News
Newsletter for the week ending Friday 9th May
Year 6 excelled with their enthusiasm during their first aid training this week and were credited by the trainer for their skills – well done year 6. The fish tank in our main corridor has been met with equal levels of enthusiasm as the children try to locate the crab and starfish each time they pass it. The tanks is linked to the children’s science learning and the Royal Society project we are running in school this year to inspire tomorrow’s climate scientists.
Yesterday, children had quiet time to reflect on the 80th anniversary of VE Day and our assembly this week focussed on Deaf Awareness Week.
Good attendance remains a priority for us all and please see here for April’s attendance newsletter.
Congratulations to Pacific/Red House for winning the House Cup for the Spring Term. Those in Pacific can wear red on Friday 16th May as their treat.
Dates for the Diary
- Saturday 17th May, 10am-4pm, family friendly Festival of Nature, St Mary’s Hall, Appledore see here
- 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
Have a lovely weekend
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 ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’. We have focused much of our learning on bridges. We talked about what we already know about bridges and we have found out about bridges locally to us and then we looked at Tower Bridge in London. We also went to the Jungle on Thursday to make bridges. Today, we walked to the library to change our books.
Year 1 have had another great week this week and particularly enjoyed going on a minibeast hunt for our writing! We went into the outdoor learning area to see what minibeasts we could find. We then drew them and described them to help us write our own lift the flap books about minibeasts. In Maths we have been looking at equal and unequal groups and then went on to doubling. In our topic lessons we have been thinking about what we might find in the oceans, it’s been amazing to see all of the work children have been doing about oceans at home! We talked a lot about how rubbish often gets into the ocean and how dangerous it is for the animals. Then we drew pictures and labelled what we might find in the ocean.
Another great week for year 2. This week they spent some time in the Art Studio creating collages. They used Brusho, watercolour pencils and different tearing techniques to make lifeboat pictures. In their Geography work, they looked at how the seasons change in the UK and listened to some of Vivaldi’s four seasons. They have completed their learning about fractions and had to recognise three quarters of shapes and amounts. In English, they thought about the machines they could write about for their own stories.
In RE, most key stage 2 classes were exploring different parables to understand what kind of world Jesus wanted, what He would do and what kind of king He was. Year 3 looked at The Good Samaritan and Jesse heals the Leper. Year 5 looked at The Sermon on the Mount and year 6 looked at The Great Feast and the Tenants in the Vineyard. Year 4 were given half of a piece of abstract art depicting The Holy Sprit coming at Pentecost, and using their knowledge of this event, were asked to complete the other side. In music the classes continued with whole class ensemble teaching on the recorder.
Year 3 have had a wonderful week. In Maths, we began a new topic on time and learnt the roman numerals up to twelve. We also learnt how to tell the time to 5 minutes. In English, we planned and wrote our own poems using the senses to describe being in a city. We challenged ourselves to use lots of poetic devices in our poems, including repetition, noun phrases and similes. In Geography, we recapped lots of the vocabulary that we learnt last week about rivers, and then we annotated a river with all the different features. Linking to our learning on plants, we also went on a very exciting trip to the Northam burrows where we learnt that the rangers have been working hard to make the area a better habitat for bees. In order to help, we took part in a wildflower survey to work out what kinds of flowers are growing well there. We used quadrats and transect lines to count the wild flowers in a set area.
In Year 4 this week, the children have been practising writing with fronted adverbials, expanded noun phrases and speech. They have tried really hard at challenging themselves by using high level vocabulary to increase the quality of their writing, In Maths, the children have been ordering and comparing decimals and they will be moving onto rounding decimals to the nearest whole number. In Values, the children read the book ‘Pink is for boys’ and they discussed how it shows being inclusive. They also read a different story about a group of children who don’t agree with each other and they discussed how to negotiate so that all the children were happy. In Science, the children are continuing to enjoy making electrical circuits and this week, the children had some pictures of broken circuits and they had to solve how to fix it.
Although it has been a short week, year 5 has managed to produce an amazing amount of writing. They have been reading (and watching film footage) about how The Endurance became stuck in the Antarctic ice and the way it broke up leaving them stranded on an ice floe 500 miles from civilization. The author, online talk with Jenny Pearson, was really interesting. Her story about shrapnel boys certainly got all the classes attention and links nicely with VE day this week. They are keen to find out what happens next?? In maths we have been measuring and drawing angles accurately, ensuring we are using the protractors correctly. Our geography has focused on the use of single use plastic and thinking about the impact this is having on our water pollution. Well done to those who passed the Bikeability course on Tuesday.
Year 6 have been refining their skills this week and preparing for SATs next week. They have worked really hard and know what they have to do. They have also enjoyed First Aid Training, which was a very practical and informative afternoon. Hopefully, they shared some of this with you at home – you could ask them what DR ABC stands for and see if they can remember! Next week we have asked children to come in just before 8:45 to place their water bottles in the holders in class, fruit snacks in trays and bags/coats in lockers and then meet at the hall for breakfast. Just a reminder that Mon is Grammar and Spelling, Tues is Reading, Weds is Arithmetic and one Reasoning paper and Thurs the other Maths Reasoning paper. Breakfast is also happening on Friday, but as there are no tests, they can come in at normal time. Wishing them all the best and hoping for a good week ahead.
