Torre Times – November 2014
Pray, Praise, Potential, Pride, Persevere
Dear families
I cannot believe that we are in November already. This term really is
flying along.
Lots of learning opportunities and exciting experiences have been
happening at Torre including trips and visits, class assemblies and
cross school netball matches.
Soon we will be counting down to Christmas! We look forward to
welcoming you all to our special Christmas celebrations and events
(see ‘upcoming events’ and ‘PTA’ sections on this newsletter).
It would be great to have an article written by a pupil or parent in
our next newsletter. Please pass any articles on to me.
Happy writing!
Mrs Julyan
Trips, visits and experiences
Bygones
Children in Key Stage 1 had a wonderful time at Bygones and enjoyed
learning lots of new facts about life in Victorian times. They even had
chance to try on some traditional Victorian clothes. This trip has really
supported their history learning and was a great way to get them excited
about their current topic – ‘The Nutcracker’.
The staff at Bygones commented on how well behaved and smart our
children are. They were a credit to us – well done boys and girls!
Alien Party Day
Reception had a super ‘Alien Day’ when we came back after half term.
They all looked fantastic in their alien costumes and I actually found some
of them a little bit scary! I didn’t even recognize Mrs Irvine! The children
brought in alien style party food, which I got to taste. What creative
cooks we have amongst our Torre families.
Upcoming Events
December 1st
Performing arts at Upton Vale
December 9th
EYFS Christmas concert
December 10th
EYFS Christmas concert
December 11th
Christmas dinner
Carol Concert at Church at
6pm (Y1-Y6 all must attend)
December 12th
Key Stage 1 Christmas show
December 15th
Key Stage 1 Christmas show
Important Information
ParentPay
We are finally getting there!
Thanks for all your support and
patience as we work with this
new system.
Charges for wrap around care
From January the new prices will
be:
Breakfast Club - £1.50
Torrenadoz - £7.00 (or (£12.00 for
two siblings)
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Newton Abbot Market
In Years 3 and 4 the children are learning all about markets and how
these have changed through the decades. They went to visit Newton
Abbot market to find out from some of the traders and customers what
sorts of things people buy and sell. They had to devise questions for their
own questionnaires before the trip and had fun interviewing some
members of the public.
Victorian Jewels
Year 5 and 6 had a special visitor last week with some inetresteing
treasure for the children to examine. They got to handle thousands of
pounds worth of antique jewellery and to look at the designs. They are
currently in the process of entering a local competition to design their
own piece of Victorian style jewellery. The winner will have their piece of
jewellery made.
Visitor
A local lady came in to talk to year 5 and 6 about a memorial stone in
memory of men who died during the Great War, who used to be pupils at
Torre School. This was an informative talk and the children were
interested to hear these facts about pupils from Torre long ago.
EYFS
Our reception children are all full time at school now, which is great. They
have all moved up their independence ladder on display in the
classroom.
Reception has begun to invite parents in to ‘stay and play’ every
Wednesday. This is a great opportunity to find out what your little ones
get up to every day. The boys and girls love it too.
PTA
Santa Walk 2014
Registration will begin
soon. Event on 7.12.14
Panto tickets
Panto on 20.12.14.
Christmas fayre
28.11.14
Christmas disco
10.12.14
Tea Towels
Don’t forget to get those
orders in for your class
tea towels
Church and RE
We have done a special
‘change around activity’
recently and mixed up
our classes to think
about what makes our
6Ps distinctly Christian.
Our work is displayed
around the school
The nursery has been learning the story of The Little Red Hen and started
by making bread with Donna in the school kitchen. The children can now
confidently tell the story of The Little Red Hen Makes Pizza with actions
and they are enjoying preparing, eating and selling pizzas in The Tiny Torre Pizza café and takeaway.
The Harbour
The children have settled in very well to our new provision and they have started to have some visitors for
breakfast on a Friday. I have been known to pop in for some toast on occasion too! It is a popular venue
and a busy learning environment. Each morning, the nine children work together on a range of tasks and
activities. We are pleased that the staff have already observed a positive growth in each child’s
confidence and self-esteem.
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Kitchen Inspection
I am pleased to say that we have recently had our school kitchen inspected by the environmental health
team and we were awarded the highest mark of five stars! Well done to Donna and all her team. Our visitor
was very impressed with the quality of the hot meals we are offering our children and also with the nutritional
content of our packed lunches. Torre children are very healthy!
Charities
Thanks for all your support in raising additional money for the neonatal unit at the Southmead Hospital in
Britsol, the generous donations of filled shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child and also for the donations
made for Children in Need.
Reading Rainbow
Henry Allen – Stage 1, Katie Pugh and Harry Blunt – Stage 2.
Well done and keep reading! Let’s see if we can add a few more names to the list next month.
