Saint Eustachius - Tavistock Parish Church

The benefice of Tavistock, Gulworthy and Brent Tor The Anglican Diocese of Exeter

Search

  • Home
  • People
  • Services & Church Opening
  • Church
    • History
    • Church Gallery
    • Organisations
      • Bellringers
      • Brass Band
      • Choir
      • Coffee Rota
      • Companions Of The Melanesian Brotherhood
      • Electoral Roll
      • Fabric Team
      • Flower Arrangers
      • Friends of St Eustachius’
      • Handicrafts Group
      • Holy Dusters
      • Intercessors’ Prayer Group
      • Mission Prayer Group
      • Prayer and Stillness Group
      • Social Committee
      • Stewards
  • News & Views
    • News
    • From the Ministers
    • From the Vicarage
    • From the Parish
  • Music
    • Choir
    • The Organ
    • The Piano
    • Concerts at Tavistock Parish Church in 2022
  • Venue Hire
    • Concerts
    • Parish Centre
  • Contact Us
  • Feature Stories
  • Video Services
  • Diary
  • Friends of St Eustachius’
  • Donate
You are here: Home / Archives for Church Schools News

St Rumon’s and St Peter’s School – Autumn Report 2021

12th January 2022 By Martin Pendle

As ever, January brings a new school term and opportunities for new beginnings.  However, we must still take time to reflect, for the purposes of this report, on the opportunities and Joy that the Christmas season bought to our children.

With events in school last Christmas being so curtailed by the restrictions of COVID, this festive period gave us an opportunity to once again embrace (all be it cautiously) celebration.  Throughout the advent period we focused on the value of ‘Joy’ in our schools and the origins and importance of the Birth of Christ to this in Christians.  In particular during Worship, Rev Rosie enlightened the children with pictorial representations of ‘The Angels’ spreading the good news.  

As part of our school improvement work, our teachers at St Rumon’s are now well on the road to embedding a more ‘Discovery’ hands on curriculum in wonderful, enhanced learning environments for our Y1 and Y2 pupils.  Christmas allowed them to thoroughly embrace creativity with Christmas craft activities.  At St Peter’s a whole school Christmas Craft day of sticking, printing, cutting, painting and so much more resulted in children going home with a goodie bag of their marvellous creations.

A real strength at St Rumon’s and St Peter’s is our school choir led by Mrs Hodgkiss.  The children have a real passion for singing and this year were able to perform their Christmas pieces at the Salvation Army Christmas Concert.  We were extremely pleased to be able to go ahead with St Rumon’s Nativity and St Peter’s Carol Concert in St Eustachius church.  The hours of rehearsing and preparation led to wonderful performances that really got everyone in the Christmas spirit.

But now back to the new year.  Once again, children and staff have come back to school refreshed, ready and energised for the term ahead.  Despite the winter weather we have already begun a program of sport and outdoor activity with Y5 and 6 honing their cycling skills through ‘Bikeability’.  We have dates ahead for ‘Balance Bikeability’ for our youngest children at St Rumon’s and many sporting fixtures including the annual Tavy 13 for St Peter’s pupils.  Teachers at St Peter’s are planning Dartmoor visits linked to topic work and residential experiences for Y4 and Y5 are also planned for the Spring Term.

Our work to ensure that learning is the best it can be for all our pupils continues across St Rumon’s and St Peter’s.  This term we will be welcoming our trust partners, English expert and Phonics expert into school to share best practice.  We are also looking forward to an input from a Mental Health expert on our inset day in February.  She will be giving us hints and tips for maintaining good levels of mental health for all in our school community.

As for a personal January reflection.  I have now been the head at St Rumon’s and St Peter’s for one year and that time has flown by.  As I stood at the front of Collective Worship on the first day back, I felt so proud and honoured to be the head of two schools with such wonderful children and staff.

Filed Under: Church Schools News

Church Schools: Stanzas for Remembrance

16th November 2021 By Martin Pendle

Year 6 pupils from St Peter’s have composed these stanzas for Remembrance:

I dream that I grow in a solemn garden
A blast of colour in my simple surroundings
Remembering the people we have lost,
The history we have made
Whilst our colours never fade…
We will remember them.

I dream that I proudly decorate a veteran’s chest
Dazzling scarlet against navy-blue
My brother’s flowing through the Tower of London
A symbol of peace, a sign for the fearless
The everlasting flower of the lost…
We will remember them.

I dream I am the symbol of silence
Stretching over the world
Reflecting down on generations
Peace among the lost
Silent-scarlet between the crosses…
We will remember them.

I dream I stand tall
A memorial to the heroes who fought for peace on Earth
Leaves emerald green
Seeds black as midnight
A queen on remembrance day…
We will remember them

I dream I sway in the breeze of Flander’s Field
Thousands like me, yet each one special
When a word is desolate, I still grow
Just like those ancestors long ago
An invincible grave in the fields…
We will remember them.

Filed Under: Church Schools News

Church Schools News

5th November 2021 By Martin Pendle

St Rumon’s and St Peter’s School – Autumn Report

How wonderful this Autumn Term has been in St Rumon’s and St Peter’s schools.  In September we welcomed our children back to school following their ‘proper’ non-lockdown summer break.  Our adults and children all returned with a renewed sense of positivity and enthusiasm for the term ahead.  We began our new school year with a ‘Learning to Learn Week’.  Time to build relationships with new teachers and rekindle friendships with peers.  Time to consider skills and readiness for learning and develop positive attitudes and well-being.  Time to set out boundaries and expectations for the term ahead.

