News

Newsletter for the week ending Friday 9th September
9 September 2022

Welcome back everybody and a warm welcome to all our new children, families and staff. It has been a very enjoyable week back and the children have returned with their typically tremendous enthusiasm and zest for everything available to them. It’s lovely to have them all back and we all look forward to the year ahead.

Today we paused to think and reflect on the remarkable life of service and duty, conducted with dignity, loyalty and grace, of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The country has now entered a period of national mourning that will continue until the end of the Sate Funeral. School remains open during this time and when we hear from the Department for Education what the the plans are for schools on the day of the State Funeral we will let you know.

Every Friday we post our weekly newsletter on our school website. Please take time to read it because it includes information important to your child and also a summary of what has happened in each class over the course of the week. Please click on the ‘more’ text link to access the full article.

We wish you a peaceful weekend and look forward to welcoming you back next week

From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff

Thank you to all of you who taken places in our art and eco rangers after school clubs. At time of writing there are one or two places still available in our Thursday eco rangers. If you need after school provision we have our after school provision and places must be booked in advance. We aim to start a club that will alternate between netball and basketball on a half termly basis dependent on demand. More details to follow, so please keep an eye on emails and texts.

A number of pairs of slightly used good quality shoes have been donated to school. If you are interested, please contact the school office. Boys: school shoes sizes 2.5F and IF; trainers 13.5 and 1; girls boots (not suitable for School) 9 & 9.5 and girls shoes (not suitable for School) 10.5E

The children have returned to school in good uniform. Thank you. Please ensure that socks are grey or black and that black trainers are not permitted as school uniform. If you unsure about the uniform, please click here

AROUND AND ABOUT THE VILLAGE

Carol Anne NC is a large netball club based in Barnstaple catering for all ages and abilities. They are recognised by our governing body England Netball as a Gold accredited club under the CAPS and Sport England Clubmark accreditation scheme, meaning they are a well run and highly regarded club. They are really keen to welcome players that are new to netball, especially years 3&4 who would be part of our U9’s age group. For more information please click here

West Buckland School (an  independent school) have an Open Day coming up, with tours and activities, on 24th September. This is particularly relevant to pupils in Year 5 and Year 6 considering their secondary school options. West Buckland have a limited number of 100% bursaries and a text to all Year 6 parents has been sent today about this.

AROUND THE CLASSES

Welcome back everyone! This week in Turtles and Dolphins we have been settling into our new routines and getting to know our new friends. We talked about our holidays and painted pictures of them.

Sea Lions (Year 1) have had a great first week! They have settled in brilliantly and quickly adapted to Year 1 structure. This week we have started place value in Maths and have been sorting objects into groups. They were great at finding different ways to group the objects. In writing we have been thinking about which nursery rhymes we know and then sequenced Humpty Dumpty and wrote as sentences to go with the pictures. In Music we’ve been finding the pulse and talking about the rhythm of music. We’ve even had a go at some rapping!

Lundy Puffins (Year 2) have had a great start to the new school year. We have really enjoyed getting to know them this week and are looking forward to working with you all over the coming year. They started the week by thinking about what they wanted their classroom to be like and worked together to write our class rules. In the jungle they worked together to make a habitat for a creature – there were some really creative ideas complete with slides and swimming pools. A challenge was completed where they had to make a tin foil and paper boat with a partner that could float and hold 2p coins. They had great fun testing them out.

Years 3, 4 and 6 began work on their parts for our harvest celebration. All the children explored the wonder of nature when they wrote about a scarecrow’s view of harvest. They also began learning their class song for the service. Words have been sent home and any help with learning them would be greatly appreciated. Year 4 also began choreographing their part in harvest dance that used the skills they learnt least year. Year 5 will begin their harvest preparations next week.

Year 3 have had a wonderful first week back at school. To start off the year, we thought about our aspirations and goals and created our own dream jars. In order to achieve our goals, we then learned all about the importance of having a growth mindset and discussed how we can be more resilient and challenge ourselves in order to keep on learning. To launch our topic for this half term, we read ‘The Great Green Forest’ and discussed the importance of forests and how the animals in the forest would feel if their habitat was being destroyed. In English, we discovered some mysterious footprints in our classroom and we worked as a team to try and decide what animals they belonged to. Once we had correctly identified the animals, we then used powerful adjectives and verbs to describe the animals and how they move.

HMS Echo (Year 4) have settled in incredibly well to their new classroom this week and it’s been a delight getting to know one another. We have been getting to know our new routines, settling in our new seats and the general timetable for the day. We are looking forward to beginning our new English sequence, which is Meerkat Mail, and beginning our new unit of Place Value. Harvest rehearsals are already in full swing with Miss Carr, as she warms up our vocal chords for a Harvest themed singing assembly!

Year 5 have very quickly settled into a routine and rising to the challenges of the new year group.  They have started taking on more responsibilities and roles across the school, starting with supporting the foundation stage children at lunchtimes.  Vice House Captains and Sports Leaders are now being selected, along with Art and Eco ambassadors.  There has been a lot of assessment happening in maths and English but all have coped well with the work and pressures of returning to school.  We have begun our new topic on plastic pollution and looking at materials in Science.  A fantastic start to the new term.  Well done Y5 for being so positive and hard working.

Year 6 have had a busy start to term trying to organise jobs and prepare for their residential next week. They have had to put their brains to the test with quizzes and elicitation tasks so that they can start their main work when they return. It has been a positive start with a good attitude to learning and they are looking forward to finding out more about climate change in topic. Please remember it’s normal time in school on Monday for the residential next week and we will be back in time for a normal school pick up.

 

 

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