​Wow, what a relief this half term holiday will be for all! For what has been the most challenging half term of the year 6’s year, I have to totally commend them for their can-do attitude and calm resilience running up to and during the SATs. After weeks peppered with some horrible bugs, everyone managed to bring their best to school and I know from talking to them that they could all feel the progress that they have made. Congratulations to all!
The SATs week brought with it some fun though and the yr 6 breakfasts seemed to go down a storm – almost a shame that we don’t start every day together like that. To round off, we also had the treat of a bbq and the sun shone for us. Thank you for all the delicious offerings and to James for being such a fantastic bbq chef and host.
It is not long now until we set off for France. Please make sure that you have everything ticked off on the kit list and particularly that you have an ‘administering medication’ form filled in for anything that your child will need. – travel medication included.  I hope that you managed to make the meeting at Oke College but if not, please don’t hesitate to forward any questions to me and I’ll endeavour to answer.
As a transition project we shall all be making collages of ‘All about me’. We have begun to discuss researching a bit of family history, gathering photos of any special family artefacts that give a bit of history or collecting pictures that represent where branches of our family came from (even if that is right here in Chagford). Then there is the present and what makes us ‘us’ now – our enthusiasms, hobbies, friends and family and experiences. Finally, we shall look to our ambitions for the future. If you could assist your child in collecting together anything that could contribute to ‘their story’ and also let them quiz you about generations past, that would be really useful.
We have been busy publishing our Princess’ Blankets stories this week and hope to soon have them in the school library for others to read. Adding an extra challenge onto this topic, we also got stuck into a maths challenge to work out what length of wool would be needed to crochet the princess a blanket – thank you to Lily for doing the crochet to launch our investigation.
Have a super half term everyone which I hope will contains some special moments.
Mrs Armstrong

​We are very excited to have begun rehearsals for the production of The Tempest. Lydia has been into school this afternoon to begin work with the children and there is a real buzz around it.
Another buzz has been for our story writing this week. It has been hard to get them to put down their pens and we certainly have some budding authors, Watch out Carol Ann Duffy – here they come!
Hopefully you have all received an update on SATs week from Mrs Goodwin. I know that this has been sent but let us know if the information hasn’t got to you for some reason. At the end of the tests, on the Friday, we shall have a treat day with a film morning and an afternoon bbq. I shall provide hotdogs (plus vegetarian hotdogs) but it would be great if the children could bring a few things to share – crisps, cakes etc. I know that you are really good at liaising with one another to coordinate.
Before then, please keep practice ticking along and try to access past papers online for reading, grammar and maths practice. There are also the spellings on the spelling mats to make sure are absolutely secure although they’ve made great progress. Maths arithmetic practice (particularly multiplication and division) needs to be kept up daily. Perhaps complete a couple of each whilst waiting for tea.
Our History topic this term is 20th century conflict and we have begun with looking at reasons for the outbreak of the First World War. The subject of the pros and cons of alliances certainly sparked lively debate.
Above all, please get plenty of rest, everyone and try to keep the bugs at bay – there seem to be a few making the rounds.
Have a great weekend.

Maple Class Blog – Easter 2024
Well what a dramatic start to the Easter holiday! I hope that no-one had planned a long walk or at least that you took an inflatable dinghy with you.
English
We are working towards a fairytale retelling based on Carol Ann Duffy’s – The Princess’ Blankets. As a warm up, the children have used Kit Wright’s poem – The Magic Box to create some truly wonderful noun phrases to describe items that will be put in ‘the box’ which will become ‘a blanket’.
How could our princess not be warmed by these images?...
‘The haunting hoot of an owl on a crisp winter’s night.’
‘The skip of a little girl picking blackberries’.
‘A sip of molten gold from a glowing rainbow’.
‘The trickly of sand as it counts away time.’ Wonderful work, year 6!
Please also see below a spelling list for the Easter hols. These are all words that will be useful in our story writing after the break.
variety especially muscle
persuade curiosity guarantee
suggest Definite/definitely immediately
appreciate temperature determined
rhythm recommend desperate
necessary recognise sacrifice

