Newsflash – Iris has won the Rotary Club district (ie Devon & Cornwall) photography competition and will go through to the national competition. Iris entered our House photography completion and we forwarded it to the Rotary one. Well done Iris and please click here to see her photo.

Thank you to all of you who have supported my daft running idea. If you don’t know what I’m talking about please click here. Obviously, there’s no obligation at all to support it but if you can in any way it’s very much appreciated.

We are soon to install CCTV covering our school entrance and car park and CCTV use requires a policy. The draft policy is available here and if you have any comments on the policy please submit them to us before Thursday 28th March.

Diary Dates:

• Spring Disco Friday 22nd March. 5pm Reception – Y2, Y3-Y6 6.30pm-7.30pm. Tickets £3 and on sale on the door
• Sports Day Tuesday 21st May – more details to follow

Have a super weekend

From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff

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Fancy watching something a bit different from football? Click here for professional basketball matches in Plymouth during Easter.  But not forgetting football, here and here are details of Easter football activities run at Pilton School by Chivenor Soccer School and here for more local ones run at Kingsley School.  Please click here to book multi-sport and art Easter course for children aged 5-14. These activities are either £15 a day or free if you are on benefit-related free school meals. Use the discount code EASTHAF24 to redeem the course for free. A free hot lunch is also included.

All children have spent time with visitors from RNLI recently learning about water safety and their ‘Water Safety Passport’ is here.

Did you know that if your child’s attendance drops to 90% this equals over 100 missed lessons! For more information please click here for our monthly attendance letter.  Obviously, children get ill from time to time and if they are too unwell to attend school they should stay home, but if you are unsure please call us to help make your decision. Often children ‘pick-up’ as the day progresses and we call if we feel a child is presenting as too unwell. Useful NHS advice is available here

Do you have concerns about your child’s speech and language development with them struggling with talking and understanding words? If so, please click here for advice and and advice line to contact a speech and language therapist.

Diary Dates:

• Spring Disco, Friday 22nd March. 5pm Reception – Y2, Y3-Y6 6.30pm-7.30pm. Tickets £3 and on sale by Friends of Appledore School on the playground after school
• Sports Day Tuesday 21st May – more details to follow

Have a good weekend

From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff (more…)

Thank you for making World Book Day such fun and supporting the children with their outfits. Staff had fun too reading stories to different classes.

This week we resumed our weekly visits to care homes following a Covid enforced break. A huge thank you to Charlie, Alice, Tejah, Peyton, Leon and Dasha for being so kind during the visit and making the residents feel so valued and special.

Diary Dates:

• Class photos Tuesday 12th March
• Spring Disco, Friday 22nd March, after school and more details to follow
• Sports Day Tuesday 21st May – more details to follow

Have a good weekend

From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff (more…)

A good week, despite the weather doing its best to change that! Plenty going on in and outside of classes this week, so please read Around the Classes section further on in this post.

Diary Dates:

• World Book Day 7th March. Children in Dolphins, Yr1 & Yr2 can come to school dressed in pyjamas ready for a bedtime story. Children in Yrs 3-6 can choose whether they wear pyjamas or come dressed as a character from a book they have read. There will also be a book sale in the Bay on the day. Books will cost 20p and the money will go towards new books.
• Spring Disco, Friday 22nd March, after school and more details to follow
• Sports Day Tuesday 21st May – more details to follow

Have a good weekend

From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff (more…)

Another packed week of learning that has included for the children: basic first aid training for asthma attacks; online reputation and online information sharing; a trip to China; bird’s eye view mapping using Google Earth; nutrition; everyday materials; inspirational historical women; earthquakes; keeping healthy; lino printing; biekability; outdoor learning and much,, much more. Please read on to our Around the Classes section to find out what each class has been up to…

Thank you to all of the pancake poem entrants. A difficult choice, but the judges decided on Amelia for first place, Bonnie second, Amber third and Iris fourth. Winning poem was:

Pancake Love

I love pancakes with syrup

I love pancakes with jam

I love pancakes with sausages

I love pancakes with ham

I love pancakes in the morning

I love pancakes at night

Please give me pancakes,

So I can take a big… BITE!

