News
Newsletter for the week ending 23rd April
Welcome back everyboy and we hope you had an enjoyable Easter break. Once again the children have bounced back in to school full of energy and ethusiasm.
A very busy week, so please do read on to find out what has been happening in and around the classes.
Please ensure that the children wear appropriate footwear, notably school shoes (not trainers or canvas shoes) and dark socks. More information on the correct uniform is on our website.
We are a school that hosts trainee teaching students for Devon Primary SCITT, an ‘Outstanding’ teaching training programme. They have asked us to share an advert for a Business Manager position they are advertising, so please click here for more information.
All Devon primary schools have been contacted by Devon County Council regarding a recent “playground craze” toy consisting of very small, powerful round magnets. They are brightly coloured, look like sweets, are traded on the playground and easily hidden. If your child has some of these, please ensure they are not brought in to school and that you are aware of the dangers we have been informed of in that they have caused severe injuries to children when swallowed, deliberately, or more commonly accidentally, when doing tricks that involve putting some of them in the mouth with more on the outside of the cheek.
We suggest you raise awareness for children and parents of the dangers of putting these balls in the mouth and you may want to control how these are coming into school.
Best wishes for an enjoyable weekend
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
AROUND THE CLASSES
This week in Turtles and Dolphin we have started our new topic about ‘Fairy Tales’ We have been learning about Cinderella. We have split the book up into different sections and identified what happens in the beginning, middle and end of a story. We have design shoes for Cinderella and Prince Charming and had a go and designing and making an outfit using different fabrics for Cinderella or Prince Charming. We have also painted pictures of the main characters. In Turtles we have looked at Nursery Rhymes to help settle our new children in. We have been singing our favourite rhymes. We have enjoyed using different pipes to put Incy down it. We have also printed pictures of Humpty Dumpty on the wall. We will start our ‘Fairy Tale’ topic next week.
This term has started with a bang as Year 1 have launched ourselves into a host of new topics. In our writing, we are learning about traditional tales with a particular focus on Jack and the Beanstalk. In our science learning, we have started to learn about plants. This week the children have closely studied fruit and vegetables using magnifying glasses. Today we have planted sunflower seeds and in the coming weeks will grow our own beanstalks. In our Geography lessons, we have started to look at the Oceans of the world and the differences between seas and oceans. On Thursday the children used Google Earth on the Chromebooks to see how many seas they could find around the world. I have left the link on our Google Classroom if the children wish to continue this at home. I have put the new knowledge is power maths sheet on the Google Classroom as well for our next topic which is multiplication and division.
Lundy Puffins have had a great first week back! In English, they have read the book ‘The Dragon Machine’ and have been thinking about the main character in the story and how is feeling at different points in the story. In Maths, they have been looking at fractions and recognising and finding half in particular. The new topic has begun: Into the Blue – what do you find in the ocean? They have started by looking at the oceans of the world using Google Earth. On Thursday, they went for a walk around Appledore in the beautiful sunshine to start their Art topic for this half term. They spotted different landmarks in the village as they will be making a textile map of Appledore. We welcome Miss Turnbull back to the classroom as she will be starting her final teaching practice.
Before the holiday, Seahunter completed a 2 hour GoNoodle dance challenge to raise money for Marie Curie. They did so well and raised an incredible £322.67! Thank you to all the friends and families that contributed and really well done to the children for their determination and stamina! The children have settled back into school fantastically well. They have started to explore their new science topic, Bones and Muscles. In English they have begun a new unit about writing explanations as well as working hard to develop their reading comprehension skills. In Maths they worked really well in teams to solve a pizza challenge, working out how to share 3 pizzas equally between 10 people. They used known tables facts and logic to solve the puzzle, finding that each person would get 3 tenths. This then led to exploring how we write tenths using a decimal point.
HMS Echo have come back from the Easter break focused and ready to learn – well done Year 4! The class have continued their learning on decimals in Maths. In English, the children have researched Oystercatchers and written their own information page. This half term, the children are fortunate to have a tennis coach teaching them and took part in their first session this week. For Philosophy, we read the story ‘The Empty Pot’ and discussed our big question ‘What does it feel like to get embarrassed and then get awarded?’
Year 5 have enjoyed Wallace and Gromit’s Cracking Contraptions this week in Literacy and have been working on vocabulary associated with the technical and formal style of writing. In maths, they have been looking at the relationship between decimals, fractions and percentages and finding that they are using the numerator and denominator rules more than they thought they would, as well as having to create equivalent fractions. In science, they have begun work on forces and for values have been thinking about honesty and what it means to be honest and dishonest. For topic, they will be moving onto Seadogs – they’ll let you know more about that later and in ICT they have been learning the last parts about creating quizzes. I have had to speak to the class about noise and chatting on several occasions this week. Please could you also re-iterate to your child about the importance of listening and making sure they are ready to learn when they enter the room
In English Year Six have been put into groups and are writing poems about Appledore: the church, the shipyard,the rivers and other places. In maths we are drawing, reading and interpreting line graphs. We have started our Topic work on people travelling overseas to begin new lives. We looked at the painting ‘The Last of England’ by Ford Madox Brown. Year six has been learning about the life cycle of a flower in Science as part of your work on reproductive cycles. For P.E we have been playing Kwik Cricket because we got a new cricket set from winning the weekly cricket skills challenges. On Monday, in P.E, we played football rounders. Also, a coach from the Atlantic Racquet Centre will be coming in to teach us some tennis on a Friday. We will also be writing letters back to our Spanish penpals. Reporters: Zachary and Rosie
