News
Newsletter for the week ending 17th June
Don’t forget it’s sports day next Friday (24th June). Please click here for information about the day and please be aware that changes to the arrangements sometimes have to be made, including last minute postponement due to weather, and we ask for your understanding with this. Hopefully all will go to plan and we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible.
A few changes at the end of this term when we will be saying goodbye to Mrs Rushworth and Miss Goodman who both move on to new challenges in new schools. Those schools are lucky to have them and we wish them every success and thank them for everything they have done here at Appledore School. Mrs McMorine will continue to be Deputy Headteacher and Mrs Bannister has been promoted to Assistant Headteacher and both will retain responsibility for a class in addition to their leadership and management responsibilities. Next year, the class teachers will be as follows: Ms Olliffe in nursery; Mrs bannister in reception; Miss Gray in year 1; Mrs Stanbury and Mrs Stephens in year 2; Ms Wetz in year 3; Miss Ellis in year 4; Mrs McMorine in year 5 and Mrs Mitchell in year 6. The children going into years 1-6 in September will get the chance to meet their teacher on Thursday 30th June and additional transition arrangements will be made as required.
Torridge District Council is bidding for funding from the government’s Levelling Up Fund to regenerate Middle Dock in Appledore into a proposed Appledore Clean Maritime Innovation Centre. For information about this proposal please click here.
We wish you all a super weekend
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staffAROUND THE CLASSES
This week in Turtles and Dolphins we have been learning about Lundy Island. The children were very excited to think they would be finding out about an island that they can see. We have found out about the animals that live there – mainly the seals and the puffins. We have painted pictures of puffins and made collages of them. We have also used pens and pencils to draw pictures of the seals. We found out that Lundy only has one road and there aren’t many cars there. We have compared Lundy to Appledore. Today, we enjoyed visiting the Library to change our books.
Year 1 have had an incredibly exciting week! On Tuesday we found a basket in our classroom with dragon eggs inside and a note from a dragon called Mrs Flame! She was asking us to look after her dragon eggs for her until she is feeling better, so we got to work quickly and thought about how we should look after them. We decided they needed a nest so we went to the Outdoor Learning area and gathered sticks, leaves and feathers to make a nest. Then we wrote instructions for how to look after the eggs. We’ve been checking on them everyday to make sure they haven’t hatched in our classroom! We have also had tennis this week with Lottie and really thought about how we work as a team and support each other. In Science we have been thinking about what plants need to survive and are completing our own Science experiment to see where cress will grow best in our classroom. We have put our cress seeds in different areas of the classroom and we are keeping diaries to observe and keep track of how they grow.
Lundy Puffins enjoyed their first tennis session with Lottie from Atlantic Racquet Centre. The sessions will be every Tuesday until the end of term, so please remember PE kits. In Maths, they have been telling the time to the nearest 5 minutes and finding durations of time; thank you for all the support you are giving at home to help your child to tell the time. In English, they are continuing with the book ‘Outdoor Wonderland’ and have been reading other instructions. During their guided reading session, each group has followed instructions from the book to make a rain catcher to measure rainfall – hopefully we won’t get to use it just yet! In music, they have been composers, whilst in the Art Studio they are putting the finishing touches to their collage.
Year 3 began composing the incidental music to accompany their drama. They were asked to consider the time signature and mood of the piece which will need to change throughout the piece to fit he drama. Year 4 considered the fruits of Pentecost. Year 5 appraised, learnt and then performed a fabulous Soul strong and year 6 began some whole class ensemble teaching and used drama to explore the Parable of the Tenants in the Vineyard. All classes learnt some traditional French songs and listened to a traditional English fairy tale read in French.
This week in year 3, the children have continued to learn how to tell the time in Maths. In English, the class have: chosen appropriate subtitles for paragraphs, written prepositional phrases and looked at using perfect present tense verbs in their writing. In Science, we have looked at what nutrients our bodies receive from different foods that we eat. In P.E, we have continued our swimming lessons and practised some Sports Day races and activities. For our values learning, we thought about what we can do to stay positive and created posters to help others!
HMS Echo have been practising skills this week that are used by the crew of HMS Echo to survey the seabed; coordinates in the first quadrant. They have been able to plot, identify and translate coordinates and enjoyed playing battleships to practise their skills. On Wednesday, we went for a walk around Appledore to gather information about key places (e.g. The Dry Dock, Ferry and Lifeboat Station) to write ‘A Walk around Appledore’, our own versions of the book ‘A Walk Around London’ by Salvatore Rubbino. The children have been really working on their careful vocabulary choices and we are looking forward to some fantastic books. Finally, in PSHE, we have explored how to manage problems as part of being positive. They sorted problems into those they can ignore, those they can solve independently and those that need adult help. They are working on being more independent when solving small problems and seeking the help and support of their friends but know that anything that is worrying, frightening or feels uncomfortable should be shared with an adult they trust.
Year 5 have had a fantastic couple of days visiting Lundy and then The Mix. Lundy – A smooth sailing out to the island, seeing dolphins on the way. We walked out to the old lighthouse and everyone went to the top. After writing postcards we went to see the new foal and visit the shop. Then we went to the castle and the old slave caves. The group were really lucky to get a trip around the island on the Oldenburg, seeing grey seals and puffins. It was a memorable day, even before the boat rescue on the way home! The Mix – we attended six musical workshops whilst at Killerton House. These included Taiko drumming, String Fever, Beat Goes On, BSO Resound, Back Chat Brass and Sonopera Let’s Play. All were fully engaged in the sessions and time went really quickly. We now have lots to write about for the Arts Award. In school we have started a new writing unit based on the book Dragonology and in maths we are looking at direction and position. We made pizzas at Kingsley school and got ready for sports day races. Next week, those who have signed up, will be taking part in a two day bikeability training session and the other half of the class will be making their pizza at Kingsley.
Year 6 have had a busy week using The Tempest as their text in literacy and solving more maths investigations including one called chocolate. The play is starting to take more shape as many lines have been learnt – there are still more to do so any encouragement is greatly received. Next week several children are doing Bikeability on Monday and Tuesday and will need their bikes and helmets in school and can wear their own comfortable clothes – bikes can be left at school overnight. Children who have signed up to get the Arts Award will have work to show you this week or next week via google classroom – a photo of you sharing it and some comments on their slides would be great. The last week of term will be a busy week with the play on Tuesday at 2pm and the leavers assembly on Friday at 2pm – we hope to see you there!
