News
Newsletter for the week ending Friday 9th February
Hi everybody. This is the last newsletter for the half term and amazingly we are now half way through the year! Such a busy week and so much to tell you about – not least a visit to some classes from paramedics teaching children first aid. Please read the full post to find out what has been happening in all the classes.
Resplendent in our new black and yellow kit kindly provided by Appledore Pirates, a team of Year 3&4 girls competed in a North Devon schools football final this week. An immense effort against some very good teams saw then come away from four matches with two losses and a draw. With just a tiny bit of luck in 3 of the games they would have won three of the matches! Appledore Pirates have also very kindly donated money for us to purchase a very large amount of science and outdoor learning equipment.
Mrs Stanbury has worked really hard to secure a grant for £600 to replenish reading books. Please have a good look around at home for any books your child has borrowed and not returned.
Drop off and collection for AOOSC and school is a very busy and congested time around around school and in the school car park. This can have knock-on effects and I ask that your are considerate, patient and act appropriately with each other and staff to eliminate conflict and stress and to ensure safety for all. The safety of children is paramount and children should not be witness to any rudeness or inappropriate and potentially unsafe actions. We are considering installing CCTV cameras covering the carpark to increase security (and to deter fly tipping in our bins which costs the school money!) and if you have any questions or comments please let us know at admin@appledoreprimary.co.uk
Despite one or two bugs still doing the rounds, attendance as a school is bearing up and comparing favourably with published comparisons. Low school attendance is a recognised national and international concern and thank you for all you are doing getting your children to school. Please click here for information on attendance in January here at Appledore School and here for a letter from UK Health Security Agency South West regarding winter illnesses.
After half term we return to our Healthy value in our curriculum. Further to our email communication this week regarding our Healthy Value next half term, please click here to find out more. This value includes sex education and other aspects relating to growing up and keeping safe. This programme of learning is made up of lessons carefully sequenced and introduced to ensure a progression of learning that meets the DfE statutory requirements. Well done Emmy for winning our Values Cup for our whole school half term theme of being Positive.
With a holiday upon us and the potential for clashes with your children regarding screen time, this BBC bitesize article might be of help. Access it here.
Please continue to keep you eyes open for communication from us into your inbox about parent evenings coming up.
Diary Dates:
- Monday 19th February 5-6pm Libraries Limited Show and Tell at The Beaver Inn run in partnership with Appledore Library Click here for more information
- Tuesday 27th February is Kingsley School Senior School open morning. A number of scholarship opportunities are available and for more information please click here
- World Book Day 7th March. Children in Yr1 & Yr2 can come to school dressed in pyjamas ready for a bedtime story. Children in Yrs 3-6 can choose whether they wear pyjamas or come dressed as a character from a book they have read. There will also be a book sale in the Bay on the day. Books will cost 20p and the money will go towards new books.
- Sports Day Tuesday 21st May – more details to follow
Wishing you all a super half term
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
AROUND THE CLASSES
This week in Turtles and Dolphins we have been celebrating Chinese New Year. On Tuesday we read the story and had a go at acting it out. We found out where China is in the world and some of the things that China is famous for. On Thursday we made some Chinese dumplings. People in China eat these dumplings during Chinese New Year. All week we have had great fun trying to use chopsticks!
Year 1 have had a very exciting week this week! On Tuesday we had some nurses come to visit us to tell us all about their jobs and show us a few pieces of equipment they use. We loved getting to ask them questions about their job and even did a little experiment with them to show how quickly germs spread. After that, the nurses taught us how to wash our hands properly. Then on Wednesday we were lucky enough to have more visitors! This time we had paramedics from the South West Ambulance service come to see us. We learnt all about how to contact them in case of an emergency and the important information we would need to give them over the phone. Lastly they taught us how to do CPR and we loved giving this a go! In Maths we have been finishing off our Addition and Subtraction to 20 and even had a go at some tricky missing number problems. In Writing we have finished off our No-bot the Robot book and had a go at writing our own versions where Bernard lost a different body part, we have still been working really hard on our handwriting and the improvement has been amazing! We hope you all have a lovely half term and enjoy the break!
Year 2 had a great time on Thursday with a visit from the Ambulance service. They learned about what to do in an emergency and how to call 999. They learned about when and how to carry out CPR in an emergency. For their English work they have completed a piece of writing using the style of the book ‘Creature Features: Dinosaurs’ and in Maths they have been learning about division. For their outdoor learning session, they learned about the importance of exercise for keeping healthy. We wish you all a wonderful well-deserved half term break!
Year 3 have had a wonderful last week of this half term. In Maths, we have been comparing, adding and subtracting lengths and answering some word problems involving measurement. In English, we wrote our own poems based on the story ‘If All the World Were’. We focused on using noun phrases in our poems to make them really descriptive. In Values, we discussed how having a positive mindset can be good for our mental health and then explored some of the ways that we can have a healthy mind and body. In PE, we continued to focus on our coordination and balance skills. In Science, we came up with our own question to investigate: Do taller people have larger feet? We then designed an investigation and recorded our results. We also took part in some exciting outdoor learning where we discussed different bird species and made some bird food.
In HMS Echo (year 4), the children have begun to write their own poems in the style of ‘The Sound Collector’, where they will try to include some rhyme and pay particular attention to the syllables in each line to give their poems a rhythm. In Maths, the children have come to the end of length and perimeter and will move onto learning about fractions, starting with understanding the whole. In outdoor learning, the children looked at food chains as part of their Science topic. In PE, the children have applied all the skills they have learnt with balancing to a variety of races, where they balanced bean bags and cones on their heads as well as running and trying to move a ball around their body. They also had fun using the gym equipment and climbing frames in the hall! Have a lovely half term everyone.
It has been a busy last week of the half term for Year 5. We have been inventors and drawn a new machine and then written an explanation text to go with this. In maths we have continued to explore the most efficient method to answer a multiplication question (including multiplying 4-digit by 2-digits calculations). We had an amazing session on how to perform CPR and what to do in an emergency; everyone in the class took part and received a certificate. We found out more about the Chinese New Year and know that on Saturday 10th February the year of the dragon will start (most enjoyed their fortune cookies!) It was lovely to share all the space projects which have been completed this half term. Bikeability letters have been sent home for those taking part in the first group of training. Thank you Y5 for all the hard work you have shown this half term. Have restful week with your families, you certainly deserve it.
Year 6 have been busy inventing their own celebrations or writing knowledgeably about an existing celebration. In maths, they are almost finished working on algebra and will move onto decimals next – including linking this to fractions and percentages. They have also been finding out about circles and revising facts about angles. In topic, they have completed their unit on ‘Why has life expectancy improved for the people of Appledore in the last 250 years’ – this has involved making a timeline of medical breakthroughs and thinking about the impact these have had. In PE they played a new game; beanbag bombardment which saw some amazing dodging skills! We hope you all have a great half term and come back refreshed and ready.
