Link Academy Trust during the period of Government School Closure

Dear parents and carers,

As you are now probably aware, last night, England's Prime minister, Boris Johnson and Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced that schools will be closed "until further notice". We don't yet know how long this will be. This will depend to a large extent on the effectiveness of measures to reduce the spread of the outbreak.

However, the announcement also stated that schools will, wherever possible, remain open for the supervision of children of NHS staff and other frontline workers, as well as for vulnerable children.

The Link Academy Trust is totally committed to support our community to enable these vital workers to undertake the important roles they do, without concerning themselves with any childcare difficulties. We are also dedicated to providing the very best for all children and are particularly worried about vulnerable children and families that may find this whole situation difficult to manage. We consider that we need to be there in support of the frontline services such as the NHS, police and delivery services (the definitive list of these services will be published by the Government later today) as the underlying bedrock that enables them to do their essential role in keeping us all safe.

Children and families with specific needs that we feel require the opportunity to attend will be contacted individually by the Academy Head and they will be encouraged to attend.

All other children will need to stay at home, so we ask that you do not send your child into school from Monday onwards,

The Link Academy Trust Senior Leadership Team have worked together to ensure there are a number of schools across the Trust which will be open to provide learning, support and resources for our pupils, but not all, as we too have staffing issues to manage. Obviously staffing will be an ongoing issue but we hope by one school serving more than one community we can continue this provision effectively into the future.

These schools are:

• Bearnes in Newton Abbot,
• Cheriton Bishop for the Woodleigh Hub,
•  Harbertonford and Landscove for schools in the Totnes area,
• Moretonhampstead for the Moorland primaries and
• Otterton for Raleigh Schools.

These schools will be open from 8 am until 4 pm during normal term time.

We are looking at the level of provision that maybe required during the Easter Holiday period and will update parents on this towards the end of next week when we have a clearer picture of requirements.

We are happy that families decide which school is appropriate for their child/ren to attend if they fall into the categories of frontline workers. However we will be asking parents to let the school know if their child/ren will be attending as we need to ensure adequate staff are available and meals are provided.

All schools are in the process of providing Learning packs for all children in preparation for school closure on Monday next week as well as access to online learning. We have explained to our children that there is a real expectation that this learning is completed as this is term time. We are asking that you as parents support your child and if you have any difficulties you contact your class teacher who will be providing daily learning activities. Teachers will be available via email to help you get the best out of these learning opportunities and guide you through each activity, so please ask for any explanation, support or clarification.

If we do not receive any response or communication from you or your child/ren we will be contacting you to ensure you are all safe and well. We will be speaking to parents over the phone as regularly as possible again to support you and your child/ren. We want to make sure all our families are as well provided for as we possibly can be in these really difficult times.

We are looking into how to successfully provide ‘food’ support for children that currently receive free school meals. Working with our providers we expect to be able to update parents on this before the end of the week. The government is also expected to announce a scheme to support this soon.

Schools that are not operational will be undergoing ‘deep cleans’ on a rota basis as we have to be aware of the capacity of our cleaning companies.

Academy Heads will be contacting parents with school specific information before the end of the day on Friday. They will be providing families with an emergency phone number for parents to access if they are in particular difficulties.

The Improvement and Inclusion Hub have created a brilliant resource which will support family welfare, in it there are some great activities and ideas to keep you all cheerful. Please make sure you use it, my suggestion is that you ‘dip into it’ at least every day!

Despite this very difficult situation I would like to wish you all a great Easter break, let’s hope that at least the sun is shining and we can escape into the fresh air to keep spirits lifted!

Kind regards,

Nicky Dunford,

CEO, The Link Academy Trust.

School Closure Update 

18th March 2020

Dear Parents & Carers,

Following the government announcement today telling all schools to close, except for some specific groups including children of key workers - NHS workers, Police and delivery drivers, we now need to know how many children we will need to open for to ensure the right staffing cover.

Can you please email school as soon as possible so we can draw up a plan on how many of our families contain key workers. Clear guidance will come from the government later on who specifically is a key worker.

adminbroadhempston@thelink.academy

Thank you for your continued support.

Distance Learning Questionnaire

Although there are no current plans to close schools amid the Covid-19 outbreak, as a school we want to be fully prepared for all eventualities. I am currently looking at ways with staff to fulfil your child/children's education should the government issue school closures.

With this in mind you will find a quick survey below (it will take less than a minute to complete) to give me and the staff an idea of what resources children have access to at home. If you could take the time to complete this survey (ASAP) it will allow for us all to effectively plan long distance learning if necessary.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/C2WXBQK

A paper copy of this survey can also be requested from the school office, if required.

Again at this point there is no news from the government to suggest schools will close, this is only a precaution to allow for planning.

Thank you all for you continued support in what is an ever changing environment.

