News
Newsletter for the week ending 31st January
Please read on top find out what Forest School have been up to, information on funding for our school and how you can influence it and what has been happening in and around the classes…
AROUND AND ABOUT THE SCHOOL
School Funding
Funding enough money to provide all the resources and opportunities we want the children to have is increasingly challenging, but there is money out there we can claim that we haven’t and we need your help please. All children were sent home with a letter requesting you provide us with some details and we will be then be able to systematically and regularly check to see if the school is entitled to additional money based on your circumstances. Please do complete the letter and send it back to us, even if you don’t tick any boxes just yet, because once you are registered it will check in the future should your circumstances change. Please click here for the letter or ask the office for a copy. GDPR (data protection laws) laws are complied with.
Forest School Blog
Please click here to find out everything they have been up to…they’ve been very busy!
Uniform
I reminder to please check your children are wearing the school uniform. Trainers tend to appear instead of school shoes and headband become increasingly colourful and large! I have spoken to the whole school about it and individuals if required and the repsonse from the children has been excellent. If you are unsure please click here to see what is acceptable uniform and if you are still unsure please do call us before buying new.
Communication
Please ensure that we always have your current contact details, including address, email and all telephione numbers. Thank you.
AROUND AND ABOUT THE CLASSES
This week FSU have focused on our first mode of transport – aeroplanes. We labelled parts of an aeroplane and compare them to helicopters to see how they were the same and different. We talked about flying to China and how long it would take us which lead us on to celebrating Chinese New Year. We have read the story and had a go at acting it out, we thought about why each animal would want the new year to be named after them and then we interviewed some of the animals. We have listened to some Chinese music and created a dance using five different movements. We have made lanterns, dragons and had a go at writing some of the animals names in Chinese. Today we cooked some dumplings and ate them with noodles and prawn crackers.
This week Year 1 have had lots of fun writing our own versions of ‘Oi Frog’. Next week we will be editing and writing them up before they are displayed on the Writing display. In Maths we have used part whole models and ten frames to subtract numbers crossing 10. We have also learnt about bar models, we used dice to make our own bar models. We also used bar models to solve missing number problems and to find related number facts. We finished our work on adding and subtracting within 20 by using symbols to compare number sentences. We have learnt more about Grace Darling, we even got to ask her some questions when she came in to visit us! Our Philosophy session was about Mary Seacole, we found out about the amazing things she did and discussed the question ‘Why was she so kind and helpful to the soldiers?’
Lundy Puffins have been working hard to learn their 2,5 and 10 times tables. We have been impressed by how quickly they have learned them, so thank you for all your support at home with this. In English, they have started to read a new book about the festival of Chinese New Year. They will use this to write their own non-fiction text. The learning about Grace Darling has continued and next week they will look at how her rescue inspired the lifeboat service. In the Art Studio, they have been creating beautiful lifeboat collages.
Seahunter have worked hard this week, exploring the life and work of Marie Curie. They discovered that she helped soldiers in World War 1 by inventing mobile X-ray vans for the battlefields then produced pop up books to share their knowledge. To write their facts, they used the skills they learnt in English, using subordinate clauses at the start of sentences to say when, where or how things happened. Some of their work will be on the writers wall next week. As well as writing and book making, they have amazed us with their fabulous singing skills this week, learning songs to sing as part of our inspiration assembly at the end of the half term.
In Maths this week, HMS Echo have been learning about factor pairs and how to multiply 2-digit number using partitioning. In English, the class wrote up our class version of ‘Winter’s Child’ to show the skills that they have learnt over half term. In Science, we looked at materials dissolving to create solutions and which materials are soluble and insoluble. They have now carried out their assessment task and will begin to learn about digestion next week. The class thoroughly enjoyed their morning out at Atlantic Raquet Centre where they took part in a multi-skills festival and represent Appledore School well!
Another exciting week in Year 5 finding out more about The Great Plague. We know that over 100,000 people died in London and it ended after the Great Fire in September 1666. We are now writing our own stories about the plague from the perspective of being a plague doctor, watchman or parent. We also have been learning the rhyme ring-a-ring o’roses and how this connects to the plague. In maths we have been using the bus stop method to complete division calculations and in science we have completed our experiments, on using doughnuts, to represents buboes.
In Literacy, Year 6 have been writing diaries in the role of the character Cameron, from Pig Heart Boy – this will lead to a discursive piece next week about whether Cameron should have his heart transplant. In Maths, they have been problem solving with ratio and proportion. Science has involved looking at cross-breeding and selective breeding and the impact on evolution. In PE they have been exploring sequences and routines on the apparatus.
Have a wonderful weekend everybody and we look forward to seeing you next week.
From Jeremy Cooper and all the staff and children.
