News
Newsletter for the week ending 30th April
A poignant week for us all with the arrival of the Year 6 leavers hoodies as it encourages reflection on their time here, which for a number has been 8 years! This week they discussed the proverb ‘slow and steady wins the race’ and we can only hope that such an approach to the government easing of COVID restrictions over the coming months means they can fully remain in school and enjoy their last term together before they depart to various secondary schools. So far, and credit must be extended to all of you due to your support of the precautions introduced in our community, we have seen very few positive cases in our school community and thank you. Please continue with the precautions as we enter a summer with renewed optimisim.
Once again, so much has been happening in and around the classrooms so please do read on to find out more.
Wishing you all a very happy and safe bank holiday weekend and we look forward to seeing you again on Tuesday.
Best wishes from
Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
AROUND AND ABOUT THE VILLAGE
Try Tennis for Free
Saturday 15th May 2021, 1.30pm – 4.30pm at Atlantic Racquet Centre, Bideford
Looking for something new for your family to try this summer? Come along to our fantastic open day event and try tennis for free. Sessions are for all ages and abilities from tots to adult beginners. Our indoor tennis, badminton and table tennis courts will also be available for free use in family bubbles with all equipment provided. These free taster sessions will be covid-secure with pre-booking essential as numbers are limited. For more information and to book your places visit https://www.atlanticracquetcentre.co.uk/opendays
AROUND THE CLASSES
This week in Turtles and Dolphins we came into school on Tuesday and there were muddy footprints in Turtles and Dolphins. We investigated them and decided that the Giant from Jack and the Beanstalk had visited us. This led us to think about why he came to see us. On Thursday when we came in the Giant had visited us again and left us some magic beans, we have planted them and cannot wait to see what happens when they grow. We have also made beanstalks, measured them and painted pictures of them.
This week Year 1 have made the most of the lovely weather to explore our science topic – plants. The children have been in the garden area learning about germination and planting a range of colourful vegetables that they will be able to harvest before the end of the term. In writing, we have continued to use Jack and the Beanstalk as our class text. This week the children have decided which changes we will make to the story before we rewrite it next week. In maths we have been learning about equal groups. The children have experienced making groups of objects and describing these groups. We have also looked at repeated addition. Please use the knowledge is power maths sheet to reinforce this at home. Thank you to all those children who have brought in containers for our science experiment. This will begin next week. Have a restful weekend.
Lundy Puffins have had another great week. In English they have been looking at the verbs in the book ‘The Dragon Machine’ and then wrote some of their own verbs to use in their own writing. In Maths they have been learning to find and recognise a quarter of numbers and shapes. In their topic work, they learned about the layers of the ocean and helped to carry out an experiment to make them using different liquids. They are all really excited to find out about the creatures that live in the different layers of the ocean. Inthe Art studio, they used the pictures from their walk last week to begin drawing the landmarks of Appledore for their collaborative textile map.
Seahunter have become water cycle experts this week! They have found out about how the water cycle works and how the water we drink has been around forever. As part of their reading and English work, they have been finding out about the features of non-fiction texts and have used this knowledge to create books about the water cycle. In Maths they have found out about tenths and how we wrote them as decimal numbers, using pizza images and printing ‘chocolate bars’ split in to tenths to help visualise what a tenth is. They have done really well taking on this new challenge and are practising counting up and down in tenths. We have had a new class member this week to help us with Science, Violet’s model skeleton Horace! We have started to explore the names of each bone on the human skeleton and labelled Horace to help us. Finally, we have started finding out about rivers and are looking forward to the next two weeks when Miss Rose, our trainee teacher, will be leading a project linked to our topic.
This week Year 4 has started learning from our new text ‘A Walk in London’ in English. We went on our own virtual tour of London. In Maths, we have finished our unit ‘Decimals’ and have started our next unit ‘Money’. The children have continued to develop their tennis skills in P.E. For Science, we carried out a condensation experiment and wrote excellent explanations about the process. In P4C, the class were given scenario cards in groups and acted them out. They discussed their opinions on the scenario and the importance of being honest.
Year 5 have been busy finding out about ‘Cracking Contraptions’ this week and have begun thinking about the style of writing as well as more vocabulary work in Literacy. I maths, they have completed the fractions, decimals and percentages unit and have moved onto more about decimals. In science, they have begun looking at forces and what types there are and how they act. In art, they have been designing sunflowers in textiles.In topic they have been finding out about what happened when Henry VIII left the throne. RE is all about Humanism and in ffench they are learning about sports. It has been great to have tennis again and they are looking forward to cricket starting soon.
Year 6 have been very busy again this week. We have had our first transition link with Bideford College. We found out alot about the college and staff were able to answer many of our questions. In English we have been learning about fables and the morals which link with them. We read the hare and the tortoise and know that ‘slow and steady wins the prize’. We wrote our own fable about a swimming race with sea creatures which could live in our locality. In maths we have been learning how to interpret and draw line graphs and solving problems with them. In Spanish we are learning how to say sports, and say the sports we play and do not play. We looked at how to clone a potato and other plants. We have set up an investigation in the class, trying to produce some new potatoes. We have been doing textiles in art which is really fun, it is also quite complex and difficult. Friday is fun when we have a tennis session. It’s great when the people from the Atlantic Racquet Centre come in to teach us cool tennis skills. We have been looking at the question ‘Why did people want to leave England in the mid 19th century to start a new life in the new world’. We had to research using the chromebooks and then use our evaluator skills to answer the history question. Reporters: Anthony and Kitty
