News
Newsletter for the week ending Friday 13th January
First five day week completed in 2023 and there has been so much going on – much of it outside whatever the weather as our outdoor learning provision continues to expand! Please click on more to find out what has been happening in and around the classes this week.
During February half term Carol Anne Netball Club (Barnstaple) are holding a netball camp for girls in Years 3&4 (click here) and Chivenor Soccer School are holding football camps (click here).
If your child is playing Roblox please continue to monitor it closely because children are being encouraged to self harm on this gaming platform. This week the staff have received safeguarding training on recognising the different types of abuse and how to respond. For more information please click here.
If you are feeling stressed, anxious, are experiencing ongoing low mood, or are having difficulty sleeping, the NHS can help. TALKWORKS is a free and confidential NHS talking therapy service, here to help anyone over the age of 18 living in Devon, improve their mental and physical wellbeing. TALKWORKS therapists will work with you, by providing a variety of tools and techniques, to help get your life back on track, so that you can feel like yourself once again. Treatment and support includes: one-to-one sessions with a therapist; group therapy sessions; wellbeing workshops and access to online self-help. You do not need a referral from a GP to access TALKWORKS’ services, you can refer yourself online or over the phone. For more information on the different treatment options and therapy services, please visit the TALKWORKS website or call 0300 555 3344.
Have a lovely weekend
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
AROUND THE CLASSES
This week in Turtles and Dolphins we have started our new topic ‘Around the World.’ We made a very long list of the different types of transport that we use. We have looked at pictures of transport from the past and compared them to ones that we use today. We have painted pictures of them and made 3D models of them.
In Year 1 this week we have carried on our learning about how nursing has changed over time. We have learnt about Florence Nightingale and why she is a significant person in history and looked at all of the ways in which she improved nursing. In writing we are carrying on with our Weather book and have been learning how to join our sentences together using the conjunction ‘and’. In Maths we have been focusing on teen numbers and how we can split them into tens and ones. We’ve really enjoyed using the bead strings and numicon to make the numbers!
This week in Lundy Puffins (Year 1) we have been continuing our work with money, finding different ways to make the same amount and calculating with money. In English we have been selecting interesting vocabulary from our new book ‘Creature Features’ and including it in sentences. We have also written expanded noun phrases describing the dinosaurs. In our Computing lesson we learnt how to take photos on the chromebooks and completed a photography bingo challenge. We continued our work on feelings by discussing how feelings change.
Year 6 looked at different genre in preparation for deciding which genre Genesis could be considered to be. Year 5 listed the qualities of a divine being in preparation fo4 considering why it is important for Christians to in a God who is living and holy. Year 4 looked at the number of Muslims living in the South West and more specifically Devon and then looked at the location and type of Mosques in Devon. Year 3 collaged a puja plate for the floor book to explore how Hindus can worship anywhere because they believe Gos is everywhere. They identified which sense each object on the tray is there for.
Seahunter (Year 3) have had a brilliant week. We went for our first swimming lesson which was amazing fun and we can’t wait to go again next week. In History, we started our topic on Marie Curie. We created a timeline and added historical events and significant people that we had learned about in previous years and then looked at when Marie Curie was born. We then explored the main events of Marie Curie’s life and created our own timelines to show this. In Maths, we have been exploring multiplication and division and have applied our learning to lots of different word problems. We have also challenged ourselves to start learning our 3 and 4 times tables.
This week in HMS Echo, we have been developing our core strength by practising some very tricky balances with a partner in gymnastics. We’ve also practised the plank; it will be interesting to see how long they can hold it for at home! In PSHE, we have been talking about what a feeling is and different emotions we experience. In History, we have started our new topic of “How has our diet changed from 1918?”, and we have looked at what different foods are grown in this country and abroad. In English, we have begun our new book called Jack and the Dreamsack, and we have had fun learning and remembering parts of the book, as well as coming up with our own fantasy language!
Year 5 has been writing some amazing diary entries from the view of a young boy who lived through the plague of 1665; developing skills in using adverbials and time conjunctions. They are looking forward to finding out the ending to Daniel’s story next week. In maths we have looked at how to add and subtract fractions and converting improper fractions to fractions or mixed numbers. In our outdoor learning we have completed mapping activities, which link with the geography curriculum, and in science we have been looking at the use of sundials.
They have moved on from fractions to Ratio in Maths – the relationship between two amounts, represented by two numbers. Evolution and Inheritance has been our main focus this week in science, looking at an inventory of any traits the children may have, putting the results into a graph. History this week looked at Life Expectancy. We used different sources of information to see why our lives have improved during the period 1500 to 1840. Outdoor learning is exciting at the moment as Year 6 children are in the process of redeveloping the pond area. There is further information and photographs to look at in the main corridor.
