Author: Jeremy
Two timely seasonal reminders are the first showing of the John Lewis Christmas advert and the sounds and sights of nativity rehearsals in school. Both are now upon us and so the magic of Christmas begins! Please see below the dates for the various nativities and services and we hope to see you there.
An impressive £260 raised by you for the worth Children in Need appeal. Thank you.
If you are aged 18, living in North Devon and struggling with low mood, anxiety, stress or sleep difficulties NHS support is available. TALKWORKS is a free-to-access NHS service for adults. If you feel you are in a mental health crisis and need an urgent response please contact the First Response Service on 0808 196 8708, your GP, NHS 111 or Mental Health Matters on 0800 4700 317.
This week staff have safeguarding training on harmful sexual behaviours. This NSPCC link includes information for parents.
Please click on more to find out what has been happening in all the classes and we wish you all a lovely weekend
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
Diary dates:
- Turtles and Dolphins nativity Tuesday 6th December 2.30pm and 6pm
- Years 1&2 nativity Wednesday 7th December 2.30pm and 6pm
- Christmas Fair Friday 9th December 3.30pm-6pm
- Christmas lunch Wednesday 14th December
- Years 3-6 Christmas Service Friday 16th December at St Mary’s Church, 2pm
- Sports Day for Dolphins and years 1-6 is scheduled for Tuesday 23rd May
A super week that finished with our older children taking their learning into our woodland. For a flavour of the activities the children are experiencing from our new Outdoor Learning provision, please click here. Please click on ‘more’ to find out what else has been happening in and around all the classes and for reminders or notifications relevant to your child’s class.
Our term dates for the 2023-2024 school year are now available and our draft admissions policy for 2024 is published for consultation.
The safeguarding focus for this week was bullying. The children attended an assembly on this topic and will return to it a number of times over the year as apart of their Values curriculum. Staff also received training and please click here for information for parents from the Anti-Bullying Alliance.
Diary dates:
- Years 3-6 Christmas Service Friday 16th December at St Mary’s Church, 2pm
- Sports Day for Dolphins and years 1-6 is scheduled for Tuesday 23rd May
AROUND THE CLASSES
Wishing you all a super weekend.
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff (more…)
A super week with lots going on in all the classes, so please click on more to find out more. before you do, please take a look at the diary dates below.
- In recognition of ant-bullying next week it’s wear odd socks day on Monday (14th November) for all the children and staff.
- Friday 18th November is wear stripes and/or spots for Children In Need for an optional donation. If you donate, please can it not include coins less than £1 due to banking restrictions?
- Wear odd socks to school to stand-up to bullying is on Monday 14th November. As bright and odd as they like (just for the one day!)
- Years 3-6 Christmas Service Friday 16th December at St Mary’s Church in the afternoon. Likely time 2pm tbc
- Sports Day for Dolphins and years 1-6 is scheduled for Tuesday 23rd May
- A visiting theatre group will be performing to all the children on 2nd February. Thank you to the Friends of Appledore School for funding this event.
We have been contacted by a couple of local charities that may be able to support families struggling to pay for presents for their children and/or to feed them this Christmas. If you are in need of help, please contact jeremy.cooper@appledoreprimary.co.uk to find out more. Any contact will be managed sensitively.
Schools’ funding has already been greatly affected by rising costs and central government cost savings and imminent announcement of more reductions in funding will have a very noticeable impact on richness of the children’s current educational provision. Appledore School will not be exempt from that. If you feel strongly about school funding, please click here to join a petition to government https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/627130
Next week’s safeguarding focus will be on bullying for children and staff and information will be in next week’s newsletter for parents.
Have a great weekend
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff (more…)
A super first week back and the children have thrown themselves into everything on offer with gusto. Please click on more to find out all that has been happening in and around the classes.
Well done to Year 5 for raising £70 from their bake sale on Friday and thank you Evie-Rose and Elise for organising this. Thank you also to all those who baked cakes to raise money for the North Devon Animal Ambulance.
A few diary dates for you:
- Wear odd socks to school to stand-up to bullying is on Monday 14th November. As bright and odd as they like (just for the one day!)
