News
Newsletter for the week ending Friday 19th June
Thank you for all your support on Sports Day and we hope you enjoyed it. Well done to Pacific (red) for scoring the most points – it was close! The final positions and scores were as follows: Pacific (red) 650; Indian (yellow) 605; Arctic (blue) 530 and Atlantic (green) 455.
Drumming rhythms reverberating across the school, castle building, sports festival participation, choir performances, mumification, alfresco cooking and island hopping are some of what the childrne have been up to this week. Please read on to Around the Classes to find out more…
Dates for the Diary and local events
- For information about Appledore Library membership and their Summer Book Quest see here.
- Dadsfest and and South Devon Fun With Dad camping details are here and here
- Summer activity camps at West Croft School 27th July – 14th August 5-13 years old, open to all and free for those on benefit related free school meals. See here
- Tabsfest, in memory of an Appledore Pupil, is a family music festival at The Big Sheep, Saturday 13th June. See here for info.
- If you like to run or walk (or run and walk!), Families in Grief is holding an eight mile run or walk and one mile run for children called Barney to Beach on Sunday 13th September. For more information see here
Wishing you all a lovely weekend.
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
This week in Turtles and Dolphins we have started our new topic ‘Appledore’. We talked about what we know about Appledore and what we like to do in Appledore. We have talked about the quay specifically and the tide bell on the slipway. On Monday, Dolphins worked with Nicola and Dan from Active Torridge. They spoke to us about their jobs and then we went outside on the field to play some games. Dolphins have also started finding out about the country that they have for the World Cup. We have looked at the country on the map and made a flag. Turtles have continued to enjoy their afternoons in the woods. Don’t forget to have a look on the website at our learning.
In Year 1 this week we recapped what we have been learning about castles and started to design our own. We thought about what we could use to make these castles and next week we are going to have a go at making some cardboard castles so please bring in any carboard boxes you have at home that aren’t needed! In Maths we have started a new topic looking at numbers to 100. You may have also heard that the dragon egg we were looking after has hatched and gone back to his Mum. The children were very excited that we managed to catch a clip of the dragon in our classroom! So we have started a new book- How to hide a lion at school. We were so pleased that sports day could go ahead on Tuesday and were so impressed with the determination and resilience that the children showed! Well done Year 1!
A full week for Year 2! It started on Monday with a trip to ARC for a multi-sport festival. They had a great time completing different activities including football skills, basketball skills and throwing and catching. Their behaviour was excellent and we had several comments from members of staff from the other school attending about how supportive and inclusive they were towards each other and the other school. Everyone tried so hard in their races for sports’ day – well done! They managed to fit in some Maths this week where they looked at tally charts and tables. In English, they wrote some information to go alongside their instructions and tried hard to edit their writing. In Science, they looked at seeds and bulbs with magnifying glasses and had a special treat when they ate roast potatoes made from the potatoes they had harvested in outdoor learning last week. They are looking forward to the trip to Rosemoor on Friday to learn even more about plants.
What a musical week. On Wednesday the school was reverberating to the sound of drumming as years 3 and 6 had workshops with North Devon Taiko Drums. The children loved the experience and demonstrated great attitude and technique. Two of the attributes required for Japanese drumming. On Thursday the key stage 2 choir performed at Kingsley School as part of Torridge Together. It was a wonderful occasion. With seven school and 180 children taking part. Our choir were the last individual school to perform with a rousing rendition of Mika’s Happy Ending. The collaborative numbers opened and closed the concert in dramatic and poignant style with the performers and audience all signing in makaton the chorus to Fix You by Coldplay which they sung in four parts. On Tuesday, year 3 will be taking to the stage when they perform a huge amount of repertoire at West Buckland School as part of their singing and musical festival.
The week has flown by yet again. Year 3 have been finding out more about Tutankhamun’s tomb and the treasures discovered there. We got into the character of Howard Carter and wrote a telegram to announce the find, and then a diary entry, using noun phrases. We have begun a maths unit on shape; this week looking at right angles. In science we looked at how magnets behave and for geography we created information fact posters about The Nile River. Well done to all the class choir members who sang at Kingsley School this week. Next week we will be spending the day at West Buckland School and looking for wild flowers and bees on Northam Burrows.
Firstly, wow – what a week! It has been incredibly busy in Year 4 and despite lots going on, the class have had a fantastic attitude and showed determination and kindness. The whole class showed excellent sportsmanship during our sports day and it was wonderful to watch plenty of encouragement and positivity within their houses towards all the races. Swimming continued for another week and we also enjoyed another outdoor learning session with Sarah, combining our DT – preparing, cooking (and eating! spaghetti bolognese) with the outdoors. In between all of this, we have finished our English sequence which was to compose a quest story. In maths, we continued working on shape and have identified different angles, shapes and their properties. In computing, we began to design and develop our own game using repetition. In Science, we conducted an experiment to see if sound travels better through solids or gases using string telephones. In history, we studied the Industrial Revolution, the impact of this and also explored pros and cons of that era. This has linked to our guided reading sessions where we continued to read Street Child and this is helping us to understand how some people really lived during this period of history. A special well done to the choir who represented our school at Kingsley on Thursday.
This week in Year 5 literacy, we have continued our poetry unit, planning and writing poems based on a walk. The children have been using rich vocabulary and a range of literary devices, including similes, metaphors, personification, repetition, rhetorical questions and alliteration, to make their writing more engaging and imaginative. The children have been working very hard on these and have enjoyed reading them aloud! In maths, we have been developing our understanding of converting units of measure. We have practised converting between millimetres, centimetres and metres, litres and millilitres, and grams and kilograms. In science, we explored simple machines, learning about gears, levers and pulleys and investigating how they help us to make work easier. As part of our Ancient Greece topic in history and DT, the children designed and created their own Greek pots. This was a fantastic opportunity to apply their knowledge of Ancient Greek pottery and craftsmanship while developing their design and making skills. The children showed great creativity and enthusiasm throughout the process. In reading, we have been analysing more nature poems and answering questions using the Point, Evidence, Explain structure. The children have also tackled some “Dive Deeper” challenges, encouraging them to think critically and extend their understanding of the texts. In PE, we have continued to develop our skills in both tennis and cricket, focusing on technique, teamwork and game play.
Year 6 spent all day in the art room on Monday, doing Design Technology. They have worked hard to make their mechanisms for their automata work and then have added as much decoration as they have had time for. There are some lovely results. On Tuesday, their help with Sports Day was much appreciated and they competed with good humour! In Geography, the children researched different islands around the world. We are trying to keep everyone focussed for the last few weeks and are having lots of conversations about feelings they may have as they know their Appledore School time is finishing – encourage your child to talk to us if they feel they need support. Please check at home to see whether you have any school reading books that need to be returned before your child leaves. Also, please could you send in a picture of your child when they were younger to be used in our final assembly.
