News
Newsletter for the week ending 13th October
Please read on to find out about our choir performing, residential trips and much, much more in and around the classes and Appledore…
AROUND THE SCHOOL
Collecting Your Child
Please could parents for Years 3-6 wait on the bottom playground and allow your child to come to you, rather than waiting outside their classes. Parents collecting children from FSU (Turtles and Dolphins) are welcome to wait outside FSU. For parents of children in years 1 and 2, please wait on the bottom playground too. Thank you for your support with our ‘traffic management’.
Thrift Club
There will be no Thrift Club next week. The next pay in day will be Monday 30th October. last pay in day will be Monday 6th November and pay out will be Monday 13th November between 3.30pm and 3.45pm
PTA
Our Parent Teacher Association is a small group dedicated to raising funds for the ‘extras’ that otherwise wouldn’t happen. If you have ideas and time to help run the three main events of the year (Halloween Disco, Christmas Fair and Summer Fair), please contact Jeremy on headteacher@appledore-primary.devon.sch.uk
School Fare
Provsional date set for 1st December – more details to follow…
Parents Evenings
For years 1-6 continue next week (w/c 16 October). Dates are on the school Google calendar (available on our website) and you can sign up for a time on the list available outside each classroom or by ringing the school.
Governor Vacancies
We have some vacancies on the governing body. If you are interested in supporting the school in this way, please contact Annemarie for information or the head teacher for an informal discussuon about the role and the level of commitment required.
Harvest Festival
Our harvest festival celebration will be held in St Mary’s Church on Friday 20th Ocober at 2pm. You are all most welcome to attend.
Attendance
Our attendance as a whole school is just in line with expectations, so thank you for all your efforts with ensuring that you child’s attendance remains good and arranging holidays during school holidays. At present the governors are not requesting we impose fines, but please be aware that a concerning decline in school attendance as a whole could lead to a change of policy.
AROUND APPLEDORE
Interested in being a secondary school teacher?
If so, there is a School Direct Open Evening at The Park Community School, 18th October 2017, 5pm – 6:30pm
Rolle Canal Performance
Tickets are now available for the Rolle Canal Performance on Wednesday 15th November 2017 @ 7:00 p.m. They are purchased direct from Rosemoor Gardens from this link https://gardentickets.rhs.org.uk/rhsrm/sessions.aspx?tid=19. Please be aware that several schools are taking part and tickets are likely to sell out quickly.
AROUND THE CLASSES
FSU have moved away from our Nursery Rhyme topic for a couple a weeks so that we can concentrate on Autumn and our Harvest Festival. We have visited the Jungle to collect Autumn objects and used them back in The Unit, we sorted the objects, ordered the lengths of the sticks, painted with sticks and made leaf prints. We have made scarecrows and our P4C question this week has been ‘What could we use a stick for?’
Just a reminder that our Harvest Festival takes place next Wednesday at 2pm in The Hall and then come and spend some time in The Unit sharing your child’s Learning Journey. For those children that are in Turtles, if your child doesn’t attend Wednesday afternoons please see Mrs Duda and arrange a time to share your child’s Learning Journey. Steve from Exmoor Zoo gave us a family ticket to raffle off so we will selling tickets at the Harvest Festival for £1. Again if your child doesn’t attend Wednesday afternoons and you would like a ticket please see Mrs Bannister.
This week in Year 1 we have been learning about Amelia Earhart. We have used Google and non-fiction books to find information and have made our own mini books about her. We have mapped her journeys and thought about what might have happened to her. In Maths we have raced each other and then recorded our positions using ordinal language. We have also started to look at part whole models and addition number sentences. In Art we have investigated using different media and making different lines. Our P4C question this week was ‘Why did the frog trust the scorpion?’
Lundy Puffins have published their ‘Journey’ stories into hot air balloon books. Some are on display in the corridor outside the hall, so please take a look. We were very impressed with the care they took over these and the effort they put in. Well done! In Maths, they have been looking at addition and subtraction using the opposite operation to check their calculations. This was tricky at first, but now the majority understand. Our P4C question this week: ‘Should we always take responsibility for our actions?’ In Science, they have been finishing their investigation into making a car travel further down a ramp. Everyone is looking forward to our trip on Tuesday.
Seahunter have enjoyed working on a dragon theme in English and Art this week. In English they have found out about The Manchester Ridgeback dragon from a report written by a dragon seeker. They have learnt to recite the report using symbols and actions and used their knowledge to produce some great writing. The dragon is endangered so they have produced posters and leaflet explaining how to find them and how to protect them. In art, they have created their own dragons that they will eventually write a report about. Next week, they will become dragon seekers and start collecting evidence from dragon sightings! In Maths they have explored addition of 3-digit numbers and started to work using an expanded column method. Its has been quite challenging at times but they have worked hard and made good progress. Finally, this week’s philosophy session was part of Mrs Smale’s R.E. input so please see her news section for details.
This week HMS Echo have enjoyed having two authors come in to speak to them about their books, Philip Ardagh and Steve Cole. The children had lots of laughter and involvement during the assemblies, as well as some children getting their own copies of their books signed. We have had our Greek collages bind together to make class books, and the children have written a description about their character to go with it. They were creative and put a lot of effort into how they presented their descriptions, linking them to their character. These will be put on display next week. HMS echo have also been rehearsing a harvest poem as a class, to present at Harvest Festival next week, as well as learning and rehearsing some harvest songs. In Philosophy this week, the children watched a video clip about being responsible and voted to discuss ‘Should we always help someone when they have a problem?’ In Maths, we have started to look at the inverse of addition being subtraction. We have focused on using column subtraction and how to borrow. We will then be using our knowledge of addition and subtraction next week, to answer worded problems choosing the correct operation.
Beechcroft worked with Mrs Harvey in the art studio for the day on Thursday. They were making mosaic tiles which will go on display in the main corridor. When put together they spell ‘Appledore School, Inspire, Create and Achieve. They also started their ‘Explore Art Award’ by looking at the work of Antoni Gaudi. They really enjoyed listening to the visiting authors and learning about writing books. All helped to read the story ‘Room on the Broom’ and the following philosophy question was discussed ‘If you do something nice, should you expect something nice in return?’
Year 6 have been recovering from the excitement of their residential trip last week – they have begun preparing a montage of photographs to share with you at home soon. This week has also been a busy week enjoying author visits as part of The Book Festival and a trip to Rosemoor to look at Classification in Science. In maths they have revised negative numbers and in literacy they have almost completed their stories which will be published and available to read next week. Time in the Art room further developed collage skills and in music and drama they have worked on their input for their theatre performance at Rosemoor in November. I would urge all children to learn those timestables – it really will make work after Christmas in maths much easier!
Best wishes from
Jeremy Cooper and all the staff and children
