News
Newsletter for the week ending Friday 9th December
A week full of Christmas nativities and we’re not finished yet! Please click ‘more’ below for dates for your diary and to find out what has been going on around the school. We hope to see you this afternoon from 3.30pm at the Christmas Fair.
With tech possibly/probably high on Christmas lists, please click here for a useful digital parenting guide for advice on how to ensure your child’s devices and use of are safe. It is from a commercial company there is much very useful advice included.
A tableful of bakes for our House Bake Off and the winners are: joint first, so 75 house points each, goes to Rosalie and Fran for their joint entry of Santa’s Grotto; second prize of 100 house points goes to Ella for her penguin cake and third prize of 50 house points to Alice for her cup cakes. 10 house points to those who named their cakes: Arthur, Cecily, Amelie, Lyla, Joshy, Sam, Molly, James, Harry and Rosie. All cakes on sale at the Christmas Fair this afternoon.
There are lots of bugs going around school today and we must be aware of an increase in Scarlet Fever and invasive Group A strep. Please click here for symptom and absence requirements for scarlet fever, impetigo and strep throat and click here for more comprehensive guidance from UK Health Security.
KS2 (y3-6) Christmas production of Squeak is progressing well for its showing in Appledore Church in the afternoon of the last day of term. For those requiring costume (they know if they do), please can they be brought in to school no later than Monday. Most children will just need a colourful jumper, such as a Christmas one, without modern brands/logos please.
Have a lovely weekend
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
AROUND THE CLASSES
Christmas has definitely arrived in Dolphins and Turtles! This week in Turtles and Dolphins we have been decorating the classroom. We have made paper chains, snowflakes and stockings. We have also decorated our Christmas trees. We very much enjoyed performing our Nativity to you on Tuesday. We have talked about Advent and what this means in relation to our Advent Calendars. We have also read the Christmas story and related this to the characters that we played in our Nativity.
Year 1 have had a busy week of Nativity rehearsals this week! The rehearsals paid off though as they did a fantastic job in all the performances on Wednesday, well done Year 1 and 2! In Maths we have carried on learning about 3D shapes and have been comparing different shapes to see what is the same and different about them. In Writing we are still using the Three Little Pigs book and have started to think about how we can change it. We have invented new characters and given the book a new name, ready to write it next week. In our topic lessons we have been thinking about why North Devon is a popular holiday destination, the class thought of great ideas including: fish and chips, the beaches, Hockings ice cream, body boarding and surfing and even the great views we have!
This week for Year 2 has been all about the Christmas play. Your children were amazing! They sang and acted beautifully in front of large audiences – well done everyone. Thank you for all your support with learning lines. They have been writing their stories into books which will be on display on the writing wall very soon. In Maths, they have been looking at lines of symmetry on 2D shapes and counting faces and edges on 3D shapes. On Monday afternoon, we have a Christmas themed outdoor learning session so please remember wellington boots and warm clothes.
In French, years 4, 5 and 6 have all read and written statements about their families. Year 3 continue to develop some basic conversational French. In RE year 4 concluded their study of the Trinity by reflecting on why water is used in baptism. Year 5 looked at how many of our Christmas traditions are linked to the true meaning of Christmas. Year 6 continued to explore the importance of The Torah in the Jewish faith and year 3 looked at more Hindu deities when they story boarded the tale of Rama and Sita. We are nearly there with our production of “Squeak”. We will have a final run through and sing through in school before we transfer the action to the church on Thursday. Thanks again for all the support with costumes and learning of words. If your child needs a costume and has not already brought it into school could they please do so on Monday. Most children will just need their traditional Christmas jumper. We look forward to seeing you at the church on Friday. If we are reduced to standing room only, I would ask that access from the vestry doors to the aisle be kept clear for the children as they are used throughout the performance.
Seahunter class (Year 3) have had a very fun and busy week. We started the week off by learning all about fossils and then made our own fossils using things that we found outside in the school grounds. We then went on a trip to Rosemoor and learned all about soil. We took part in an activity called ‘soil soup’ to learn all about what soil is composed of and then we used a soil identification chart to identify some different types of soil. In English, we have been journalists. We planned and then wrote our own newspaper articles to report on the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. In geography, we compared the weather in Saint Lucia with that in Appledore. We then applied our maths skills and created a line graph to compare the average temperature in both places.
In HMS Echo this week, it’s beginning to feel very Christmassy! We have thoroughly enjoyed watching FSU and KS1 Nativity, and the children have been busy practising for their Christmas performance in Church next week. Apart from all things Christmas, in English, the children have been learning about complex sentences to improve the quality of their writing and to make the start of their sentences different and therefore more interesting – they have been practising writing sentences in relation to their chosen animal in preparation to write their non-chronological report next week. In Maths, we’re coming to the end of our unit of Multiplication and Division, where the children have been practising their times tables and also learnt how to multiply three numbers. In History, we’ve been looking at historical vocabulary, and looking into why Boudicca’s rebellion was so significant.
Year 5 has been having fun writing winter poems this week. We have looked at writing a Haiku and ensuring we know how many syllables there are in words. We have started our next unit of work in maths and this is looking at fractions. The first sessions have been finding equivalent fractions. Our outdoor learning continued this week with a link to our science learning on forces. The class, despite the illness, have been busy putting the final acting, into the performance of Squeak, ready for next week. We hope you are able to join us at the church next Friday.
