News
Newsletter for the week ending Friday 17th May
A huge thank you for your support of me running the Bideford 10k last Sunday. Your generosity raised a staggering £1,080 (+ £240 gift aid)! This money will fund the equipment and resources for our new Design and Technology curriculum.
The Government publishes helpful; advice regarding infectious diseases that can be found here. There have been a few cases of impetigo, so please see the relevant section on the link if it applies to your child.
If there is something on your mind about family life, help is available from Action for Children in Bideford. For more information please click here
The field is doing well and we continue to be optimistic that Sports Day will go ahead on Tuesday 21st May. Things can change, as can the running of the day on the day, so please keep an eye out for texts and emails from us about it. Current weather forecast shows dry in the morning and likelihood of rain in the afternoon, so we should at least be able to complete the morning races. Please be aware, and inform other family members attending, the school gate will close at 9.30am, be open 11.45am-12,15pm and reopen again when Sports Day finishes. Anyone arriving when the gate is closed are likely to have a very long wait at our front door and might not get in, because staff will be supervising the children at Sports Day. Please click here for Sports Day information.
ARC (Atlantic Racquet Centre, Bideford) come to school each week during the summer term to teach the children tennis. They are very good and have asked us to publicise their popular Multi-Sport Holiday Camp, operating this coming half term holiday, which is a fun-filled 4-day activity week that’s overflowing with great games, serious skills, terrific teamwork, and continuous competition! For more information and too book please click here
Wishing you all a happy (and hopefully dry!) weekend
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
AROUND THE CLASSES
When we came into school on Tuesday, the children in Turtles and Dolphins found some sticks, straw and bricks lying around the classroom. We decided this was linked to the story ‘The Three Little Pigs’. We had great fun sorting the sticks in different ways. We have read a few different versions of the story and acted it out. We have also found out lots of facts about wolves. Today we visited the library to change our library books.
In Year 1 this week we continued our new topic in Maths- Fractions. We investigated the ways you can half and quarter different shapes. In Writing we have enjoyed reading different versions of Jack in the Beanstalk. They particularly enjoyed a version called ‘SHHH!’ by Sally Grindley. We thought about what questions we would like to ask the characters in the story and had a go at hot seating. In Computing we have been learning about digital writing and using different functions on the keyboard. We typed some silly sentences and changed the text size and colour. We spent a lovely afternoon in the Art studio starting our clay sculptures. The children have created some really beautiful designs using different impression techniques.
Year 2 have written some brilliant stories this week based on the book ‘The Dragon Machine’. They will be making them into books next week to go on a display outside the hall. In Maths, they have been learning to tell the time using an analogue clock (a clock with numbers). They’ve looked at o’clock, half past, quarter past and quarter to, 5 past/to, 10 past/20, 20 past/to, 25 past/to. Some children have found this a bit tricky, so any help you can give to practise at home would be greatly appreciated! In their Geography work, they identified hot and cold places in the world using atlases. In their Science work, they looked at the bean plants they are growing and are keeping a bean diary. Everyone is looking forward to Sports’ Day next week – fingers crossed for good weather.
Our entry for the school song competition is coming along well. The children are learning how to perform it vocally and classes are beginning to learn how to play it on the recorder as part of their whole class ensemble teaching. The children are developing their understanding of music production and about how songs are structured through this work. We will be recording the song on 19th June and we will let you know the arrangements for how you can watch the performance of it. In RE, year 3 looked at the daily life of a Christian vicar. Year 4 considered what the world would be like if everyone exhibited the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Year 5 looked for examples of prayers the contained the themes of the Sermon on the Mount and Year 6 is considering what sort of King Jesus was.
Year 3 have had a wonderful week! In Science, we learned all about the life cycle of a flowering plant. We researched the life cycle and then played a pollination game in outdoor learning. In Maths, we have been recapping all of our learning from Year 2 on money by making different amounts with coins and notes. We then challenged ourselves to convert amounts from pounds and pence to pence using our knowledge that 100 pence is equivalent to £1. In English, we wrote a diary entry in the role of Rhodopis from Cinderella of the Nile. We discussed how her emotions change throughout the story and included this in our diary entry. In PE, we continued improving our tennis skills and we practised various races for Sports Day. In Values, we discussed reasons for why people might get bullied and explored why people have prejudiced views.
In HMS Echo (year 4), the children have begun planning their own non-chronological report to write for their chosen animal. We wrote one together about an ostrich and the children contributed with some fantastic ideas so I’m looking forward to them writing about their own animal next week. In Maths, we have come to the end of money now and are moving onto time – it would be really helpful at home if you could go over the basics with them to give them a head start, such as how to tell the time on an analogue clock, how many minutes in an hour, seconds in a minute, how many days in a month etc. In Geography, we looked at how to conserve water and we also looked at what ‘virtual water’ means (the amount of water that is used to produce things such as clothes, electricity etc). The children were shocked at how much water is used to produce a t-shirt! The children also looked at conserving water in outdoor learning and luckily the sun was out shining for them!
Well done Year 5 for working so quietly this week to allow the Y6 class to complete their SATs exams. We have now completed our biography writing; the published books are on display in the main building. In maths we are now working on reading and plotting coordinates and using these skills to solve problems. We compared plants and animals life cycles, looking at what was the same and what was different. Our caterpillars have turned into five beautiful butterflies (we will be releasing them later in the day if it stays dry!)
Year 6 have worked really hard this week for SATs and they have certainly enjoyed their breakfast and gathering together in the mornings. They have also enjoyed some scavenger hunts for last minute revision and have started looking at the Year 6 Leavers play ‘School-O-Vision’ – which should be fun to learn. In Science, they have been recording their work on light but still have a few experiments left to do. They are almost at the end of their BBC clips for ‘The Tempest’ but have some writing samples to put into their books. There are a busy few weeks coming up and we still have a lot of learning to do – please can you remind your children that behaviour expectations are still high and acceptable behaviour is a requirement for all forthcoming trips and sports fixtures.
