News
Newsletter for the week ending Friday 29th November
The end of another busy week that ended with me being presented with a truly inspirational poem written by one of our Year 5 children, aged 9 years, on our whole school value for this term of Inclusion. It was thought provoking in a time when division appears to be on the rise in our society.
I would really love all of us to include every child and make sure they are never excluded
Never treat them differently and make sure everybody obeys by that rule.
Carefully offer to help and notice sad actions
Learn to be kind and polite and put in great effort to help
Use our personalities to make them feel brighter
Sit down next to them and let them speak out
Each year people struggle and being inclusive can help a lot
I’m sure our school is capable of this.
Please read on to find out what else has been happening in and around the school…
AROUND AND ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Christmas Dinner
Christmas dinner for children in Dolphins – Yr 6 is Wednesday 11th December. There is no cost for Dophins, Year 1 and Year 2 and the cost for Year 3,4,5 & 6 is £3.50. For years 3-6 please book and pay on School Money by 30th Nov. A vegetarian option is available. Dolphins-Yr 2 please let your class teacher know by 30th Nov.
Christmas Fair
Friday 13th December, 3pm-5pm.
Ear Rings
Please note that staff are no longer permitted to tape over a pupil’s ear rings during PE or other activities, so if a child attends school wearing ear rings that are not possible to remove any related injury is the responsibility of the parents / carers.
Communication
Please ensure that we always have your current contact details, including address, email and all telephione numbers. Thank you.
AROUND AND ABOUT THE CLASSES
This week in FSU we have looked at the story ‘Zog’ The children have had great fund making dragons from paper plates and cups and using split pins to make them move. We have labelled parts of a dragon and really enjoyed reading the Zog book number two. We thought about the jobs we would like to do and we went on a dragon hunt in The Jungle. We are also in full swing with our Christmas Play rehearsals.
Another busy week for Year 1 with lots of Christmas activities mixed into our normal week such as practising our Nativity songs and making decorations for the corridor. In Maths we have been comparing representations of numbers as well as numbers using the greater than, less than and equal to symbols. We have also been ordering representations of numbers. In Writing we have looked at the book Diary of a Wombat. We have discussed what we liked and disliked about the story and spotted words ending in ‘ed’ which we have added to our Vocabulary board. In Philosophy we used the book Tusk, Tusk (thanks to Stanley for lending it to us) and discussed the question ‘Why didn’t the elephants like each other?’
This week Lundy Puffins have been very creative. In the Art Studio they have made beautiful clay decorations that they will be selling at the Christmas Fayre. They have also made some beautiful pom-pom Christmas Puddings that will be on display in the main corridor next week as part of a whole school display of Christmas food. They were very lucky to have Arthur’s mum and Grandma in to help them with this – so thank you very much. In Maths, they have been looking at number bonds for all numbers to 10 and using these to help them work out number bonds for numbers to 20. In English, they learned how to write expanded noun phrases. Christmas play practices are underway and they have now learned all the songs – well done! Don’t forget that next Wednesday we are off to see a performance of the Velveteen Rabbit at the Plough.
Seahunter have had fun learning to knit with some very helpful grandparents and Mrs Evans tomprepare things for our Christmas hoop…to be revealed on Monday! In Maths we explored negative numbers by writing g some weather reports and they soon got to grips with moving below and above 0 degrees. In English, we have been working on Gregory Cool, a story set in the Caribbean. They have learnt to highlight key information, write in note form and develop paragraphs from their notes to create information booklets about the island of Tobago. Some will soon be displayed on the writers wall.
This week in Maths, Year 4 have been working further on multiplication and division skills and have been multiplying and dividing by 1, 0 and 6. We have also focused on how to respond to reasoning questions linked to our learning objectives. In English, we have planned our innovate writing linked to our journey down to Appledore quay for our rock pooling trip. In Science, we have started learning about solids, liquids and gases and have identified the properties of solids and liquids. The children really enjoyed our rock pooling trip on Tuesday, as part of the Time and Tide Bell project which we are taking part in. They worked well within their teams to discover what was living in the rock pools at this time of year. Well done HMS Echo!
Year 5 are very excited about starting their new literacy writing, based on the book Lion Journal. They are creating a journal, in the style of a scrap book, based on African elephants and giraffes. In maths they have completed their block of work on multiplication and division and have started work on area and perimeter. We have been thinking about how we can be inclusive, especially for children with disabilities, and preparing for our end of term values assembly. Power-points have been completed about our residential and parents are invited to come into class and see them after school on Wednesday and Thursday. Christmas is underway with the class making the hoop for the corridor display. They have also painted candle holders which will be ready for sale, priced £1, from next week.
Year 6 have been adding and subtraction fractions this week in Maths. In Literacy, they have been finding out about Harry Clement, who was evacuated to Clovelly during World War Two, in order to write about his experiences. In spelling, they have been looking at how prefixes help with the meaning of words. They have enjoyed taking part in a rationing scheme this week and will need to spend their last few tokens at the beginning of next week. Any costumes that children have asked about at home, are for their Christmas performance to Appledore Community on Friday at 2pm in the Social Club. Costumes do not need to be elaborate but must be in by Thursday – any difficulties please alert us as soon as possible.
Have a wonderful weekend everybody.
From Jeremy Cooper and all the staff and children.