For more information on football trials for JPL North Devon Regional Talent Centre (working with Exeter City FC)boys and girls from under 7s upwards on 23rd February (boys) and 1st March (girls) please click here and here.

Diary Dates:

• Tuesday 27th February is Kingsley School Senior School open morning.  A number of scholarship opportunities are available and for more information please click here
• World Book Day 7th March. Children in Dolphins, Yr1 & Yr2 can come to school dressed in pyjamas ready for a bedtime story. Children in Yrs 3-6 can choose whether they wear pyjamas or come dressed as a character from a book they have read. There will also be a book sale in the Bay on the day. Books will cost 20p and the money will go towards new books.
• Sports Day Tuesday 21st May – more details to follow

Have a super weekend

From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff (more…)

Hi everybody. This is the last newsletter for the half term and amazingly we are now half way through the year!  Such a busy week and so much to tell you about – not least a visit to some classes from paramedics teaching children first aid. Please read the full post to find out what has been happening in all the classes.

Resplendent in our new black and yellow kit kindly provided by Appledore Pirates, a team of Year 3&4 girls competed in a North Devon schools football final this week. An immense effort against some very good teams saw then come away from four matches with two losses and a draw. With just a tiny bit of luck in 3 of the games they would have won three of the matches!  Appledore Pirates have also very kindly donated money for us to purchase a very large amount of science and outdoor learning equipment.

Mrs Stanbury has worked really hard to secure a grant for £600 to replenish reading books. Please have a good look around at home for any books your child has borrowed and not returned.

Drop off and collection for AOOSC and school is a very busy and congested time around around school and in the school car park. This can have knock-on effects and I ask that your are considerate, patient and act appropriately with each other and staff to eliminate conflict and stress and to ensure safety for all. The safety of children is paramount and children should not be witness to any rudeness or inappropriate and potentially unsafe actions. We are considering installing CCTV cameras covering the carpark to increase security (and to deter fly tipping in our bins which costs the school money!) and if you have any questions or comments please let us know at admin@appledoreprimary.co.uk

Despite one or two bugs still doing the rounds, attendance as a school is bearing up and comparing favourably with published comparisons. Low school attendance is a recognised national and international concern and thank you for all you are doing getting your children to school. Please click here for information on attendance in January here at Appledore School and here for a letter from UK Health Security Agency South West regarding winter illnesses.

After half term we return to our Healthy value in our curriculum. Further to our email communication this week regarding our Healthy Value next half term, please click here to find out more. This value includes sex education and other aspects relating to growing up and keeping safe. This programme of learning is made up of lessons carefully sequenced and introduced to ensure a progression of learning that meets the DfE statutory requirements.  Well done Emmy for winning our Values Cup for our whole school half term theme of being Positive.

With a holiday upon us and the potential for clashes with your children regarding screen time, this BBC bitesize article might be of help. Access it here.

Please continue to keep you eyes open for communication from us into your inbox about parent evenings coming up.

Diary Dates:

• Monday 19th February 5-6pm Libraries Limited Show and Tell at The Beaver Inn run in partnership with Appledore Library Click here for more information
• Tuesday 27th February is Kingsley School Senior School open morning.  A number of scholarship opportunities are available and for more information please click here
• World Book Day 7th March. Children in Yr1 & Yr2 can come to school dressed in pyjamas ready for a bedtime story. Children in Yrs 3-6 can choose whether they wear pyjamas or come dressed as a character from a book they have read. There will also be a book sale in the Bay on the day. Books will cost 20p and the money will go towards new books.
• Sports Day Tuesday 21st May – more details to follow

Wishing you all a super half term

From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff (more…)

A busy week inside and outside classrooms. Please read on to find out much of what has been happening…

Children from Year 3 and 4 competed in a tennis tournament at ARC. Everyone showed great sportsmanship, had lots of fun and huge congratulations to the Year 3 team who won the tournament!

Please keep you eyes open for communication from us into your inbox about parent evenings coming up.

