Welcome back everybody and we hope you had a super Easter.

Just before we broke up for Easter, Year 4 participated in the Bideford Chorister Outreach Programme and this involved performing in Exeter cathedral. To view the recording of their contribution and that of other schools please visit https://youtu.be/4rS67iyKStM

North Devon Surf School are running a children’s after school surf club starting Tuesday 3rd May. For more information, please click here.

After school, on the bottom playground, there will be a cake sale in aid of NSPCC on Tuesday 3rd May. This has been organised by a very kind group of Year 5 girls who will also be baking the cakes! For more information, please click here.

We wish you all a lovely bank holiday weekend and look forward to welcoming you back on Tuesday 3rd May.

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

A lovely last week of term. Please do read on to find out what has been going on in all the classes.

For next term we have made a few operational changes to continue our efforts to return to pre Covid normality. To ensure you are aware of these changes please read this letter.

As a holiday approaches our mind swings around to the need for extra vigilance regarding children being safe online with all their extra freetime .Please click here for an update on current e-safety matters.

Please click here for details of the May Fair Parade fancy dress competition on 30th April and here for an entry form.

Atlantic Racquet Centre  are holding a free family day on Saturday 23rd April for all the family to come and try out tennis, badminton, table tennis and the gym. They have different classes happening through the day with expert coaches on hand to help you. For more info please use the link below and feel free to just turn up on the day, no booking required. http://www.atlanticracquetcentre.co.uk/opendays

Well done to this half term winners of the Literacy Cup and the Values Cup and to Arctic House for winning the House Cup.

We wish you all a super Easter break and look forward to welcoming you back on Monday 25th April.

From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff

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The UK Government has published new guidance detailing ‘next steps for living with Covid‘ that is applicable from today.  The guidance states Children and young people who are unwell and have a high temperature should stay at home and avoid contact with other people, where they can. They can go back to school, college or childcare when they no longer have a high temperature, and they are well enough to attend. There is no mention of an obligation to test your child for Covid when they first become unwell or before you consider them well enough to return to school.  If you did test your child when they first became unwell and they tested positive this guidance says they are able to return after three days provided they are well enough. The guidance does not require you to test your child before they return after three days. If you decide to test your child on day three and they remain positive, please return your child to school when they no longer test positive.

We are hoping to open holiday club on Monday 11th, Tuesday 12th and Wednesday 13th April in the first week and Tuesday 19th and Wednesday 20th April in the second week of the holiday. If you want your child to attend, please email admin@appledoreprimary.co.uk before Monday morning. Being able to open on any of these days depends on enough children attending and we will contact you on Monday once we know if sufficient bookings have been made. For pricing and opening hours please click here.

Please read on to find out what has been happening around the classes and for football match reports…

We wish you all a lovely weekend

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

A super week at school with so much happening in and around the classes. Please read on to find out…

This Sunday, Mothering Sunday, there will be a special family friendly service at St Mary’s Church, Appledore, at 10.30am. There will be posies of flowers for all ladies, and the children will help to hand out the posies and lead some of the singing. Children and babies of all ages are extremely welcome.

We wish you all a lovely weekend

From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff

AROUND THE CLASSES (more…)

And there was us thinking £898 was a very generous figure to reach this time last week on our wear yellow and blue for Ukraine day. It now stands at an even more impressive £1153!

We have seen Covid numbers rise again in school. This time symptoms have predominantly included a sore throat, lethargy and a headache. If you have confirmed cases of Covid in your household, or your child is feeling unwell, please do all you can to test them before they come to school so we can do all we can to limit the spread in school. I noticed today that not wearing a mask on school premises is becoming commonplace amongst parents and carers entering the school premises as part of the school run. Whilst wearing a mask is not necessarily a requirement elsewhere, we ask that you respect our continued wish that you wear a mask on school premises, inside and out, to protect our staff and children. Thank you.

Multi-Sports activity days are being run at Bideford College over the Easter holidays. The times are 10-2pm on 19th-22nd April and for children aged 5-13 years old. For more information please click here.

Please read on to find out what has been going on around the classes, not least year 3 performing in Exeter Cathedral following their collaboration with the choristers!

We wish you all a lovely weekend

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

Today the children were decked out in yellow and blue in support of those in Ukraine undergoing hardship and those who have fled Ukraine and undergoing hardship. We have established a JustGiving account named Appledore School non-uniform day for voluntary contributions to ShelterBox and in less than 24hrs we achieved the initial target. At time of writing this today we were at a staggeringly generous £898! If your child is worried about the events unfolding in Ukraine, the NSPCC has useful advice on how to discuss this with your children.

If you believe your child is at higher risk from coronavirus the department for health has published information that is available here 

We wish you all a happy weekend

Best wishes from

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

Welcome back everyone and we hope you had a good half term. The children have returned from their break with their usual levels of infectious energy and thrown themselves back into school life – not least their enthusiasm for World Boy Day!

With the removal of staggered starts and ends to the day there is now a greater concentration of traffic and pedestrian activity around and on the school site. Please remember that Kingsley Avenue is a private road and permission is granted to cross it and not to park on it. We are able to issue parking permits for the Odun Road car park for you to park safely, so please contact admin@appledoreprimary.co.uk if you would like one. If you do park on the road, please park responsibly, including avoiding the yellow zig-zags, and when driving near to the school site raise your awareness for pedestrians. Please refrain from reversing into the school car park if you are turning around on Kingsley Avenue. Thank you for your consideration and support for the safety of the children and other pedestrians and road users.

