News
Newsletter for the week ending Friday 10th May
Finally, the children got to use the field this week and it has been lovely to see their joy now the wait is over! We will monitor it’s condition and suitability for us to proceed with sports day on Tuesday 21st May, so fingers crossed! Information regarding the day has been emailed to your priority contact and can also be found by clicking here.
The good weather ensured two year group trips to Northam Burrows went ahead this week for environmental and curriculum activities. See Around the Classes section below for more information…
There are still a few places left for the science party at Appledore Baptist Church on Saturday 18th May. For more information, please click here
Provided there is sufficient demand to make it viable, we are hoping to run an afterschool sports and fitness club on a Wednesday. Further information and how to express interest has been sent to your priority contact and is also available by clicking here
Please click here for our latest attendance newsletter.
Apologies that a wrong date was given in last week’s newsletter for the Picnic in the Park. The correct date is 1st June.
And finally, thank you to all of you who have sponsored me for running the Bideford 10k this weekend. The money raised will pay for tools and equipment for our new design and technology curriculum. I’m close to my hoped target of £1000, so any final contributions are very welcome by clicking here.
Wishing you all a super, sunny (hopefully!) weekend
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
AROUND THE CLASSES
This week in Turtles and Dolphins we have continued to read the story ‘Goldilocks and the three bears’. We have designed and made a new chair for baby bear. We wrote a letter to Goldilocks explaining whether we thought what she did was good or bad. We also wrote our own stories based on this story. Keep your eyes peeled on the website for them.
A shorter week, but we have squeezed lots in. Year 1 enjoyed a wonderful day at Northam Burrows exploring the Pebble ridge, visitors centre and taking part in a beach clean. Some pictures from our day are on Google classroom. The class enjoyed a very sunny outdoor learning session, where they continued their learning on everyday materials by testing which material would be best to make plant pots. In Values, we shared the story ‘Elmer’ and discussed how important friendships are in making us feel happy and secure.
The highlight of the week for Year 2 was their brilliant day with the rangers on Northam Burrows. They took part in a beach clean, beach art, scavenger hunt, walk, listening to a story and spending some time exploring the visitor centre. The weather was perfect for us and everyone was very well behaved – well done! For their Maths work, they have looked at three quarters of shapes and numbers and in their English, they have planned the stories they will be writing next week. For outdoor learning, they planted some seeds to find out whether they grow best in the light or the dark and are looking forward to seeing the results of their experiment. For their Art work, they are beginning to work with clay to make a pot. Even though it has been a short week, it has been an action-packed one!
Seahunter class (year 3) have had a fantastic week! In Maths, we used all of our knowledge on how to find fractions of amounts to answer some word problems and reasoning questions. In English, we began reading a new book, Cinderella of the Nile. We thought all about the main character, Rhodopis, and used noun phrases and literary language to write a character description. In Guided Reading, we read the poem Red Fox and focused on using our retrieval and inference skills to answer some questions. In Science, we explored the function of a plant’s stem in more detail and set up our own enquiry to investigate whether stems can transport water and nutrients around the plant quicker in warm or cold conditions. In Geography, we discussed the different uses of rivers and thought about the advantages and disadvantages of using rivers in these ways. In PE, we had two tennis lessons this week and we continued to practise our rallying skills.
In HMS Echo (year 4) this week, the children have begun learning about money in Maths, where they have been converting pounds into pence and writing money as decimals. They have also had a go at lots of problem solving activities where they have tried hard to tackle tricky problems about money! In English, we have begun a new non-fiction sequence based on the book ‘Penguins’, where they will learn how to write a non-chronological report about an animal of their choice in a formal style. In Geography, the children learnt how to read an Ordnance survey map using the grid references, and had to spot the different symbols used. We looked at the reservoirs built in Wales on this map and how this helped Birmingham during the cholera outbreak. In Science, we looked at conductors and insulators and tested materials in a circuit to see whether they were conductors or insulators.
Wow! It has been a very busy and productive week for Year 5 (despite being only four days.) We have completed our writing about Shackleton’s expedition and learnt that the whole crew of the Endurance survived. In maths we have been finding the difference between regular and irregular polygons as well as measuring angles in shapes. We had a fantastic visit to Northam Burrows, completing a beach clean and finding the plastic nurdles in the sand. Thank you to the parents who gave up their time to support the class on this very hot and sunny day. We had a fantastic start to our cricket coaching with Ewan and enjoyed another tennis session with Lottie. In outdoor learning we explored compasses, finding direction and understanding longitude and latitude. We found the key points on a compass and what ‘true north’ is.
Year 6 have taken advantage of some drier weather this week and have enjoyed a few treasure hunts to revise key skills. In Literacy, they are still working on The Tempest and revising spelling patterns. They have been lucky to catch up on their tennis from last week and enjoy cricket too. Remember breakfast is at 8:45 am next week. Children need to drop bags into the cloakroom and then meet in the school hall to register. Please make sure you have some good sleep over the weekend so you’re ready to do your best next week. Please have a PE kit in every day next week.