Parent/Carer Survey
Many thanks to those of you who took the time to complete our online survey. The results were
overwhelmingly positive. Nearly eighty parents completed the survey. 100% of the responses state that your
children like school! We are very also pleased to tell you that of those who answered the question,
everyone felt that teaching is good. The table below will share the responses in detail and the actions we
will now take (if necessary) to address any issues:
Question
Is my child making
good progress?
Number of ‘no’
responses out of
80 surveyed
3
Is the behavior of the
pupils good in this
school?
2
Do you feel well
informed about how
your child is getting on
in school?
Does your child feel
safe at school and
know who to talk to if
he/she has a problem?
Does Torre tackle any
bullying issues
effectively?
Does the curriculum at
Torre prepare your
child for a life in
15
4
2
1
How it will be addressed
If you are ever concerned about lack of progress,
please make an appointment to discuss this with
your child’s class teacher in the first instance.
In our last Ofsted, behaviour was found to be good,
”Pupils’ good behaviour and positive relationships
reflect the school’s care and management of
behaviour. Pupils know that discrimination is not
tolerated.” Please discuss any individual concerns
with Mrs Julyan or Mrs Kendell.
Teachers are always happy to meet with you to
discuss any concerns you may have with your child’s
progress. Please arrange an appointment to do this
when needed.
All teachers have talked to their children about
feeling safe in school and who to go to when they
have a problem.
The bullying policy has been posted on the school
website for parents/carers to see. Please see the
headteacher if you have any individual concerns.
There is a big focus on this nationally at the moment,
so we will be focusing on this as a school. Watch this
space! If you have strong views, please point them
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modern Britain?
Does Torre support and
develop its Christian
ethos well?
out to Mrs Julyan.
We are developing this all the time. In our recent
SIAMs (church school inspection) we achieved an
‘outstanding’ grade. “Christian values of
forgiveness, reconciliation, respect and praise are
embedded in teaching and learning and in the
outstanding and inclusive relationships across the
school community. These values are rooted in the
mission statement which states the community’s
belief that all are made in the image of God.
Religious education and collective worship both
have a high profile contributing effectively to the
Christian character of the school, and to the spiritual
development of all. Academic development,
especially in relation to progress, is outstanding.”
SIAMs report, March 2014. Please see the full report
on our website.
1
N.B. The number of ‘no’ responses refers to the number of people who answered the question.
Other issues/concerns hi-lighted in the survey:
Issue/concern
Poorly designed pathway
School hall should have been made
bigger
Access to EYFS learning diaries for
working parents
More competitive sport in PE
Dates for events are sent out to parents
too late
Response
Unfortunately, we did not design the extension and
pathways. We have now opened the lower gate, which
should hopefully have eased the congestion a little.
Unfortunately, there is only a certain amount of funding
available in expansions such as ours and a larger hall was
not classed as a priority.
It will be arranged for any child in reception who is
attending breakfast club and Torrenadoz daily, to take their
learning diary to Torrenadoz monthly to share with parents.
There will be more opportunities to take part in local PE
festivals this year. Our netball team has already played in
two matches with other schools. Miss Gay (our PE leader) is
aware of this request for more competitive sport.
We are aware that this is an issue and are trying very hard to
keep parents up-dated with new events as soon as possible.
Attendance
Congratulations to the Rainbow Fish class who achieved the award for the best attendance last half term.
Also, all of our reception children are now with us full time, which is a super achievement. Well done
reception children!
PE and Sport
The year 6s in our school netball team were taken to Stoodley Knowle to play in a match with their pupils.
Despite the torrential rain, our teams did very well. We did not win, but it was very close! Thanks to Mrs
Morphew for organizing this and to Mrs Butler for coming along to help and support.
Three of our pupils took part in the Devon School Ski Championships with Mrs Crompton at Barton Ski Club.
They did really well. In fact, Abigail Jones even came second in her category.
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Children’s University
Lots of children have now begun to collect signatures and stamps for this. Remember that the passports do
not need to be signed weekly, this can be done after a block of sessions. Please let Mrs Kendell know when
you are getting close to your target.
Personal Achievements
A big well done to the following children:



Max Metcalf – Had a trial with Torquay United. Well done Max!
Summer Faulkes – Was the ‘Star Performer’ of her Stagecoach class and has also been selected
to have two roles in their Christmas show. What a shining star Summer!
Alana Kirby-Selves – won three trophies and a gold a silver medal in the British Baton Twirling
Federation competition. Wow!
It would be great to hear about more personal achievements for the December edition of Torre
Times. Please let Mrs Julyan or your class teacher know when you achieve something special.
Nursery
KS1: poetry
Y3/4: science ‘SOLE’
Nursery: water play
Y3/4: writing
Y5/6: gymnastics
KS1: writing
KS1: firework picture
Reception alien day
Y5/6: writing
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