Diary Dates:

• Tuesday 27th February is Kingsley School Senior School open morning.  A number of scholarship opportunities are available and for more information please click here
• Sports Day Tuesday 21st May – more details to follow

Wishing you all a happy weekend

From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff (more…)

Our wonderfully creative House Captains have come up with a new house competition: pancake poem writing!  All poems to the office by Thursday 8th February. For more information, please click here.

Well done to our pupils who danced at the Queen’s Theatre as part of Sarah Anne Westcott Dance Studio! And well done also to our Year 5 girls football team who competed so well and had such fun in a recent tournament. The match stats they would like to share is that for every game they scored in they didn’t lose!

Do you want to know more about autism, including coping strategies and tip on how to support? If so, please click here for information regarding free webinars.

Wishing you all a super weekend

From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff (more…)

Well that was a cold week! Thank you for making every effort to get your children to school this week. Despite the challenging circumstances due to the weather attendance was good and learning continued as usual.  Please read the section Around the Classes to find our what has been happening in your child’s class this week.

Despite the weather outdoor learning has continued, thank you Sarah, and we now have some spaces in Eco Rangers on a Tuesday. If you are interested, please contact admin@appledoreprimary.co.uk

High wind is forecast for Monday morning, so as a precaution we will not open the Pitt Lane entrance at drop off time in the morning.

Diary Date:

• Bideford Library is celebrating National Storytelling Week with a day of stories on Thursday 1st Feb, including a professional storyteller at the library for all ages over 5 years for free.

We wish you all a very happy weekend

Have a good weekend

From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff (more…)

It has been a busy week once again and teachers noticed how refreshed and ready to learn children have been this week.

At last, a week without ‘wet play’ and children can go outside for every breaktime and lunchtime!  With this and the cold weather in mind, please ensure children do come to school with proper clothing (eg coats and jumpers). It is cold and some children are wearing a base layer instead of a jumper. Please ensure this is in addition to a jumper and not as a replacement. Thank you.

Diary Date:

• Bideford Library is celebrating National Storytelling Week with a day of stories on Thursday 1st Feb, including a professional storyteller at the library for all ages over 5 years for free.

We wish you all a very happy weekend

From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff (more…)

Welcome back and a very happy New Year to you all.  We hope you had an enjoyable Christmas.

Thank you for respecting our neighbours by parking on the main road and only driving on the privately owned Kingsley Avenue when dropping off or collecting from breakfast and after school club. Please remember, we have parking permits for you for Oden Road car park, only a short walk from the school, available upon request.

This week we welcome new staff Kathy and Clive who will support the children at lunchtime. They have been made to feel very welcome by the children.

Despite being a shorter week back, it has been a very busy week. Please read on to find out what has been going on in and around all the classes this week.

Wishing you all a peaceful weekend.

From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff

(more…)

It’s the last week of term and a busy one too!

In recognition for taking action for Devon Wildlife (such as our site eco rangers work, out eco ambassadors’ work and our outdoors curriculum)  we have been awarded the Devon Community of the Year 2023 School Award by Devon local Nature Partnership. Well done everybody!

This week as the turn of years 1&2 and years 3-6 to put on Christmas celebrations for you. They were tremendous and were skilfully rehearsed by the staff and thank you to those of you who came along to see.

Please be mindful of our neighbours when parking near the school and that Kingsley Avenue is a private road not to be parked on. Entering Kingsley Avenue by parents in a car should only be when dropping at or collecting from after school club. Otherwise, cars using Kingsley Avenue can be quite a safety hazard for the children.

We have a vacancy for a cleaner for two hours a day after school during term time. If you are interested or know someone who might be, please contact admin@appledoreprimary.co.uk and more details can be found by clicking here. Please share this vacancy on any social media you use. Thank you.

For those of you who like data, the DfE has recently published their school performance league tables. Seen as controversial by some, these have now returned following a pause due to Covid. We were ranked 420th out of 22,102 schools and the third highest local authority school in Devon.

Wishing you all a very happy Christmas and we look forward to welcoming you all back on Tuesday 2nd January.

From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff

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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

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