- Years 3-6 Christmas Service Friday 16th December at St Mary’s Church in the afternoon. Time tbc
- Sports Day for Dolphins and years 1-6 is scheduled for Tuesday 23rd May
- A visiting theatre group will be performing to all the children on 2nd February. Thank you to the Friends of Appledore School for funding this event.
This week staff safeguarding training has focused on honour based abuse, forced marriage and FGM. For information on this please click here.
This week was the turn of years 1 & 2 to host a harvest festival and they did very well. It was year 3-6 last week and next week is our Turtles and Dolphins harvest festival at 2.30pm Tuesday 18th October in the hall. Thank you for your contributions to our harvest collection of non perishables and we will keep collecting on the front desk until Friday 21st when we will take it to a local charity supporting the homeless.
Also this week children have been out and about with year 1 visiting Exmoor Zoo and year 5 returning from their three day residential – children and teachers shattered! Thank you to the teachers for volunteering their time to take the children and to you for your messages of gratitude. Next week it is the turn of year 3 and year 4 for a trip out.
This week staff safeguarding training has focussed on how to raise concerns regarding concerns about adults working with children. If you have any concerns, no matter how small or potentially insignificant they appear, please do contact the school and ask to speak to the Designated Safeguarding Lead (Mr Cooper) or another member of the safeguarding team (Mrs McMorine, Mrs bannister or Mrs Phillips).
Interested in becoming a primary teacher or know someone who is? If so, next Wednesday there is an open evening at Roundswell. For more information please click here and here.
Please click on more to find out more information of upcoming events and what has been happening in all of the classes.
We wish you all a lovely weekend.
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff (more…)
Our harvest festivals have begun and a super start from KS2 at Skilfully directed by Miss Carr. Scarecrow stole the show! Please read on for harvest celebration with other classes. Other highlights this week include visits from recognised children’s authors entertaining the children.
Parent Evenings are being scheduled for children in years 1-6 over various days before half term. Please keep an eye out for communication from us with information on when and how to book.
Safeguarding – please be aware of a seemingly child friendly online game called Huggy Wuggy that involves a seemingly friendly hairy blue character. Please be aware that this game can quickly take a sinister turn and frighten children and creep into playground games, particularly children aged 4-7 years. For more information please click here and continue to discuss with your children what they are accessing online.
We wish you all wonderful weekend and please do click ‘more’ for much more information relevant to you.
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff (more…)
Such a lovely week, ending with Year 2 excitedly telling me today all they learnt about bees from their trip out yesterday!
Lots of information about forthcoming events and dates for the diary, including the return of our Halloween Disco and our harvest festivals, so please do click ‘more’ to find out all about these events and other.
Wishing you all a super weekend.
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff (more…)
Getting back into the swing of school routines following one residential trip and preparation for another pending residential have occupied the minds of our older pupils this week, but there has been no rest for them! A beach clean this week go them all out and about again!
This and much more has been going on around and about school, so please do read on to find out what all the classes have been up to and for other information, including dates, important to you. If you are accessing this from our website homepage, please click on ‘more’ at the end of this post to view all the information..
The past two weeks have seen all staff participate in their annual safeguarding training to refresh their knowledge and understanding and every two weeks staff receive training on a specific aspect of safeguarding. Please keep an eye on this weekly newsletter for resources to support you, such as online safety. To ensure children are safeguarded on school premises so a reminder please to not use your mobile school on school premises
Wishing you all a lovely weekend
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff (more…)
Lots of important information on the newsletter this week, including dates for harvest festival and sports day, safeguarding information, secondary school open days and evenings amongst other things. Please get into the habit of reading it each week and remember to click on the ‘more’ tab for all the information. Please be aware that this is the main source of information for you relating to events and requirements related to your children.
A reminder that school is not open on Monday.
We wish you all a peaceful weekend
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff (more…)
Appledore School is saddened by the death of HRH Queen Elizabeth II and our thoughts and prayers are with the Royal Family and those close to Queen Elizabeth. We pause to think and reflect on the remarkable life of service and duty, conducted with dignity, loyalty and grace, of Her
Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II. The school will be closed on Monday 19th September due to her state funeral and the subsequent bank holiday.
Welcome back everybody and a warm welcome to all our new children, families and staff. It has been a very enjoyable week back and the children have returned with their typically tremendous enthusiasm and zest for everything available to them. It’s lovely to have them all back and we all look forward to the year ahead.
