Author: Jeremy
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
Welcome back everybody and happy New Year to you all! We hope you all had a really enjoyable Christmas and it is wonderful to have the children back so full of energy and ready to go again. For the children (and fingers crossed I don’t jinx it by saying this now!) it appears to have been a healthy Christmas break because this week we have not had a single Covid case reported amongst the children. Thank you for everything you have done for this to happen. We are suffering from staff absence though and thank you for your patience as we manage this challenge.
We welcome Miss Gray to Year 1 and the children in her class have been very keen to tell me what they have been up to with her this busy week. It has been a busy week for all the classes, so please do click on the (more…) text below to find out what has been going on in each class.
Congratulations to Indian House (yellow) for winning the Coffee Cabin House Cup for last term.
We wish you all a lovely weekend
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff (more…)
Such an exciting week for all and the highlight has to be the return of Father Christmas circling the school in the ‘Big Yellow Bird’. We hope you enjoyed the recordings of the various nativities and carols. Coordination of these with fluctuating attendance was not without its challenges, so in the true spirit of the show must go on the children and staff launched themselves into it with great gusto!
This week we say goodbye and thank you to Mr Lewis as he leaves us for promotion at another school and welcome Miss Gray who will be our new year 1 teacher in the new year.
The Department for Education has asked that we signpost parents to a publication by Children’s Commissioner regarding online sexual harassment, particularly with many children getting a new phone or other internet devices for Christmas. Please click here to access the link to the parent guide.
Please be aware of the following guidance regarding contact and isolation: From 14 December, a new national approach to daily testing for contacts of COVID-19 has been introduced. All adults who are fully vaccinated and children aged 5 to18 years and 6 months, identified as a contact of someone with COVID-19 – whether Omicron or not – should take an LFD test every day for 7 days instead of self-isolating. Children under five years old do not need to take part in daily testing for contacts of COVID-19 and do not need to isolate. Once notified by Test and Trace as a close contact, all eligible staff, pupils and students are strongly recommended to take a LFD each day for 7 days and report the results through the online reporting system and to their setting. If they test negative, they can continue to attend their education setting. Outside of the education setting, they should continue to follow national guidance. This approach should also be adopted over the Christmas holiday and on return in January.
Thank you for all of your support as we try our very best to keep all the children and staff safe. We wish you all a very happy and healthy Christmas and look forward to welcoming you all back on Wednesday 5th January, 2022
From Jeremy Cooper and all of the children and staff
