Thank you to all the parent volunteers and staff who gave up the first day of the holidays to help tidy up the school grounds. I know I speak for all the staff and governors when I say how much your support is appreciated. The rest of the week I enjoyed walking on Dartmoor and visiting other areas of interest with family.

Look forward to seeing you all on Monday. Don't forget Parent Evenings this week. If you can't make any of these days please telephone the office and we can make an alternative arrangement.

The last week before half term was very busy with our youngest children visiting Paignton Zoo and years 5 and 6 away for 2 days. Other classes enjoyed the outdoor learning classroom and year 4 went orienteering at Killerton.

I went along with the year 5/6 children and had a brilliant time. Although I appreciated the week off to recover afterwards. Both days were action packed but very different. On day one we went to Broadsands, had a short walk and then went crabbing at Stoke Gabriel. The children were so excited I was surprised none of them fell into the water. In total the children caught 273 crabs with their lines and I am pleased to say our catch was all safely returned to its natural habitat before we left.

Maypool Youth Hostel was great and had fabulous views looking down over the River Dart. We were quite disappointed to find that the Hostel was for sale and we were probably the last school to use it. Such a shame. In the evening the staff acted out a Murder Mystery Agather Christie style. It was such good fun- well the staff enjoyed it any way! Big thanks to Miss Dudley and Mrs Ainsworth who joined us in the evening just to contribute to the play and then had to travel back early in the morning to be in time for their classes.

The second day was spent at Greenway, the home of Agather Christie and the children impressed the national trust staff with their knowledge of the author already. The weather was great and we spent time down by the boathouse sketching and taking in the amazing views.

I'm sure the children had as good a time as I certainly did.

I spent Saturday walking the dog on the beach and beautiful coastline paths of Broadsands. We intend to take the year 5/6 children there next week as part of their learning this term and someone had to do the risk assessments! The weather was glorious you wouldn't think it was nearly the end of October. We also visited the River Shack bistro, in the beautiful village of Stoke Gabriel on the River Dart. The mill Pool here is famous for crabbing and that's what we intend to do with 52 children. I can't wait.

Thursday and Friday of last week I spent at the Devon Association of Primary Headteachers' Conference at Saunton Sands, North Devon. It is great to have an opportunity to get away occasionally with others and have time to think and refocus on my role as a school leader. I listened to inspirational speakers who raised my awareness of the changing world our children are growing up in and this reassured me that at Kentisbeare School we are delivering a curriculum that is exciting and relevant to our children. Although I know there is plenty of room for further development.

News is filtering through that school budgets may not be affected in the Spending Review however we await with interest to see what the results will be. The governors and myself are always thinking and planning many months and years ahead but such uncertainties make it difficult to make concrete plans for the future. After next week we might have more information regarding this.

In the meantime have a good week and let's hope the weather is as good as it has been this weekend.

Tracey Hailey

Apple Day

This week Kentisbeare children were out in the community again enjoying the sunshine and visiting local orchards in celebration of Harvest time. The school , inside and out, has been filled with the wonderful aroma of baking apples. We are so fortunate at Kentisbeare school to be able to take advantage of the thriving village life and beautiful countryside on our doorstep. I would like to say a big thank you to all the parent helpers and members of the community who continue to support the school and as a result enrich the children's learning.

Thank you

Wet play-times made the week feel very long and I was looking forward to a quiet weekend. The children are now well settled into the term and the staff are beginning to plan future events on our Autumn Calendar. Harvest Service is our first and just to remind you that this will be held at St. Mary's Church on Monday 11th October at 11 am. The year 6 children will be preparing a Harvest Cream Tea for grandparents and local celebrities. This year this will be held in the school hall and the children plan to take their guests for a tour around the school and grounds.

This week we celebrated the successes of our boys and girls football teams who came back victorious from a tournament at Blundell's School. This was run by Devon and Cornwall Police who will be vising the school soon to award certificates.

Next week we will be having a visit from Cullompton Firefighters who will be talking to all the children about fire safety.

A busy week ahead with lots of meetings in the evenings for me. It would be great to see some of you at the Kentisbeare School Association (KSA) meeting on Thursday. Remember if you have children at Kentisbeare School you are automatically a member of the KSA. The committee plan events to help raise money for school priorities. See you there.

Have a good week.