News
Newsletter for week ending 9th September
Read on to find out about what has been happening and more, including initial clubs information…
Welcome back everybody. It’s been a busy week (including a three day residential trip for Year 5) and by all accounts the children have come back full of enthusiasm and raring to go!
A few reminders
Please keep and eye on the school website for past and upcoming events. This newsletter is posted on the website on a Friday, but if it’s not that’s (probably because that Friday was rather busy with a few surprises) it will be that weekend.
We have very tolerant local residents regarding parking. Please be aware that Kingsley Avenue is a private road owned by the residents and that we only have access across it and not for parking on it for dropping off and collecting. For exceptional circumstances, the residents allow us to issue parking permits and these can only be obtained through the headteacher. Free parking permits for the Odun Road car park are available from Belinda on reception.
Thanks
Thank you for sending your child to school in the correct school uniform. This time last year you all responded to the request to dress your children appropriately. The last stage was to ensure children wear school shoes to school and not trainers and once again your response has been so supportive. Thank you.
We are currently organising clubs. So far we are able to offer the following activities:
Surf club
Surf Club starts Monday 12th September for Years 4-6 and there are still a few places left. If you are interested, please contact Emma at The North Devon Surf School on 01237 474663 or info@northdevonsurfschool.co.uk
Music Lessons
Do you enjoy music? Have you seen your friends playing a musical instrument that you would like to learn? We have two teachers that come in to school and teach a range of instruments – piano, violin, guitar and recorder. If you would like more information, please contact Chloe on 01237 459073 or chloebix@yahoo.com or Jane at benjamiplus2@aol.com.
Gym Club
Please read the gym club article on the website to find out about this excellent club for boys and girls.
Art Club
We are planning the return of Art Club this term for Years One and Two and Key Stage Two in the New Year. Art Club will run on Wednesdays from 3:30 until 4:30 and will cost £3 per session. If your child is interested please leave their name with Belinda by the end of next week (Friday 16th September) and we will contact you with more details.
Please be aware that Art Club is for those children who love Art and would really benefit from specified time to spend on it. This year all children will work on Art awards within class time but Art Clubbers will be producing Art work to further beautify our school and develop their own portfolio.
Football Club
Football club starts next week. Wednesday 3.30pm-4.30pm for Years 1,2&3 and Friday 3.30pm-4.30pm for Years 4,5&6. Please collect forms from the office and as with all clubs it is first come first serve.
Sadly, no Spanish Club
Sadly, due to changes in personal circumstances, Grace is unable to continue Spanish Club. We wish Grace all the very best for the future and thank her for all her hard work.
Around the Classes
Welcome back everyone, our new Turtles and Dolphins have settled in very quickly with very few tears. This week we have been exploring our new surroundings both indoors and outdoors and the wider school. We had great fun playing in the Jungle on Wednesday. For parents of children in Dolphins don’t forget there is a Phonics evening on Tuesday 13th September at 6pm.
Chloe Bix has asked me to put something in the newsletter about music lessons, see what you think.
What a fantastic first week in Sea Lions. Everyone has settled in so quickly and so well. Thank you to all the parents, you have really helped your children to settle in by allowing them to come in to the classroom independently. This week we have made a class book about ‘Our Famililes’, everyone has drawn and labelled pictures of their families. We have written lists of how we think Sea Lions shuold behave, and have used these ideas to make a statement that everyone has signed. We have practised counting forwards and backwards. We have also used number cards to make a number line from 0 to 20 and counted out the correct number of objects to go with each number. Everyone has worked really hard this week, so enjoy a lovely, relaxing weekend.
Year 2 Lundy Puffins have settled in to their new class and have responded well to new routines. This week they have worked together to create their class rules, thinking hard about what they would need to do to keep our classroom a happy and harmonious place. They have also been thinking about what type of learners they would like to be. We thought about what we might say to ourselves if we found something tricky. Instead of saying “This is too hard; I give up!” we are going to say “This is tricky, but I’m going to keep going”. We have also managed to complete some writing about a toy car and have started our ‘animals’ topic by writing facts about animals and sharing them with each other.
It has been lovely getting to know the new Seahunter class this week. They have stepped in to year 3 and Key Stage 2 in a very mature way and we have been impressed by their kindness, supportiveness and determined nature. This week we have explored feelings, how our brains work and how having a growth mindset can help us to learn more effectively. In P.E. (most of) the children had their first tag rugby experience, which was brilliant. They soon got to grips with dodging and weaving to avoid having their tags snatched and seemed to have a great time! Finally, they have produced some great pairings of our class ship that will soon be displayed on the classroom door, one artist each week. Well done, Seahunter for a super first week!
HMS Echo pupils have been settling well into Year Four routines this week. We have taken the opportunity of agreeing Class Rules and thinking carefully about how to work well with a partner and in groups. The pupils have done amazingly well, working on a variety of challenges, listening well to each other, sharing ideas and supporting each other. They were extremely successful swamp crossers! Very well done! They have been engaging with our special week of maths and learning lots about how our brains develop and grow when we working extra hard. In Literacy, we have started work on our first text of the year: Leon and the Place Between and made predictions about what they think might happen based on what they can gather from the first few pages.
Year 5 have had an action packed first week back. They worked hard on Roman numerals and holiday writing before their residential. Everyone did sleep (although maybe not for as long as normal) and enjoyed action packed days and all achieved and surpassed their own expectations. It’s been lovely seeing them interact and having fun.They will have powerpoints to share with you from 3:10pm onwards on Thursday 15th September – if you can’t make that, then pop in after school or bring in a memory stick and we can download it. Children who’ve said they are non-swimmers, have a letter to complete about upcoming swimming lessons. We hope the children have enjoyed their first week as much as we have!
Year 6 have very quickly settled down to their new routines Y6. After looking at the names of ships/boats which have been built in Appledore the class decided to call themselves ‘Golden Hinde’ after the replica being built by J Hinks & Sons in 1973. This will all link closely to our topic this term on The Tudors. In literacy we have started reading biographies and identifying the key features for this text type and in numeracy we have been learning how to convert between difference units of measure. Please sign up to parents evenings which are on 19th and 21st September between 3:40 and 6pm (a list is on the classroom door).
We wish you all an enjoyable weekend and look forward to welcoming you back next week.
Best wishes,
Jeremy Cooper and all of the staff
