News
Newsletter for the week ending 6th September
Welcome back everybody after an extraordinary summer for so many reasons! This week has been great. The children have returned full of energy, enthusiasm and ideas and the staff have really enjoyed their time getting to know new faces and catching up with the ‘old’ ones.
Please read on to find out what has been happening in and around the classes…
AROUND AND ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Appledore Band
Members of Appledore Band will be doing a demonstration in assembly on Monday 9th September and are keen for children who are interested in learning to play an instrument to get in touch with them. Parents are invited into the hall after school on Monday to find out more about the opportunities available and to meet some of the band members. The music lessons offered through the band are fantastic and there are many opportunities for children to be involved. If you are interested, please go to the hall after school to find out more!
Thrift Club
Thrift Club starts back on Monday 9th September 2019.
Communication
As always, please ensure we have the current email and mobile number of the primary contact because this is to whom messages will be sent.
AROUND THE CLASSES
Welcome back everyone, we hope you all had a lovely summer. This week in FSU has very much been about settling our new Turtles and Dolphins into life at Appledore School. We have been exploring our new environments both inside and out, building with the construction, painting, making models and making mud pies in the mud kitchen! We have found out a little bit about Turtles and Dolphins painting pictures of them, making collages and signing our Turtle and Dolphin song.
What a fantastic start to the year we have had in Year 1! The children all came in to school on Tuesday with smiles on their faces and keen to start working. They have settled in to their new class and new routines very quickly. They have written about their summer holiday and about their favourite animal. In Maths we have been sorting numbers to 20 and counting out objects to match a number. We went to the Jungle with Year 2 and made a home for a mini-beast. In Art we have followed an online tutorial to draw a realistic bee. Our Philosophy session this week looked at a photo of a messy classroom and we discussed how the children and teachers in that class would feel. Then we thought of how to make the classroom a positive and happy place. We decided that if we all try to be respectful, kind, helpful and brave then our classroom will be a happy one.
The new Lundy Puffins (Year 2) have had a great start to the new school year. They have talked about how they could work together as a class and what they wanted their class rules to be. They have spent some time in the jungle with year 1 making habitats for minibeasts. Our ‘bee’ topic has begun with them producing some amazing pen drawings of bees, having spent their first session in the Art Studio. They should have all brought home their reading diary and a reading book which can be changed regularly in the classroom.
Seahunter have had a fantastic start to the year, settling into life in Key Stage 2 brilliantly. They have decided on some class promises, found out how their brains work and how to keep calm, completed assessments in maths and reading, exercised every day and talked about keeping safe online so, all in all, a very busy week! They all deserve a weekend break after all their hard work and we look forward to what we can tell is going to be a great year. Well done Seahunter!
Year 4 have settled well into their new class this week, and have shown a good attitude towards their work and others. On Tuesday, the class discussed and wrote about their summer holidays. We also spent some time learning a bit more about life in Year 4, where there were opportunities to ask questions. Following this, we came up with our ‘class contract’ that we all agreed to follow, in order for us to have a friendly an hard-working environment. This week we have carried out some elicitation tasks across the curriculum in order for us to get started on learning key knowledge next week. The children have also carried out a Maths, Reading and Spelling test. Well done on a good first week back HMS Echo!
It has been a fantastic week in Y5. Welcome to Felix and Toby. We hope they soon settle into our class and make new friends. Everyone has returned with eagerness and determination to learn. In literacy we have started to read ‘The Tear Thief’ and beginning to think about writing our own story using a different character. In maths we have looked at using numbers up to 10,000 and Roman numerals. We have started our new topic on plastic pollution and the impact this is having on our oceans. Swimming begins on Monday for those who are not yet able to swim 25 metres. There will be a letter sent home next week outlining the curriculum for this term and proposed trips, including the final information for the residential. Well done Y5. You have made a very positive start to your journey in Upper Key Stage 2.
It was lovely to see the Year 6 class – now known as ‘Golden Hinde’ after their recent vote – turn up so smartly to school for the start of the year. I have been very impressed this week with how many children have taken on responsibilities and have been willing to help around school – it ia a very encouraging start. We have had a busy first week back and tried to switch our brains back on; completing our assessments and starting new topics. Our topic is climate change – so far we have just recorded what we think it is but we will be looking at what it is, who is responsible, what the impacts are and how we can help. We have begun place value work in maths and in literacy have looked at types of sentences. In science we were zookeepers – trying to sort animals into groups. We realised that in order to classify the animals effectively, we needed a lot more knowledge than we initially had. Information has been sent out about the kit list for our residential at the end of September and SOE3 forms need returning urgently for this – thank you for those we have received already. Parents are invited into class, straight after school on Friday 20th September in order to share our Arts Award work.
Have a wonderful weekend everybody.
From Jeremy Cooper and all the staff and children.