I will continue to keep you all posted as soon as new information comes to light.

Mr T

Change in Procedures 

Dear Parents and Carers

In line with current guidance we have decided to amend our procedures at the start of the school day.  We would be grateful if parents/carers would drop children off and say goodbye at the school door rather than entering the reception area with them.   The door will be open at 8.45 am each morning and a member of staff will be present to see pupils safely into their classrooms.  If you need to speak to school or pass any messages on please telephone or email if at all possible. 

Thank you for your support.   

World Book Day 

World Book Day will take place on Thursday 5th March.  We would like the children to come to school dressed as their favourite book character. We are also hoping to receive a visit from a local author in the afternoon. 

Governor Vacancies 

The Board of the Link Academy Trust is seeking new Governors to fill expected losses and also to recruit additional Governors.  We have attached information about the role of governors for you  -  if you would like further details please contact the school office. 
 

Christmas Events in Broadhempston 

Please find a list of dates for the events happening in the village over Christmas. 

Wednesday 11th December 3:15pm - Decorating the Church Christmas Tree. Please come and join us after school in decorating the tree. An informal event. May be a mince pie or two being served.

Thursday 12th December 8pm - Broadharmony Concert. Our village choir will be putting on a special Christmas concert.

Wednesday 18th December 6:30pm - Broadhempston Church Carol Service

Monday 23rd December 7:30pm - Carols in Broadhempston Square (Organised by Village Fete Committee. Totnes Brass band will be joining us).

Wednesday 25th December 10:45pm - Christmas Day Family Service

Friday 23rd March is Sport Relief Day,

We would like to raise some money for this excellent charity which supports people in difficult circumstances both home and abroad. 

This year we will be arranging several activities for the children to take part in - 

Penalty Shoot Out  

This will be held in the village hall at lunch time.  The children will be given the opportunity to score penalties against Mr Turner who will be in goal ! 

The charge for this will be 20p  a shot or 5 for £1.00.

Skipping Challenge 

There will be a  skipping challenge which will be 20p a go.

Finally we would like the children to bring in a sports shirt or top to wear in the afternoon when they return from swimming.  The top could relate to their favourite sport, team or form of exercise. The tops will be left at school in the morning and not worn to swimming.   We will be asking for a donation of £1.00 for this activity. 

We hope the children will enjoy the day. 

Thank you for your support.  

Kind Regards 

Dan Turner 

CLASS 1 NEWSLETTER 

2^nd February 2018

This week in Literacy we have written up our own stories based on The Boy Who Cried Ninja. They are fantastic so far and we will be finishing them off next week.

In maths we have looked at place value in reception. We have been looking at what a number is and representing it in different ways. We have also looked at one more and one less with numbers. Some have even been working out 1 more and less with numbers to 50. The year 1’s have looked at place value and looking at separating our tens and ones. We then moved on to comparing numbers and then finding 1 more and 1 less.

For our topic ‘This is Britain’ we looked at Northern Ireland. They were fascinated by Titanic and Bella very kindly brought in a book with facts all about the Titanic.

We had a great time at Forest School making faces out of clay and then playing a game of 1, 2, 3 where are you (a little like hide and seek).

Our science experiment was interesting. We didn’t make an egg float but thought maybe using salt water might work so we will try next week.

Information

Non-pupil day on Friday 9^th February.

Homework

Well done to those getting full marks this week in spellings. Next week spellings will be tested on Thursday (8^th February).

Please could you encourage your child to read both independently and with you as much as possible and practice their personalised spellings. It is recommended children read for 5/10 minutes a day. Please make sure all reading books and records are in school every day.

Many thanks for your support! Miss Simpson

Class One Newsletter 15th December 2017 

Homework 15^th December 2017

It has been a magical week at Broadhempston School.

They were all fabulous in the play and I am sure you were all very proud of them. We have done lots of Christmas activities this week including making an advent calendar and making some fabulous Christmas cards.

We have also checked your child’s progress. They have all done exceptionally well and worked really hard this term and I couldn’t be any more proud. All the reception children are now on phase 3 phonics which is fabulous. Thank you for your support reading regularly with your child and practicing their spellings. Without your support they wouldn’t have made this fabulous progress.

I hope you all have a lovely restful Christmas holiday. I have given each child some books for the Christmas holidays to enjoy together.

Our next topic will be ‘This is Britain’. Spellings and our topic homework will be handed out on the first Friday back.

Parish News Writing competition

The Parish News Editors have invited young people to enter the ‘Moira Mellor Memorial Prize’ by writing an article, poem or story for publication in the Parish News before February 2018. The piece should be no more than 500 words. The prize is £100!

Please send your article/story to alisonalexander@aol.com in a word document. You should send your piece by the 20^th January at the latest.

Many thanks for your support! Miss Simpson