News
Newsletter for the week ending Friday 17th November
A day of spots and stripes in support of Children in Need and so far we have raised £330. £168 of the total was for the Pudsey raffle and congratulations to the winner! Thank you for all your contributions to this worthy cause.
The Children’s Commissioner for England has a statutory duty to protect and promote the views and interests of children. The Big Ambition survey provides a much-needed opportunity for the children of England to tell political decision makers what is important to them ahead of the General Election. The commissioner will be sharing their responses with Government to ensure that children’s voices are heard. To access this survey, please click here and children can either complete it themselves or with help from an adult.
Thank you for responding to the survey regarding demand for hot meals in Key Stage 2 (years 3-6). Provision for hot meals for Key Stage 2 is not feasible due to the low demand. We will survey again later in the year to see if the situation has changed.
Please remember to vote for our science resources fundraising project with your blue tokens at Tesco in Bideford and Westward Ho!
A few diary dates:
- Click here for a meet Santa invite at Holy Trinity Church on 25th November
- Christmas fair 3.30-5pm, Friday 8th December, bottom playground
- Christmas service for years 3-6 Friday 15th December, 2pm, St Mary’s church.
Wishing you all a super weekend.
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
AROUND THE CLASSES
This week in Turtles and Dolphins we have been celebrating Diwali. We read the story of Rama and Sita and found out that this festival is called the Festival of Light. We have started to make a diva pot from clay. On Wednesday we had a workshop with Olli from West End in Schools. He taught us a Diwali dance.
In Year 1 this week we carried on our learning about the Great Fire of London and we have been so impressed with how many facts the class remembered! This week we pretended to be Samuel Pepys and wrote a diary entry for the day the fire stopped burning. We have loved seeing the Great Fire of London drawings and writing that the children have been doing at home too! In Maths we have been continuing our addition and subtraction learning and have learnt how to use a number line to help us complete the calculations. We also had our Diwali workshop this week where we recapped what Diwali is and why it is celebrated, then we learnt a dance which Mrs Wilkins will be posting on Google Classroom for you to see.
Year 2 have had a great week which included a visit from West End in Schools for a Diwali dance workshop. They had fun putting together a dance in a short amount of time to match the story of Rama and Sita. In Maths, they have been adding and subtracting two-digit numbers and in English they have been using brilliant verbs and adjectives to make their sentences more exciting for the reader. In their History work, they looked at different explorers and put them in date order, whilst in Science they went outside to complete a woodlice survey. They discovered that woodlice prefer damp, dark conditions. They enjoyed an outdoor learning session on Thursday afternoon, where they were learning about compass directions: North, South, East and West.
Having drawn different sides of their personality last week, the Year 3 were able to understand that Hindus believe in one God but that there are many different expressions of that God. They then drew some of these expressions. Year 4 looked at two contrasting pieces of artwork depicting the baptism of Christ and compared them. They then drew their own representation of this moment. Year 5 are looking at the coming of the Messiah which ties in perfectly with their rehearsals for our Christmas performance. Year 6 continued to research why the Torah is so important to Jewish people. They found out about tefillin and mezuzah and looked at verses of Deuteronomy
Year 3 have had a brilliant week! We have carried on learning how to use the column method to add and subtract 3-digit numbers and applied our learning to a range of word problems. In English, we read to the end of ‘Escape from Pompeii’ and wrote a letter to advise the citizens of Pompeii on how to stay safe during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. We also created our own conversation between the two main characters and recapped how to punctuate speech. In Science, we investigated the hardness of different rocks and used the MOH’s scale of hardness in our investigation.
In HMS Echo (year 4) this week, the children have learnt about using fronted adverbials, speech and conjunctions in their writing which they’ll include in their writing when we write about A Walk in Appledore. They will then make up their own fictional place to write about and the children will get creative and come up with their own facts. In Maths, we have moved onto multiplication and division, where the children will be looking at different multiplication facts as well as understanding the division facts too. In History, we looked at some new vocabulary and worked together to understand what they mean, such as tribe, empire and Boudicca. In PE, we practised our defending skills when playing a game of netball. In Science, we’ve looked at the different types of teeth and their functions, and we’ll be moving onto what enamel is and tooth decay, by conducting an experiment where we will soak boiled eggs in different drinks for a week and see the effects it has on the eggs!
This week year 5 have started to write their own ‘Overcoming the Monster’ stories. We are using the chromebooks to publish these. The parts for the Christmas play have now been cast so please look out for the scripts coming home next week. In maths we have continued to work on square and cube numbers. Maths homework will change next week and get set electronically. A letter, showing the login detail, has been placed in their homework folder. In science we have looked at contact forces and we have looked at the local Anglo-Saxon/Viking history. Next week we have an outdoor learning session which will include Anglo-Saxon cooking (waterproof and wellingtons needed for Wednesday and Thursday next week).
Maths has involved long division this week – which is becoming slightly easier now year 6 have the hang of it. In Literacy, more diary writing for Friend or Foe – character voice is much stronger and I’ve been impressed with the emotion that has been shown in their writing. In Science, they have been learning about the function of the heart – they made it work hard whilst improving fitness in PE. They have enjoyed outdoor learning – gaining greater insight into rationing and life in WW2. There has been some great art homework this week linked to Any Warhol; I can’t wait to see how this is used in the Art Studio!