Today we paused to think and reflect on the remarkable life of service and duty, conducted with dignity, loyalty and grace, of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The country has now entered a period of national mourning that will continue until the end of the Sate Funeral. School remains open during this time and when we hear from the Department for Education what the the plans are for schools on the day of the State Funeral we will let you know.
Every Friday we post our weekly newsletter on our school website. Please take time to read it because it includes information important to your child and also a summary of what has happened in each class over the course of the week. Please click on the ‘more’ text link to access the full article.
We wish you a peaceful weekend and look forward to welcoming you back next week
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff (more…)
And so we reach the end of our first full year back since the challenges of Covid. Despite having more Covid in the school this year than the previous two years combined, everyone in the school community pulled together to ensure normality returned for the children and they have responded with such resilience. Thank you for your patience support.
With guidance from their you and their teachers and their support of each other the children have taken great strides in their personal and academic progress. Despite the disruption of the previous two years the cohorts have outperformed national averages in every government set test and in most cases even outperformed pre Covid national averages. Well done everybody – a very, very impressive showing!
The last day of term is always one of mixed emotions. There is sadness as we say goodbye to our Year 6 (some have been here 8 years or so!) and staff leaving, but also excitement for the challenges that await them. All our leavers have contributed immensely to the school. Our year six children leave for a variety of secondary schools, some children in other years are transferring to new schools and Mrs Rushworth and Miss Goodman are joining new schools for new challenges. Emily in FSU leaves to begin her maternity leave and Miss Gray will return in September as Mrs Wilkins – just imagine the confusion that caused our current Dolphins when they met her in preparation for next year! And of course Annemarie, who will reduce her hours further from September as she and we plan for final retirement date as yet undecided but we will let you know when it nears. We wish all our leavers the very best of luck with thanks and look forward to welcoming all of our new starters in September.
Please click on ‘more’ to find out what has and is happening in and around the classes this week.
Have a lovely summer and we look forward to welcoming you all back on Tuesday 6th September.
From Jeremy Cooper and all of the children and staff (more…)
A super end to the week with sports day today. Thank you for your support today and thank you to all the staff and children (particularly year 6) who made today run so smoothly. The points from today will be added to the house point totals for the term and the house that wins our House Cup will be announced next week. There are a number of unclaimed tombola prizes in the office for white ticket 47 and yellow tickets 29, 88, 95, 259, 358, 361, 475, 487, 499, 543, 588 893,943. Decent prizes too!
Please note that due to rising running costs nursery fees and AOOSC and other after school clubs prices will increase in September. We have kept the increases to a minimum and for more information please click here.
Thank you to Appledore Baptist Church for welcoming us all today for the last Open the Book of the year and thank you Year 6 for some super acting.
Appledore Library Summer Reading Challenge Events:
Sat 23rd July 10-11.30am – Sciencedipity – £6/child BOOKING ESSESNTIAL
Thu 4th Aug 10-11.30am – Storytelling & Bridgebuilding – FREE DROP IN
Thu 18th Lego Sense 1-2pm – £4/child BOOKING ESSESNTIAL
Throughout the summer holidays there will be free picture treasure hunts inside the library and around the village shops with a prize draw of £10 book tokens for 2 winners. For more information please click here.
Have a lovely weekend
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff (more…)
Such a busy week that has included trips to Lundy, The Wake Park, Rosemoor and St Margaret’s for a football match. Please read on to find out more.
Don’t forget it’s sports day on Friday 15th July and the details are available by clicking here. We look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible.
In addition to our afterschool club (AOOSC) we will continue to offer after school art club and we are very pleased to inform you of the return of our popular afterschool eco rangers club in September. The eco rangers club provides the children with fun outdoor opportunities. Art will be on a Monday and Wednesday and eco rangers on a Tuesday and Thursday. Information on how to book places will sent out before the end of term.
On 24th July The Rotary Club of Bideford is organising the Bideford Water Festival. The theme this year is PIRATES and they want to get as many children as possible involved in the fancy dress competition. The parade will begin at 1.10pm outside the Harbour Master’s Office. For more information please click here.
There is a meeting on Thursday 21st July at 7pm at Appledore library to elect the committee for the PTA. Everyone welcome. Please click here for more info.
Have a lovely weekend
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
