News
Newsletter for the week ending Friday 10th November
A typical busy week that has included the start of Xmas performances! Please read the full post to find out what that entails…
Please remember to vote for our science resources fundraising project with your blue tokens at Tesco in Bideford and Westward Ho!
Please remember that Kingsley Avenue is a private road owned by the residents and parking on the road is not permitted. This week there have been numerous parent cars driving into Kingsley Avenue and near misses have endangered the safety of children entering school. We have free parking permits for Odun Road car park: please ask the school office should you need one.
Next week raffle tickets for a soft toy Pudsey Bear (about 2 feet tall) will go on sale for £1 a strip. House captains will visit each class throughout the week to sell tickets and all proceeds will go to Children in Need.
A few diary dates:
- Wear Spots or stripes for Children in Need 17th November for a £1 donation
- Click here for a meet Santa invite at Holy Trinity Church on 25th November
- Christmas fair 3.30-5pm, Friday 8th December, bottom playground
- Christmas service for years 3-6 Friday 15th December, 2pm, St Mary’s church.
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 Remembrance Day and why we wear poppies. We have made poppies using a range of different media and materials. On Thursday we walked down to the anchor to see the poppies on the anchor and to pay our respects at the war memorial. The Dolphins went into the church to find out more about Remembrance Day.
In Year 1 this week we have been learning more about the Great Fire of London. We recapped all the facts we could remember and then learnt more about how the fire started and why it spread so quickly. In Maths we have been doing addition and subtraction within 10 and have been using part whole models to help us write our number sentences. In Writing we have been learning what a verb is and have been writing sentences using interesting verbs.
This week year 2 have started looking at a new book called ‘Augustus and his Smile’ which is all about a tiger going on an adventure. They will be writing their own stories based on this book in the next couple of weeks. They have been making their ‘How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth’ instructions into small books which will be on display very soon. In Maths, they have been adding and subtracting tens. There are some games on Google Classroom if you would like to practise this skill at home. They have started a new History topic all about Explorers and have started to think about what explorers might look like and what they might take with them. They are looking forward to their outdoor learning sessions on Friday
Well, we have started Christmas! The hall was full of chaotic year 4 shepherds ( they were supposed to be chaotic), there were the angelic voices of the choir singing about stars and the whole of key stage 2 were stamping Les Mis style while singing the rousing final song. When the children are more familiar with the songs, the lyrics will be sent home and as usual any help you can give with the learning of those words would be greatly appreciated. More details to follow but the children are excited to be working together to put on our production of “Let’s Do a Nativity” just watch out for those sheep!
Year 3 have had a great week! In Maths, we have been learning how to use the column method to add and subtract 3-digit numbers crossing 10 and 100. In English, we wrote our own setting descriptions to describe the city of Pompeii and learned all about the possessive apostrophe. In History, we created our own Stone Age survival guides after learning all about how people in the Stone Age lived. In Guided Reading, we have been focusing on our inference skills and we have been reading a book all about extinct animals. In PE, we have started learning some football skills. We began by learning how to control and dribble the ball. For our Values lesson, we thought about someone in our lives who is really special and why they are special to us.
In HMS Echo (year 4) this week, the children have become familiar with our book A Walk in London, where they have learnt lots of facts about London. We walked around Appledore with a tour guide, who taught us lots of facts about the history of Appledore, which we’ll be using in our English next week. In Maths, we have come to the end of addition and subtraction and we are moving on to finding the area of shapes. In PE, the children have been practising the different passes in netball, such as chest, bounce and shoulder passes, and they have also been becoming more competent at pivoting and not moving with the ball. In History, we have learnt about Boudicca, who she was and what she looked like, using primary sources of evidence. In Science, we have begun looking at teeth, and what the functions of the different teeth are.
This week in English year 5 have been listening to, and writing about, the Anglo-Saxon poem/story of Beowulf. We have looked at how to write a good character description using alliteration and expanding nouns. In maths we have been finding common factors and prime numbers. We continued to use forcemeters in science and found out more about Sir Isaac Newton. We answered the following history question: Who were the Anglo-Saxons and why didn’t they choose to live in the towns the Romans left behind? On Thursday afternoon we joined Y6 to attend a BAE Systems roadshow. Hopefully you will be told more about this at home!
Another busy week! Year 6 have been using factors to complete division calculations as well as continuing with long multiplication in maths. I have shared a White Rose Minute maths app on Google classroom which can be used for free at home to keep revising basic skills and to help with speed! In Literacy, we are still enjoying ‘Friend or Foe’ and are becoming better at using an informal style in our writing – it always surprises me, given the amount of talking that some children do, that they find this style of writing difficult to adapt to at first. In science, we looked at how disgusting the bread had become after several weeks! The number of different types of mould was quite surprising; we discussed the conditions that the mould seemed to prefer. In PE, we used team skills in benchball – they are becoming quite inclusive of all the players and speeding play up, whilst maintaining skill. We have started to think more about WW2 and who was involved as well as key events. Unfortunately, our trip was cancelled – it is likely to be in Spring term now due to the weather. Homework this week is art based – it may involve hunting in cupboards – apologies in advance!