Parent meetings got underway this week and for most classes continue next week. If you have not booked an appointment, please email admin@appledoreprimary.co.uk.

Best wishes to you all for a lovely weekend

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

Welcome back everybody and we hope you had and enjoyable half term.

Last week saw a change in the legality of various Covid measures, most notably isolating. For school, the measures are very much the same as before. Please click here to view a letter that explains the necessary measures in school. This letter was sent to parents today.

Following advice and the completion of a safety risk assessment the decision has been made to close the school on Friday 18th due to Storm Eunice. Please note that the before and afterschool club will also be closed on Friday.

Learning will be available tomorrow for Years 1-6 in their Google Classroom.

I hope you remain safe safe tomorrow and look forward to seeing you all after half term on Monday 28th February.

Best wishes

Jeremy Cooper

A short week due to storm Eunice brings to a close this half term a day early. Batten down the hatches for a while and we hope you all safe and well after half term.

In our first week back after half term World Book Day is Thursday 3rd March. Children can come to school dressed ready for a bedtime story in pyjamas that day and bring their favourite book to share.

For a useful internet safety update, please click here.

Have a good week everybody and we look forward to welcoming you all back on Monday 28th February.

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

Another busy week that ended with super reports from the general public and staff at Bristol’s We the Curious museum of how well behaved our children were on their trip yesterday and of the kindness and consideration they showed towards other visitors to the museum. Also, their space and science knowledge surprised the museum staff and their searching questions required quick research from the staff for them to be able to answer!

Our (Herculean) Jack will be running his final 1k (totalling 100k in 100 days) and would love anyone who has a spare 10 minutes at 4.45pm on 23rd February to come on down to the amphitheater at Affinity Devon (Atlantic Village) and cheer him across the finish line! He has done so well and been awarded for his endeavours. Great work, Jack!

We wish you all a super weekend

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

Supporting jack with his 100km run, visiting a working fishing boat and selling shack, fractions to decimals/decimals to fractions, science in our woodland and the circulatory system are just some of the things happening this week in and around the classes, so please read on to see what has been happening in each class.

Friends of Appledore Library (FOAL) have contacted us because they are looking for new members interested in becoming a trustee for the charity. For a conversation to find out more of what that might entail please call 01237 422518.

We wish you all a super weekend

From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff

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And that’s nearly the end of January and it appears to have gone so quickly. As per usual, lots has been happening here this week and please do read up on what has been happening this week.  This includes congratulations to Jenson who is the first recipient of our Literacy Cup for his passion for reading. Similar to our Values Cup, each half term it will presented to a child and they will have their name engraved on it and can keep it for the half term. Well done Jenson!

We are part of ACCT (Atlantic Coast Cooperative Trust) which is a group of primary schools and three schools in the trust are proposing to federate. For more information please see this letter.

Could you be interested in becoming a primary school teacher and would want to find out more? SCITT is a primary school teacher training programme and we regularly host trainee students. If you are interested in finding out more about becoming a primary teacher via the SCITT route, please click here.

The number of cases in school has risen considerably this week and thank you for being so supportive with the testing of your children. Teachers are now very stretched between teaching the class and simultaneously providing remote learning. Unless your child is too unwell to access remote learning, provided physically for those in Reception or in the Google Classroom for Years 1-6, please do all you can to ensure your child engages with the learning provided.

Have a lovely weekend

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

Good afternoon everybody and we hope you have had a good week. Once again, so much has been going on in each class and please do access the sections of this post that describes much of what has been happening.

Thank you for both your patience and support in the continuing challenging circumstances. Despite the need for children to test and being unwell, attendance on the whole is better than last term. Periodically, school monitors attendance and informs parents of children who’s attendance is low and offer support – often parents aren’t aware of low attendance and it is easily explained and solved. We have had to manage staff absence too and staff in school have worked to continue provision when covering their absence. To support teachers with a healthy work-life balance please email admin@appledoreprimary.co.uk if you have questions for your child’s teacher and not their individual email address.

Although it is sometime in the future, class photographs are back and will be taken on Tuesday 5th April. We will provide information on how to order them nearer the time.

Last call for those of you who haven’t yet completed the survey to identify children with have critical worker parents. Please follow the link to complete the short survey even if you believe you are not a critical worker https://forms.gle/e344svNE4h3CBiPg6

Wishing you all a lovely weekend

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

Thank you for completing the survey emailed to you on Tuesday. We are collecting information regarding your employment to establish if your child would be eligible to attend school due to ‘critical worker’ eligibility should we be required to close the school. Please don’t be alarmed, we are just preparing ourselves for a possible scenario that we hope will not occur. Please complete the survey even if you believe you are not a critical worker. If you missed the survey, it can be accessed on this link https://forms.gle/LVSkmSRtfQ2xf2f6A

For an update on everything to do with Covid testing, please follow this link from Devon County Council for a comprehensive explanation of everything you might need to know https://www.appledore-primary.devon.sch.uk/wp-admin/post.php?post=1973&action=edit

Wishing you all a lovely weekend

From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff

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