During the first couple of weeks we also managed our first ‘outdoor’ adventures of the academic year.  Our local natural environment is truly stunning and oozing with history and so many of us take this for granted.  So, we are aiming to maximise the full potential of our fabulous school grounds, our beautiful woodlands and of course our beloved Dartmoor to enhance the educational experiences we offer our pupils.  Classes from St Peter’s are named after our local Tors.  So, it seemed sensible that in their first few weeks in their new classes, the children climb their Tors!  This is what Pew Tor, Feather Tor, Great Mis Tor and King’s Tor did!  On the way they explored the beauty and ruggedness of the moorland terrain, enhanced relationships, persevered over rugged terrain and learnt a little more of the history and geography of their Tors.  This would not have been possible without the fantastic support of the Dartmoor Rangers and their team of volunteers.

As the term has progressed the teachers and children have got thoroughly stuck into their learning with the children really trying their best in all they do.  We have been relatively lucky with the ongoing COVID situation, with minimum disruption to staffing and pupil attendance.  The uninterrupted learning has led to fabulous progress through learning units and some lovely outcomes in the pupils’ work.

Of course, our work to improve our school in ongoing as ever.  This year we are engaging in a project to further develop our pupils writing.  Staff, alongside an external expert, have been reviewing the texts that we base our units of learning on and we have just placed orders for some beautiful new books to enhance variety in all year groups.  We are continuing with our maths research-based project that led to accelerated progress for many of our pupils last year – despite the pandemic!

This term, we have been delighted to take all our pupils to church on two occasions.  Our pupils led a beautiful Harvest Service – celebrating all that the natural world and farming provides for us.  More recently we were welcomed by Rev Sue and Rosie for an All Saints Service which was beautifully tailored so that pupils could engage and develop their understanding of the importance of the Saints within Christianity and how we can all be ‘saints’ in our own way.

As we look ahead, we are all truly excited about a more normal Christmas.  With delights such celebrations, church services and craft days planned we will have plenty to inspire us!

Mrs Suzy Dyter
Headteacher St Rumon’s and St Peter’s

Filed Under: Church Schools News

Church Schools News

6th July 2021 By Martin Pendle

Children in Y6 have been learning how to structure and compose persuasive letters.  They have written about subjects they feel passionate about:

Food Waste

Save the Bees

 

Click on the Church Schools News Category on the right to see other posts from the schools.

Filed Under: Church Schools News

Church Schools News

6th July 2021 By Martin Pendle

 

It has been truly wonderful that since our return to school in March, we have been able to return to some form of normality for our children in school. Initially we had a focus on regaining a sense of belonging, and reinvigorating and re-inspiring our learners. Within this we made plenty of opportunities for rebuilding key relationships and routines in order that our children and staff feel safe and secure at school and able to tackle learning. Thanks to the wonderful dedication of our staff team and the natural positivity of our children, we quickly re-established a calm and purposeful school environment.

Of course, the most memorable parts of our time in primary school are the trips, sporting events, visiting artists etc. We really did not want our children to miss out on all of these wonderful experiences. So this term we have also worked hard to make sure as much as possible goes ahead. All of our infant children have visited St Peter’s school for a day of ‘Wild Tribe’ outdoor learning. We have welcomed visitors such as Simon Dell into school to run workshops (a huge thank you to all of the volunteers who have made this possible). Whilst we could not mix with other schools for sport, we have engaged with competitive events within the COVID security of our own grounds. Day trips to the church (thank you Reverend Chris) and Dartmoor and after school clubs have also enhanced the wider education opportunities for our pupils.

With all this going on, we have also maintained our focus on the continuing development of St Peter’s and St Rumon’s school. Staff have continued to attend training, workshops and peer reviews and our wider St Christopher’s Trust team have continued to visit, support and challenge us in all that we do.

As we near the end of another extraordinary school year, our thoughts are with our year 6 pupils who will be leaving us and moving on to the next stage of their school career. We will be celebrating their time in school with a leavers event (COVID safe of course) and we will be sending them off with best wishes for their ongoing journeys and adventures through life.

Best wishes

Mrs Suzy Dyter
Headteacher St Rumon’s and St Peter’s

Filed Under: Church Schools News

8581793241_531938854a_o (Medium) - Copy (2)

Categories

  • Church Schools News
  • From the Ministers
  • From the Parish
  • From the Vicarage
  • News
  • Parish Magazine
  • Slider
  • Uncategorised

The Ministry Team

The Reverend Mike Loader
The Reverend Sue Tucker
The Reverend Judith Blowey
The Reverend Dr Hazel Butland
The Reverend Rosie Illingworth
Mr Christopher Pancheri
Mrs Sally Pancheri
Mrs Wendy Roderick
Mrs Liz Bastin

General Enquiries

Parish Office (open M-F 10am to 12 noon)
01822 616673
Email: parishoffice@tavistockparishchurch.org.uk

Our Church Schools and Parish Churches

St Rumon's Infants School
01822 612085
https://www.strumonsinfants.co.uk
St Peter's Junior School
01822 614640
https://www.stpetersjunior.co.uk/tavistock-church-schools-federation/
St Paul's, Gulworthy
Christ Church, Brentor
www.brentorvillage.org
St Michael's, Brent Tor
www.brentorvillage.org

Useful Contacts

Churchwardens:
Mrs Mary Whalley or Mr Graham Whalley - 01822 481179
Director of Music:
Mr Scott Angell - 01752 783490
Pastoral Care Co-ordinator:
Mrs Elizabeth Maslen - 01822 613512
Children and Families Worker:
Ms Fiona Lang - families@tavistockparishchurch.org.uk
Magazine Advertising - 01822 616673
Parish Giving Officer:
Mr Peter Rowan - 01822 617999
Parish Safeguarding Officer: Miss Rita Bilverstone - 01822 614825 or safeguarding@tavistockparishchurch.org.uk

Social Media

  • 

Location Map

Copyright © 2022 Tavistock Parish Church