News
Newsletter for the week ending Friday 9th June
Welcome back everybody and what a half term of weather it was!
Previous drop off and pick up routines had to change due to Covid. It is now time to make small changes to return to those routines to minimise disruption and to ensure safety. Please click here for a letter detailing routines to resume on Monday. Please ensure that all of those involved in the dropping of and picking up of your children are aware the routines. Due to children being dropped off at school too early and left unsupervised too early, we are giving notice now, to enable you to plan accordingly, that entry to the school site will not be permitted before 8.40am from September.
A zebra crossing to make a safer connection between Anchor Park and Appledore School has been proposed and consultation is underway. To have your say on improving the safety of our children and residents please add your comments to the Devon County Council consultation available by clicking here
For details of a summer holiday football club running throughout the summer in Barnstaple please click here
This week staff have received updated safeguarding training on harmful sexual behaviours.
Date for the diary: We have booked a live online safety parent workshop on Monday 3rd July at 5pm delivered by Devon County Council Safeguarding Team. You can log in from your own device by clicking here or joining us in our school hall on a big screen. It will last for approximately one and a half hours and we have deliberately scheduled it just before the summer holidays when children typically spend more time online.
Wishing you all a super weekend
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
AROUND THE CLASSES
This week in Turtles and Dolphins we have been learning about summer. We have had great fun talking about all the great things that we can do during summer. On Thursday we went to the The Jungle, we used our senses to look for signs of summer. We have painted pictures of the things that we like to do in summer and made collages of the sun.
Year 1 have had a very exciting week back to school! On Wednesday we discovered a dragon had left us her egg to look after whilst she was poorly! So we thought about what we needed to do to look after the egg and started by making it a nest. We also wrote instructions for how to look after it in our writing lesson. We have been checking on it every day to see if it has grown and to make sure it is safe, we are very excited about it! In writing we are doing the ‘Tell me a dragon’ book. On Thursday we put actions to 3 pages of the book, there is a video on google classroom if you would like to see. In Maths we have started looking at fractions and have found half of a shape and half of a quantity. We have also started our new topic this week, all about Castles. We started by finding out who would have lived in a castle and some of the main features of a castle that would keep the people inside safe.
Welcome back Year 2 to the second half of the summer term. This week they have been writing story starters using pictures from a book called ‘Journey’. They found the book really interesting as it has no words! In Maths, they are looking at tally charts and tables and sorting information. They have also been revising their 2, 5 and 10 times tables. Keep practising these on times table rock stars so that they know them all. They were very excited to start their tennis session on Thursday. In computing, they are starting a new sequence of work all about making music.
Year 3 had many excellent ideas about what a Christian vicar does on a daily basis. They then watched a day in the life of a vicar to see what the job entails. In music, they played a German lullaby and a French folk tune on the recorder following the notes on the stave. In French, they created a recipe for a smoothie. Year 4 planned a birthday celebration for the church. They chose appropriate hymns and prayers for the service. In French, they looked at how intensifiers could improve their sentences when describing a monster. Year 5, looked at a variety of Christian organizations that are trying to make the world a better place. Year 6, had a sophisticated discussion about why world leaders do not rule in a way that follows Jesus’ teaching more. They then listened to a recorder concerto to see what this instrument can sound like in the hands of a virtuoso.
Year 3 have had a brilliant start to this half term and we loved hearing about all of the exciting things that everyone got up to in the holiday! In maths, we have started learning about money, we made different amounts using pounds and pence and thought about how we could make the same amounts in different ways. In English, we planned and then began writing our own stories based on ‘Cinderella of the Nile’ and everyone has come up with some really imaginative ideas. I can’t wait to read the final stories! We started our new topic in science and discussed all of the things that we already knew about forces and magnets. In values, we introduced our new value for this half term which is inspiration. We discussed the meaning of this, thought about any inspirational people or places that we know and explored the qualities that make someone inspirational.
In HMS Echo (year 4) this week, the children have settled in really well ready for their final half term in Year 4! It’s been so lovely to see those that have practised really hard with their times tables over half term, and hard work really does pay off! The children were incredible sitting the multiplication checks, and I am so proud of each and every one of them. They’re all done now so the children can now relax! Apart from busy practising times tables, in English, we have begun our new book “A Walk in London”, and we read the book together and learnt about some different landmarks in London. In Maths, we are coming to the end of learning about Time, ready to move onto Shape. I’ve been really surprised at how well they know their time which has really helped them in class, and continuation of this at home will support the children even further. In Geography, we have begun our new topic of Earthquakes. In PE, we are beginning football, which the children are very excited about!
Year 5 has started a new text, Where My Wellies Take Me. We have designed a front cover and begun to create a pictorial map of Appledore. We have used digimaps to look at maps of Appledore and gained a better understanding of the symbols used on ordnance survey maps. We are looking forward to seeing where our wellies take us next week!! In maths we have started a new unit of work on decimals, looking at complements to 1. It’s amazing how much the class have improved with their cricket and tennis skills (we will continue with these sessions for the rest of the term). Please check that you have read the message sent about local visits this half term.
Year 6 enjoyed a visit from the Lundy Ambassadors before their trip on July 22nd. In Maths, they have looked at packaging for cakes – thinking about area, volume and nets. In Literacy, they have begun a text called ‘The Nameless Holiday’ by Shaun Tan and will focus on key skills before creating their own writing. Some children were making pinch pots in art, whilst others were investigating ideas about electricity. They have begun more acting for the play and hopefully have relayed ideas about the costumes that they require. Tennis and cricket have been going well and children are really improving their skills.
