28th May 2021
Dear Parents and Carers,
The sun is finally shining and I just hope we have many weeks of glorious weather! I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy and restful half-term and we look forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday 8th June.
Have you heard about the Beat the Street game coming to Taunton?
Taunton is set to be transformed by an innovative physical activity game that has engaged more than a million people, thanks to the National Lottery funding from Sport England.
The Beat the Street game will take place in Taunton from 16th June to 14th July.
Beat the Street encourages people to get outside and is open to anyone of any age who would like to take part. The game works by turning the town into a real-life game and residents will soon start to see special sensors called Beat Boxes appearing on lampposts around the area.
More information will be released nearer the time and we hope many of our children and families sign up for this exciting challenge.
For more information please visit http://www.beatthestreet.me/taunton/
Have you heard about the success of our Athletic’s Team?
This morning, Mr C excitedly announced that our Athletic’s Team have qualified for the County Finals for the third year running! A truly outstanding achievement. I am extremely grateful for the broad and balanced curriculum we have at St George’s and for the PE that we offer. The children enjoy their PE and also know the importance of competing in the correct way. They represent the school and themselves brilliantly!
Have you heard about a grant we have received?
We have just heard that we have been awarded a £5000 grant for the swimming pool. This money will be used to change the pool cover, to purchase additional resources and to have a new state of the art swimming pool appropriate flat screen tv to support with the teaching and learning of swimming. We will also be inviting Colin Christmas, PGCE PE Lecturer Exeter University, Swim England Licenced Educator and Presenter, Regional and National CPD Presenter to observe our swimming in action.
We have had new signage installed and the pool is ready for Tuesday 8th June!
Did you see all the flowers coming into school this week?
A huge thank you Mrs McDonnell for the wonderful idea of the Marion Rosary Procession and to Monsignor Bernard, the staff and the whole school community for being so supportive with making the procession the success it has been.
It was a wonderful procession and the children were so respectful of the occasion.
Have you seen the Response to our Relationships and Sex Education Consultation?
We would like to thank parents for the feedback received on our RSE Consultation, which took place in the Spring Term. We have responded to all queries raised by parents during the consultation. This information has been placed on our school website under the INFORMATION section. Please go to the section entitled, ‘RSE Consultation Spring 2021’ to see the Response document along with all the original materials posted in the Spring Term. As always, we are here to help and should you have any further questions or comments, please feel free to contact the school to relay these.
Is your child due to take their First Holy Communion this year?
If your child is in Year 3 or above and you would like him/her to make his/her First Holy Communion (FHC) in October of this year, please contact the Parish Office at taunton.stgeorge@cliftondiocese.com by Tuesday, 1st June 2021. Please be aware that late applications may not be accepted.
Taunton Traffic
I want to apologise to you all for the extreme challenges and difficulties we have all faced these past weeks as a result of the road works outside the school. You have all been so supportive and understanding. This week feels like a backward step with the changes to the traffic light system. I have contacted Bev Norman, Strategic Manager for Traffic Management, Road Safety and Parking about this matter as we are all finding the situation extremely frustrating. Her reply is below:
I am really sorry for the disruption that these works are causing.
My colleagues met with the developer on site today and the works are progressing well but are not due to be completed until the week commencing the 21st June. The current traffic management arrangements are likely to be in place for the remaining duration to complete islands, ducting and traffic signal cabling works required in the carriageway, although there may be small windows when two-lanes are restored.
Following the site visit we can confirm that all the signage is clear and sited safety for The Mount and Mount Street one way system, however we have requested that the traffic management contractor installs some water filled barriers at the junction of Mount Street to stop vehicles making the right turn and we are hoping that these will be installed tomorrow.
We believe the biggest issue causing delays are that motorists are failing to comply with signage and the signals. There are vehicles making prohibited right hand turns and motorists appearing to travel through red lights. This has a knock on effect as the temporary signals then go in to safe mode and stops all phases to clear vehicles that have jumped the signals. Unfortunately, there is very little we can do to stop that but I will liaise with our communications team to see if we can put out some messages and raise awareness of the issues.
I hope this further explains our position but please let me know if you need any further information or if any parents have any questions then please email developmentengineering@somerset.gov.uk or phone contact centre 0300 123 2224.
