News
Newsletter for the last day of term
It’s the last week of term and a busy one too!
In recognition for taking action for Devon Wildlife (such as our site eco rangers work, out eco ambassadors’ work and our outdoors curriculum) we have been awarded the Devon Community of the Year 2023 School Award by Devon local Nature Partnership. Well done everybody!
This week as the turn of years 1&2 and years 3-6 to put on Christmas celebrations for you. They were tremendous and were skilfully rehearsed by the staff and thank you to those of you who came along to see.
Please be mindful of our neighbours when parking near the school and that Kingsley Avenue is a private road not to be parked on. Entering Kingsley Avenue by parents in a car should only be when dropping at or collecting from after school club. Otherwise, cars using Kingsley Avenue can be quite a safety hazard for the children.
We have a vacancy for a cleaner for two hours a day after school during term time. If you are interested or know someone who might be, please contact admin@appledoreprimary.co.uk and more details can be found by clicking here. Please share this vacancy on any social media you use. Thank you.
For those of you who like data, the DfE has recently published their school performance league tables. Seen as controversial by some, these have now returned following a pause due to Covid. We were ranked 420th out of 22,102 schools and the third highest local authority school in Devon.
Wishing you all a very happy Christmas and we look forward to welcoming you all back on Tuesday 2nd January.
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
AROUND THE CLASSES
This week in Turtles and Dolphins we have been busy making Christmas cards and decorations. On Tuesday we read the story ‘The Gift of Christmas’ and we decided to go to the woods to decorate the trees for the woodland creatures. On Wednesday we talked about what we might be doing to celebrate Christmas with our families. On Thursday Father Christmas came to see us.
Year 1 have had a very exciting week due to our Christmas performances! The children worked really hard to remember the many songs we learnt as well as when they should be going on and off the stage. Well done year 1, you were brilliant! In class we have been writing our own versions of The Three Little Pigs but we changed the pig characters to new characters that we thought of ourselves. We have also been thinking about friendship as part of our Philosophy lessons and what it means to be a good friend. We hope you all have a lovely Christmas and enjoy the break!
Year 2 had a great end to the Autumn Term. They were amazing in their Christmas play and really enjoyed performing to you all. Thank you for all your support with learning lines and acting. They have been finishing off their work on shape in Maths and finishing off their History topic about Explorers. They thought about what qualities a person needs to become an explorer and designed an advert for a Mars Explorer. Thank you for all your support over the term and your kind gifts and cards. Mrs Stephens, Mrs Halloway and I (Mrs Stanbury) wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and look forward to seeing you on 2nd January.
Year 3 have had a wonderful last week of term! In Maths, we have been using number lines to calculate multiplication questions and then used a range of methods to divide by 4 and 8. In English, we recapped our use of inverted commas to punctuate speech and we used noun phrases to describe the woolly mammoth from the book. In Guided Reading, we read the next story in ‘Too Small Tola’ and used our summarising skills to sequence key events from the story. In Science, we learnt all about how fossils are formed. We also researched and learnt about Mary Anning and found out that she made many amazing fossil discoveries. In outdoor learning, we then had a go at creating our own fossils
In HMS Echo (year 4), the children had a fabulous time in Bath! It was a long day, but the children had fun doing the different Roman activities and looking around the Roman Baths. I hope they enjoyed themselves and told you lots of facts! Apart from the trip, the children have been busy writing their own poems which have been very entertaining. They are in the corridor for you all to look at and enjoy. In Maths, we have learnt our different times tables; practise of this over the Christmas holidays will help them not to forget them! In History, we are sad to come to the end of our Romans topic. They’ve learnt this week the Roman roads and also the different countries that were in the Roman empire. In PE, we have come to the end of learning about Netball and I have been so impressed with their skills and improved sportsmanship.
It has been a really busy last week of term for year 5. We spent a day in the church rehearsing for the nativity play; on Wednesday we went to RHS Rosemoor to make Christmas decorations and Thursday we had our Christmas dinner. It has been fun making glass window biscuits and completing our felt robins. The staff in Y5 wish you and your family a restful break and look forward to seeing you all in January.
Year 6 have been mastering multiplying and dividing fractions this week in Maths, as well as plotting co-ordinates in the four quadrants – they created some quite intricate Christmas pictures. In Literacy, they listened to ‘A Christmas Carol’ on the BBC Schools radio and thought about how the character Scrooge was portrayed. In History, they completed work on WW2 and in particular thought about why winning ‘The Battle of Britain’ was so important. They have a SATs grammar booklet to take home on Word Classes which has definitions and examples in it – it is really important that they make sure that they know this information as it will really help after Christmas. I set co-ordinates homework, but most children have already completed this work in class; however, I have asked them to revise word classes too. We hope you have a lovely Christmas break and look forward to the New Year!
