Delabole Slate October 2021

Delabole Primary School
‘From Me To Everyone’ – It takes a village to grow a child
As we start a new Autumn Term here at Delabole School, the whole school community has begun once again to explore
our core value ‘Belonging’. What does it mean to truly belong, and how can we work together as parents, school and
community to continually shape a vision for the future of our children?
Our INSET Day was spent revisiting all the core aspects of our school culture – the DNA of our school
– and considering what it means exactly to shape a child for a future that we can hardly envisage. With
all that we have learned from recent experiences, with the pace of change gathering momentum year
by year and technology opening up pathways that could not have been imagined even two years ago,
we find ourselves considering an uncertain future…and we are definitely preparing the children of today
for jobs which haven’t yet been invented! Balanced with this is our responsibility to make sure that we
uphold what it is to be a child, protect the essence of ‘childhood’ and ensure our children thrive and reach
their best potential.
Once again, we shared our aspirations for our pupils’ future and began to communicate ideas which will take the school
forward and offer the children fantastic opportunities for learning. One of the key focuses for our discussion was ‘From
Me to Everyone’ - the idea that when children first join us, they need to develop their unique identity and nurture a feeling
of security in their world. This helps them to gain a strong sense of self (the ‘me’). As they move through the school, it
is our job alongside our parents, to grow them on socially, emotionally and academically so that they become
well-rounded, aspirational and have a discerning world view. Critically, it is increasingly imperative that we teach them
to care for themselves and for their world. This is the essence of citizenship (the ‘everyone’).
To illustrate this idea, we have developed our theme of The Learning Tree by sharing
with the children the idea of growth rings. The image here captures both ideas – our
individual mark on the world (our unique fingerprint) and the growth rings of our lives as
we develop. The similarities are striking and memorable.
And now the children have arrived and suddenly the school has really come to life, which
is just how we like it! So, now we must all get on with the business of making 2021-2022
a really happy, memorable year of learning. And more than ever, we hope to regain the
privilege of sharing our learning journey with our village of Delabole. Sue Cox and the
team.
Delabole Branch of the Royal British Legion.....We need your help please!
As with all organisations, the Delabole Branch of the Royal British Legion has found these past months
during the pandemic unprecedented and uncertain. We have not been able to hold our bimonthly
meetings and fundraising events and of course the Commemorations to mark Armistice Day and
Remembrance Sunday were severely curtailed. However, we were able to hold a limited Act of
Remembrance at the War Memorial, which as well as the usual poppy wreathes laid at the foot of the
memorial, many hand painted pebbles were also laid to remember each one who had paid the ultimate price in both
world wars.
The celebrations we had started to plan to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day on May 8th 2020 were unable to go
ahead, but with true Delabole community spirit and determination villagers and businesses came to the rescue and
decorated their homes and business premises, many yards of bunting were made and street parties held.
We have now started to make tentative arrangements to mark this year’s Remembrance Commemorations in November.
Of course this will be subject to any change in the Covid restrictions.
We are planning to hold a minute’s silence at the War Memorial Garden on Armistice Day, 11th November at 11am and
on Remembrance Sunday, 2.30pm at the War Memorial followed at 3pm with a service at the Methodist Church.
We also hope to hold a coffee morning for the Poppy Appeal on Saturday 13th November at the Methodist Church.
Further details in the November Slate. Our Poppy Appeal Organiser, Geoff Cleave, has ordered the poppy wreathes
and poppies and will shortly be filling the trays for our door to door collections.
Many of our collectors have been willingly visiting your homes for a considerable number of years, but some now feel
the time is right to stand down and some to retire. We are very grateful to each and every one of them for all of their
commitment in doing this valuable work.
We are looking for some volunteers to take their place and help with the collection so please if you have some time to
spare could you contact Geoff Cleave on 01840 212791 .Geoff will be delighted to have a chat with you.
If you are interested in joining our branch, then please give our membership secretary, Andrew Stacey, a call on
01840212467.
Hopefully it won’t be too long now before the Branch can start to meet again at our bimonthly meetings at The Poldark
Inn.
Patricia Molloy.
Geoff Cleave.
Secretary 01840 212529 Poppy Appeal Organiser 01840 212791