News
Newsletter for the week ending Friday 23rd May
Sports Day is fast approaching and details were emailed out earlier this week. The details are also available here.
Term dates for 2026-2027 have now been published, available here, and please be aware that the children return to school on Tuesday 3rd June after the half term.
The children have been enjoying taking part in activities with rangers from the Northam Burrows Country Park over that past few weeks and asking if they can get involved in more activities over half term, well they can and please see here and here to find out what is on offer,
A message from Liz Clough, Torridge Citizens Advice, ‘We know the school holidays can be an expensive time – with the kids at home more, you may end up spending more on energy. Our dedicated energy team can run through tips to help you cut your bills, as well as look at making sure you have enough money to pay for your ongoing usage by checking your entitlement for benefits or seeing if you can claim any grants. If you’re on a prepayment meter, we might also be able to issue you with vouchers to keep you topped up over the holidays‘. For more information and to contact our energy advisers, call 01237 879 233 and leave a message.
Dates for the Diary
- Saturday 17th May, 10am-4pm, family friendly Festival of Nature, St Mary’s Hall, Appledore see here
- Tennis Camps @ Westward Ho! tennis courts. Thursday 29th & Friday 30th May 9am-3.30pm. Full days and half days, subsidised by Northam Town Council. £14 for the full day, £7 for the half day.
- For free after school school summer girls’ rugby taster sessions in June with Bideford Rugby Club girls in years 3-6 please see here
- Sports Day Tuesday 17th June and reserve date is Tuesday 24th June
Wishing you all a lovely half term and please remember we return to school on Tuesday 3rd June.
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
AROUND THE CLASSES
This week in Turtles and Dolphins we have continued to read the story ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. On Tuesday we had great fun making traps in the woods to catch the wolf. On Wednesday we found out about wolves and made a wolf fact file. On Thursday we loved taking part in Sponsored Wheels. Thank you to everyone that came and made the event so great. Please could we have the sponsor money in by the end of the first week back. We will keep you posted with how much we have raised.
In Year 1 this week we have written our own versions of the story Stuck! We had amazing ideas and loved making our stories funny. In Maths we have finished our fractions learning. We had a go at splitting shapes and numbers into halves and then had a go at quarters which was really tricky but we used counters to help us. In our topic lesson we went to Dolphins to show them our posters all about plastic pollution in the ocean! We told them some facts about the oceans and showed them some of our work. We really enjoyed this and spoke nice and clearly so everyone could hear us. In PE we have been working in partners to practice our ball skills and we have already got lots better at throwing and catching! Thank you for another great half term Year 1, we hope you have a lovely holiday!
This week Year 2 have been publishing their amazing stories based on the Dragon Machine. They have made their stories into books complete with maps. They will be on the writing display after the half term break, so please take a look. In Maths, they have been continuing to tell the time. Thank you for your support at home with this, it really helps if they can practise at home as well. There are some games on Google Classroom to support this. They had a visit from a dental nurse this week as part of an oral health education programme for Year 2 children across the South West. She told them all about brushing their teeth and they were very excited to take home their toothbrushes, timers and toothpaste. Well done for all your hard work Year 2 and we wish you a relaxing break.
Year 3 learnt how a Christian vicar spends her time on a daily basis and saw how they too reach out to the community and love thy neighbour. Year 4 planned a church service that could celebrate the church’s birthday as marked by Pentecost. Year 5 and Year 6 researched a variety of Christian organizations to see how they reflected what Jesus would do and what kind of Kingdom Jesus would want to be king of. As promised, in music all year groups were taught how to record into Yu Studio and we recorded some of their recorder recitals. Year 6 were also filmed performing their fabulous dance. Hopefully we can post it on Google classroom for you to view.
Year 3 have had a wonderful week. In Maths, we have been learning about years, months and days and we also learnt how to calculate the duration of time. In English, we created an emotion graph to show how the main character’s emotions change throughout the story, and then we wrote a diary entry. In Science, we ran an investigation to explore how water is transported in plants. We used food colouring to watch how the stem transports the water to the leaves and petals. We also learnt all about the life cycle of a plant and researched the different stages. In Values, we identified the similarities and differences between a diverse range of people from varying national, ethnic and religious backgrounds. We then identified some of the qualities that people from a diverse range of backgrounds need in order to get on together. We also had our last tennis lesson where the children rallied in pairs and played some fun tennis games.
In Year 4 this week, the children have been solving problems in Maths, where the children had to calculate how much change they got from £5, £10, £20 and so on. After half term, we will be moving onto learning time. Children are expected to know how to tell the time in Year 4 on an analogue and digital clock so extra practise of this at home over the holidays would be greatly appreciated! In English, the children wrote some fantastic magical stories which have now been published and are on display in our corridor. We will move onto reading the book Firebird which is a Russian folktale and quest story. In Geography, we learnt about what virtual water is and how we use a lot more water than we think. We also looked at different countries around the world and their average water consumption and how this varies with rich and poor countries. In Science, we tested different objects in a circuit to see if they were conductors or insulators. On Monday 9th June, children in Year 4 will be taking part in a national multiplication tables check. Extra practise of times tables over the half term will be hugely beneficial! Thank you!
It has been a really busy week for Year 5. We spent a great day at the burrows completing a plastic/rubbish survey, doing pebble art work and looking for wildlife. We also went into the education centre and played games. The rangers made our day fun despite the slightly wet start! We had time in the art studio drawing sea turtles and copying onto fabric as part of our textiles unit. We have now completed our writing on Ernest Shackleton and finished off the sequence of work by researching an explorer of interest. In maths we have started the geometry unit on position and direction; this week we have been reading and plotting coordinates.
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. The highlight had to be the Burrows trip, where they were able to take part in scientific data collection. We were lucky to have so many experts with us, lovely weather and a range of activities to complete. There is a follow-up session after the holidays to see what we found out. Thank you for all of the photos received so far – please keep them coming. Homework is now learning lines and song words for the play. Scripts have been given to the children but there is also a copy on Google classroom if they forget it. Enjoy the half-term break!
