News
Newsletter for the week ending Friday 24th April
It is the start of the summer term and as this this newsletter is written the sun is out – at last – and there is the excited noise of the children playing on the field. It’s great to be back.
Ms Newcombe who has joined us this week to teach Year 4 whilst Mrs Avery is on maternity leave. A warm welcome to Ms Newcombe and we look forward to hearing Mrs Avery’s news…
Our school works with our local NHS Mental Health Support Team to support the children with their mental health. Over the next couple of months the team is hosting online workshops to help you with supporting your children on a range of topics. The workshops are on Microsoft Team and between 6-7pm and include:
- an introduction to Lumi Nova (a digital therapy game for childhood anxiety) on 29th April (Meeting ID: 399 221 272 523 28 Passcode: pX3ve2bn)
- supporting a successful transition to secondary school on Wednesday 24th June (Meeting ID: 319 109 280 827 09 Passcode; Be77Zx35)
- supporting the use of devices on 15th July (Meeting ID: 345 784 004 151 21 PasscodehM3gu2oa)
- For posters relating to these workshops please see here and here.
Barnstaple Young Generation production of The Little Mermaid is on over half term and one of our former pupils is one of the main parts. For tickets, please see here.
Dates for the diary:
- For details of free wildlife walks (including a night bat hunt) this weekend organised by North Devon Biospghere, see here
- Sports Day Wednesday 20th May all day for Years 1-6 and the afternoon for Reception/Dolphins. Tuesday 16th June is back-up day should the weather be bad in May. More details to follow nearer the time.
- Appledore’s first ever Pride will take place around the village on Saturday 6th June (see here) and please see here for a competition for children to win £50
- Tabsfest, in memory of an Appledore Pupil, is a family music festival at The Big Sheep, Saturday 13th June. See here for info.
Wishing you all a lovely Easter and we look forward to welcoming you back on 20th April.
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
AROUND THE CLASSES
This week in Turtles and Dolphins we have started our new topic ‘Fairy Tales’. On Tuesday we found a letter from a giant telling us that he had lost his key. We decided it was from the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk. We decided to build lots of different beanstalks to see if we could climb up them. We have looked at the key and decided that it was quite an old key. We wrote letters to the Giant to tell him that we had found the key.
Year 1 have had a lovely start to the term and really enjoyed telling us all about their Easter activities! We have started our new topic- What do we find in the Oceans? The children have been so interested in this topic and were brilliant at identifying the 5 oceans. In Writing we are also doing an oceans book and the children have loved looking at the different animals in the book. We had a go at thinking of as many different sea animals as we could and then in groups we grouped them into 2 groups. They thought of amazing ideas to group the animals such as colourful and not colourful, big and small, dangerous and not dangerous, deep sea and rock pool animals. In Maths we have started multiplication and division and have been learning to count in 2s, 5s and 10s.
Welcome back Year 2 after the Easter break! In Maths, they have started to learn about fractions and have been looking at equal and unequal parts. In English, they were excited to start a new book called ‘The Dragon Machine’ and have been thinking about the mischief the dragons could get up to at school. They have started a new Geography topic about the weather and how it affects us. They started by thinking about the different types of weather and looked at weather forecasts to decide if they needed to bring a coat to school this week. In their Science work they looked at the suitability of different materials and played a game with a partner to check whether different items could be made from different materials.
It is lovely to see Year 3 all return with enthusiasm after their Easter break. We have started a new text (Cinderella of the Nile) and completed writing a message in a bottle using the present perfect tense; made inferences of what was being said in the text and identifying literacy language. In maths we have completed our unit of work on mass and capacity. For science this week we used the microscopes to look at parts of a flowering plant and learn what their functions are. We have started to think about the journey of a river (from source to the sea) and how this changes. We had a visit from the SW Ambulance where we looked inside the ambulance and then had a talk in the classroom. It was great to start our weekly tennis sessions again and improve our tennis skills.
This week, Year 4 have been very welcoming and helped Miss Newcombe find her feet within their classroom. They have shown kindness, patience and plenty of positivity. In English, the children have been introduced to their new text – Leon and the Place Between – and taken part in some ‘book talk’ to familiarise themselves with the story. In Maths, we continue with decimals – part two and have explored hundredths and partitioning. Geography took us back to the Industrial Revolution where we investigated Cholera and the impact it had on the evolving workforce. In Values, we have started our theme of Inclusivity and have been learning about the people we share our world with – including our similarities and differences. Computing involved how to be a ‘misinformation detective’ and helped us to identify unsafe and untrue content online. Finally, we started swimming on Wednesday and have enjoyed meeting our new tennis coach, Alex. It’s been an excellent start to the summer term!
This week, in maths, Year 5 successfully completed our unit on perimeter and have now moved on to learning about the area of shapes. The children are building confidence in calculating area and applying their knowledge to a range of problems. In Literacy, we have begun an exciting new unit on explanation myth writing, inspired by How the Whale Became by Ted Hughes. We have spent time exploring and unpicking the text, looking closely at its structure and language features. The class has now started planning their own myths based on an animal of their choice – there have already been some wonderfully creative and imaginative ideas shared! In Science, we have started our new topic on Living Things and Their Habitats. The children are beginning to explore how living things are classified and how they adapt to different environments. In Geography, we have launched our Plastic Pollution unit. The children have been learning about the world’s oceans and seas, using globes, atlases and Google Earth to locate and plot them on a world map. It has been a great way to develop both their geographical knowledge and map-reading skills. We have also enjoyed some exciting experiences outside the classroom. The children visited ARC to take part in a tennis session, which was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. In addition, we travelled by public bus to the Burton Art Gallery as part of our Art Award – an excellent opportunity to explore artwork in a real gallery setting.
Year 6 have worked really hard this week and have been revising maths and answering reading questions. They have looked at figurative language in literacy to write their own version of Ice Bear. In the afternoons, we have started learning how to play rounders. We had our first weekly Tennis session today and everyone had improved from last year. Don’t forget, if they need help with any areas of their work, they can sign up on the sheet, inside the classroom door, for support.
