News
Newsletter for the week ending Friday 3rd May
Our intention (and hope) is for Sports Day to be held on 21st May. If it is possible on this date, the likely running of the day will be as follows: races for years 1-6 will happen in the morning from 9.30am; parents and carers of children in year 1-6 are invited to picnic on the field with their children 12-1pm and afternoon activities for children from Reception to year 6 will start at 1.15pm. FOAS (friends of Appledore School) will be selling bacon sandwiches, cream teas and other food and drink on the day. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible. All of this, of course, is dependent on the weather and the condition of our field. At present, the slightest rain waterlogs the field and currently it is not draining enough for us to be able to use the field. So whilst it might not be raining ate the time, or even recently, the field can be unusable. We will notify you with as much notice as possible should we have to postpone – hopefully we won’t have to – and will look for an alternative date.
Keeping with the sporting theme, my running of the Bideford 10k to raise money for the school looms frighteningly near (Sunday 12th May!) Thank you everybody who has sponsored so far and the money will fund what we need for the improvements we are making to our Design & Technology curriculum. The target is £1000 and we’re nearly there. If you want to support who can do by clicking here
Devon Country Council has set aside money to support families on low incomes with food and utility costs through a new round of the Household Support Fund, being administered by Early Help. The scheme runs until 30th September 2024. Funds are limited, so when the allocation is used up, they will close for applications. Schools can apply on behalf of the families they are representing (the Council do not accept applications direct from families) and if you would like more information please email admin@appledoreprimary.co.uk and mark it for the attention of Mrs Liz Philips.
Staff have received safeguarding training on CPV (Children on Parent Violence) and if you want to understand CPV more and how to manage it please click here
Interested in gaining free qualifications that could lead to a job in a school or other settings, such as teaching assistants, midday supervisors and youth workers to name but a few? If so, free courses fully funded by the ESFA (Education Skills Funding Agency) in levels 1, 2 & 3 are available. For more information, please click here
Diary dates:
- Sports Day Tuesday 21st May
- FOAS (Friends of Appledore School & Appledore Pirates) Picnic in the Park 1st June (details to follow)
- Summer Fair Friday 5th July 3.30pm-5pm
- Appledore Carnival 11th August
Don’t forget it’s a bank holiday, so call will be closed on Monday and we look forward to welcoming you all back on Tuesday
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
AROUND THE CLASSES
This week in Turtles and Dolphins we have been reading the story ‘Goldilocks and the three bears. We have acted the story out and drawn a story map. We have used pastels to draw pictures of bears. On Wednesday we went to the woods to find objects that were big, medium and small. We also came up with a list of alternative words for big, medium and small.
In Year 1 this week we have loved sharing all the wonderful Ocean books the children have brought in from home, thank you for sending these in. This topic has definitely ignited their enthusiasm, which has shown when writing their own information page on Rockpool creatures. They have included some fascinating facts and have started drawing pictures of the creatures. In Geography we looked at the layers of the Ocean and talked about the animals that live in them. We are really looking forward to our trip next week to Northam Burrows and to continue our work on the Ocean. The children enjoyed a very wet Outdoor Learning session this week and had fun building their own 3 little pig houses using everyday materials. We have just finished our unit on Multiplication and Division where we have been exploring making arrays using counters. A new test has been put on Maths.co.uk for the children to complete if they wish.
Year 2 have had another great week. They have impressed us with their work on fractions and have been working hard even though they have found some parts tricky. In English, they have been thinking about how they can add detail to their writing by telling their reader where something is happening. In their Geography work, they learned about how the weather changes with the seasons and listened to Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’. They have continued to learn how to put together their trombone and make a sound with it. For their Science learning, they investigated lots of different bulbs and seeds and carried this learning on for outdoor learning where they were able to plant some seeds.
Year 3 have had a great week! In English, we wrote our own poems based on the book Small in the City. We used noun phrases to describe the city using our senses and challenged ourselves to use repetition and alliteration in our poems. In Guided Reading, we read the poem ‘Woodpecker’ from The Lost Spells and summarised the conversation between Woodpecker and Badger. In Science, we researched some different plants, including snow drops and water lilies, and discussed how different plants have different requirements and adaptations to help them survive and grow. In Geography, we recapped our learning of the different parts of a river and then drew and labelled our own rivers. In Values, we identified the similarities and differences between different people and explored how our differences make us unique and we also discussed how we should treat others.
In HMS Echo (year 4) this week, the children in English have written their own magical story where they have included lots of high level vocabulary and speech. They have all been really lovely to read! We will publish these for our corridor display next week. In Maths, the children are coming to the end of decimals where they will move on to do money and then time. In Geography, we have been learning about reservoirs and why so many were built in Wales in order to help the people in Birmingham get access to clean water during the Victorian period. In Science, the children continued making circuits, where they had to look at pictures and work out whether the circuit would work or not. As well as this, we have been busy practising our times tables for our times tables check which will happen on Tuesday 11th June. It would be really helpful if you can continue practising these at home. This website is almost identical to what it will look like in June: https://www.timestables.co.uk/multiplication-tables-check/. Practising this at home will really help!
Year 5 news includes the journey of Shackleton continuing to be the focus of our writing this week. The crew managed to escape the frozen ice, leaving dogs behind and landed on Elephant Island. In maths we have been busy calculating angles around a point and on a straight line. The caterpillars have grown really big and we are excited to see the next stage in their life cycle. All the class took part in a history lesson which recapped our learning on the Shang Dynasty and created scenes from the period using iPads and the Minecraft game. I was amazed by how much knowledge the class had retained about this time in history. We are looking forward to our trip to Northam Burrows next week (reminder will be sent out on Tuesday). Enjoy the Bank Holiday.
Year 6 have been expanding their brains again this week with strategies and more drawing together of knowledge. It has been great to see the penny dropping for many of them as they get the chance to use their skills. They have enjoyed a few quizzes and working together, as well as some of their last preparation tests – you’re nearly there! In Literacy, there has been more plotting by Prospero in ‘The Tempest’ and their re-telling of the story, showing their skills with speech, has been going well. We did a bit of art in class using a compass to create geometric patterns – resilience was required and there were some great results. In PE, they worked on team skills again effectively. Cricket should be starting next week (fingers crossed) and when we can use the field, we will be learning how to play various versions of rounders. Keep working hard – you can do this!
