Welcome to Appledore School
Appledore School is located in the heart of an ancient fishing village, rich in maritime history, where the River Torridge meets the River Taw in beautiful North Devon.
We have approximately two hundred and fifty children, aged 3-11, taught in single age classes with names linked to the sea. Many are named after famous ships built in Appledore Shipyard and reflect our pupils’ pride in their local heritage and community.
Through a rich and rigorous curriculum, our pupils play an active part in their local community and prepare for life’s opportunities, responsibilities and experiences, now and in the future. The creative arts are of huge importance to us and our art studio, woodland and polytunnel are the creative hubs of the school and our main corridor is our art gallery! We are part of a cooperative trust of schools and a training school for student teachers.
We hope you can find the information you are looking for, but if you can’t please do not hesitate to contact us and we will do all we can to help. And as for the quotes, they are real!
From all the staff and pupils at Appledore School
Latest News
If you thought you could delay the start of Christmas until the children break up next Friday, please think again! This week our Christmas nativity performances started (thank you Turtles and Dolphins) and our main corridor is decked out with Christmas hoops made by each class and the excitement is certainly building. Next week brings Christmas dinner day for the children and please see below for the dates of our remaining Christmas performances.
Sadly, due to weather safety concerns relating to gazebos and stalls, our Christmas Fair scheduled for this afternoon will not go ahead.
The house captains are organising a Christmas cookie competition for Reception- Year 6 to enter. All cookies will need to be handed in to the office by the morning of Friday 15th December ready to be judged by the lucky judges, Mr Cooper, Mrs Stephens and Mrs Wilkins. The cookies should have a Christmas theme and please remember we are a nut free school. The prizes will be house points which could be the deciding factor for which house wins the house cup this term!
Thank you to everyone who turned out on a bitter night to take their child to the Methodist church for the carol service. We feel it is so important to support events like this and do so for as many external events as possible. Their efforts were very much appreciated by the organizers and there were many compliments about their singing. It was particularly lovely to see the children enjoying the experience so much and appreciating the other musical numbers with such enthusiasm. The choir will be singing for the Appledore Pirates next week so thanks in advance for this. Keep up the hard work choir, as you go from strength to strength, and thank you Miss Carr for making all of this happen!
This week, our year 5&6 children participated in an online safety workshop. Also this week, staff safeguarding training has covered suicide ideation. Very worryingly, this and other forms of self harm are now present in primary school age children and our awareness is important. For a parents guide to increase awareness and for advice please click here or here. As highlighted in the media, the internet is an influencer of self harming thought and some seemingly harmless games or apps can have a darker side. Blue Whale is an one example and information about it from Devon CC can be found here.
A few diary dates:
- St Mary’s Church, Appledore, Christingle Service December 10th at 4pm
- Year 1&2 nativity Monday 11th December 2pm and Tuesday 12th December 9.30am, school hall. Due to limited space, please attend only the one performance
- Pupils can wear Christmas jumpers the day of their Christmas meal 14th December for Year 5 and 13th December for all other years
- 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 (more…)
A very full week of learning, trips, more rehearsals and our Christmas hoops are springing up on our main corridor – more to follow… Please come and take a look! Please read around the classes section of this post to find out what has been happening in and around all the classes this week.
Please be aware Christmas Jumpers can be worn by children on Christmas Dinner day (14th for year 5, 13th of December for everyone else).
With Devon CC waste schools education programme we have completed a whole school waste audit and the results are very encouraging.
- 5.16 kg mass of waste our school sends to landfill in one day
25 g mass of waste the school sends to EfW/landfill per pupil per day
14.99 kg mass of organic waste per day
82 % of the school’s waste IS BEING recycled or composted (this is very high for a school!)
Our Eco Ambassador pupils have an action plan so we can be even better!
Contrary to what some people may believe (or remember!), the last few weeks of term are important and not solely films and purposeless activities. At the end of term, sequenced programmes of study are concluded and vital assessments are conducted to enable staff to know exactly what needs addressing right at the start of the next term. First week back is equally important, because that is when new programmes of study begin and missing the start of a teaching sequence immediately disadvantages the children. Of course there will be Christmas celebrations and other festive fun whilst essential teaching and learning is underway, so please ensure your child’s attendance is good over this festive period.
A few diary dates:
- Christmas fair 3.30-5pm, Friday 8th December, bottom playground
- St Mary’s Church, Appledore, Christingle Service December 10th at 4pm
- Turtles & Dolphins nativity 5th December 2.30pm and 5,15pm start, school hall. Children to school 4.45pm for second performance please
- Year 1&2 nativity 11th December 2pm and 12th December 9.30am, school hall. Due to limited space, please attend only the one performance
- Pupils can wear Christmas jumpers the day of their Christmas meal 14th December for Year 5 and 13th December all other years
- 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
Rehearsals for all the Christmas celebrations are now in full swing and can be heard throughout the school! Please see below for the dates and timings for each on.
Staff safeguarding this week has been on the topic of sexting which. Not only does sexting start early, studies have found that it is also fairly common. As early as 8 years old, more than one in 10 children with smartphones will become exposed to sexting and this number rises rapidly by the time they are 13.To understand more about the risks children face, please click here for a parent’s guide.
Please remember to vote for our science resources fundraising project with your blue tokens at Tesco in Bideford and Westward Ho!
Click here for a short story competition with prizes organised by Bideford Library.
A few diary dates:
- Click here for a meet Santa invite at Holy Trinity Church on 25th November
- St Mary’s Church, Appledore, Christingle Service December 10th at 4pm
- Christmas fair 3.30-5pm, Friday 8th December, bottom playground
- Turtles & Dolphins nativity 5th December 2.30pm and 5,15pm start, school hall. Children to school 4.45pm for second performance please
- Year 1&2 nativity 11th December 2pm and 12th December 9.30am, school hall. Due to limited space, please attend only the one performance.
- 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
