News
Newsletter for Friday 22nd May
Wasn’t that a short half term and a shame that the weather wasn’t suitable for our sports day on Wednesday? It has been rescheduled for Tuesday 16th June and please see here for more information. Here’s hoping we have better weather and thank you for your understanding.
Over half term there are many activities organised in our local area, so please take a look at the list below.
Dates for the diary:
- Half term activities at Burton Art Gallery see here
- Free events on Northam Burrows over half term please see here and here
- Children’s Theatre event at Appledore Library on 27th May see here
- Football clubs for boys and girls of all abilities are being run across the region over May half term. See here.
- Skern Lodge celebrates 50 years and is hosting a family afternoon of activities on 30th May. See here for info
- Appledore’s first ever Pride will take place around the village on Saturday 6th June (see here) and please see here for a competition for children to win £50 and here for story reading in the library
- Tabsfest, in memory of an Appledore Pupil, is a family music festival at The Big Sheep, Saturday 13th June. See here for info.
Wishing you all a lovely half term and please note that pupils return to school on Tuesday 2nd June.
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
On Tuesday when Turtles and Dolphins came into school we found lots of straw, bricks and sticks on the floor. We decided this was linked to the story ‘The Three Little Pigs’. We have loved acting out the story and using our best pig and wolf voices. We have changed our role play area into building sites and we have loved putting on our hard hats and jackets to build houses. We have also taken on the role of the wolf and had a go at blowing down cube towers. Some of us were able to blow the towers down in one go! Today we went to the library to change our books and this afternoon we had a letter from the pigs asking for our help. They wanted us to build them some strong houses so we spent the afternoon in the woods.
Year 1 have had a busy week this week with their school trip to the burrows! We started in Westward Ho! where we learnt about some local history, including where the train line used to be. Then we walked along the beach to the visitor’s centre where we had lunch and an explore before heading over to the beach. When we were on the beach we did a scavenger hunt which the children absolutely loved! In groups they had a bucket with a list of things to try and collect. They had so much fun finding all the different items and then sharing them as a group after. We want to say another huge thank you to the parent volunteers who so kindly gave up their time to come with us, our trips wouldn’t be possible without your support and we hope you weren’t too exhausted after! We hope you all have a lovely half term, enjoy the sunshine!
Year Two had a great time at Westward Ho! and the Burrows on Tuesday. They compared Westward Ho! today with what it might have been like 100 years ago. This was in preparation for our History Topic next half term which is all about seaside holidays 100 years ago. They also completed a walk along the beach and a scavenger hunt along the strand line. We were so lucky with the weather! Thank you to our parent helpers for coming with us. In Maths, they have been finishing off their work on fractions by playing a game. This is available on Google Classroom if you want to have a go at home. In English, they have written some amazing stories that they have been publishing into a book ready to be displayed on the writing wall. A letter about a trip to Rosemoor on the 19th June has been sent, so please look out for it. We wish you all a relaxing half term break in the sunshine!
Year 3 were recorded performing their classical Indian dance. They were magnificent and we will share the video appropriately. They also continued to learn the repertoire for the singing festival at West Buckland in June. Year 6 put the dramatic ending onto their encounters dance and we will film their performance after half term. If the children can bring in black dance clothes for the filming that would be appreciated. In RE, year 3 looked at a day in the life of a Christian Vicar, year 4 thought of metaphors for the Holy Spirit and considered the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Year 6 created cinematography storyboards for two different parables so that they emphasized the meaning of each parable.
It has been a really productive week for Year 3. We have been writing diary entries and lost posters in English and in maths we have continued to work on time. We are becoming familiar with analogue and digital times and am/pm. In science we looked at the plant life cycle and then further work on pollination during our outdoor learning session. It was lovely to see the butterflies being released after watching them grow from tiny caterpillars. Our geography session looked at how a river is used, including tourism, sport, trade and for energy. Have a restful half term week and we look forward to completing the last half term of Y3.
This week, Year 4 have been introduced to their new English text, Firebird and we have explored what folk stories are, found features of the text and made story maps to help us learn and remember the plot. In maths, we have been looking at time, including days, weeks and months, hours, minutes and seconds and converting between these. In science, we have designed and investigated an enquiry, looking at a variety of conductors and insulators of electricity. In computing, we learnt about repetitive patterns and animated our names using scratch. In geography, we wrote persuasive letters to conclude our water topic in geography and explained various ways we can conserve water. In PE, we were practising rallying in tennis. We have been enjoying our class book, which is currently The Boy at the Back of the Class and have learnt more about the characters in our story and where they come from. We have continued to focus on our value of: inclusivity and chose our inclusive champion from our class. This half term has gone incredibly quickly, but we have learnt lots and had a fantastic attitude towards our learning.
This week in Year 5 writing, we have completed our non-chronological reports on Ernest Shackleton’s expedition to Antarctica. The final pieces of work were wonderful and showed a high level of detail, and I have been very impressed with the standard achieved. We have typed these up, and some children were able to go on to carry out their own independent research into what happened next in Shackleton’s expedition. In maths, we have been working on angles and recapping acute, obtuse and right angles, strengthening our understanding of key geometric vocabulary. In science, we completed our Living Things and Their Habitats unit, revisiting and consolidating key vocabulary linked to classification and habitats. In geography, we finished our Plastic Pollution unit and took part in a practical lesson using quadrats, which also involved calculating the mean average from our results. It’s been a busy week! Wishing Year 5 a wonderful half term break.
Year 6 have started ‘The Tempest’ as part of their work in Literacy as well as going over the Year 6 Play. In maths, they have been completing mixed questions to keep their knowledge up to date and to make sure that they can calculate quickly and accurately. In Geography, they have been finding out about National Parks in preparation for our trip to Lundy. They have enjoyed making ‘Scibble Bots’ in science, using an electrical circuit for the motor. Our football team competed in a tournament and came 4th, competing well. On Tuesday, we did First Aid Training. Homework is now learning lines and song words for the play. Scripts have been given to the children. Enjoy the half-term break!