Maths.
Times tables will always be something to keep practising. How about trying these fun BBC videos which tackle your times tables in an active way and get you moving – a bit of silly but very useful fun which are definitely good for a rainy day. Super Movers: Times Tables Collection (bbc.co.uk)
In Geography, we have been considering the effects of globalisation on our lives. The most recent focus has been on the fast fashion industry and how components of an item can come from many different countries. A challenge for the children is to choose a fashion item and try to find out all the different countries that could have contributed to its production - perhaps an annotated map could show this.
After the holiday, we move back to History to consider 20th Century conflict – most especially world wars I and II.
I have also pasted pictures of the first couple of completed Art pieces. We made wool collages of the princess’ blankets from our English story in a cubist style.
Finally, can I say a huge ‘Well Done’ to everyone for your efforts on our Meldon walk. I have included a few pictures below. The support that you all gave to one another was fantastic to see and you were a credit to your families and one another.
Have a super holiday,
Best wishes,
Mrs Armstrong

​Hello to all,
Best wishes from me for a super half term break. I'm hoping that many of you will be bamboozled by a magic trick that we have learnt in class in order to practise our instruction writing (it'll need 4 empty match boxes and an elastic band though). I'd love to hear back about how flamboyant the performance skills become!
Year 6 have really been working hard and have written some super stories with a twist. To complement the spooky atmosphere of the stories, our art project has been 'perspective' and shading to create 3D impressions of gothic castles. I think that you'll agree that the example below really hits the mark. Please can you encourage the practising of the tricky spelling words over half term- we have to secure these by Easter.

​It has been a glorious day for a Woodland School session. Our nature area has transformed into a verdant glade. Today we learnt about campion leaves being used as a soap substitute - they will froth up apparently if you rub them like soap. We also learnt about the benefits of dandelions, every part of them being edible even if the leaves are a bit bitter. Perhaps you would like to try making some freshly ground coffee from the roots! Just dig them up, scrub them off, roast them in the oven or under the grill and then grind - delicious and your kitchen will smell wonderful.
Today's mystery animal was a stoat and we were able to feel a stoat pelt. Then, the scavenging task was to find bits and pieces to create images of animals. Can you see what they are?
We have finished our information about highwaymen and shall be assembling our information pages next week.
In Maths, we will be concentrating on using mathematical skills to solve problems and this past week, the children were given 12cm squares of paper as their only measuring tool to calculate the dimensions of their desks.
The weaving is beginning to take shape. We are learning a few different techniques as we go and the blue/green colour palette is  really rich. They're doing a good job.
Have a super weekend (hopefully in the sunshine)

Thank you to Mrs Ramoutar and Mrs Armstrong who did so much to prepare our children for their tests last week.
Thanks also to the parents and PTFA members who gave them such a lovely afternoon on Friday to congratulate them on their hard work and to celebrate passing that milestopne.
Most of all, howeever, thank you to our pupils who showed the very best of themselves. Humour, resilience, focus... we couldn't ask for more..

'Year 6, we could not be more proud of you!’
I’m sure that waves of relief are spreading out over Chagford as I write this and the year 6 children wend their ways home at the end of their SATs week.
They were certainly challenged but each and every one of them approached the job in hand with great determination and level heads – in fact, they were so calm that most of the school didn’t even realise that there was anything going on. Well done all!
This afternoon we all enjoyed a lovely party out in the sunshine. Enormous thanks to the PTFA, Chloe and James for organising a super barbecue and for Lucy and Charlotte for entertaining the children so beautifully for the afternoon. It was well worth waiting for the late lunch. Please see lots of photos below.
Finally, Mrs Ramoutar and I would like to say a sincere ‘thank you’ for the lovely gifts and appreciation in assembly today – it really meant a lot.
We hope that you all have a lovely weekend and look forward our Summer term projects.

Despite a shortened week, we have achieved a lot.
The children have enjoyed producing their recruitment poster to tempt some of the gullible into joining a gang of pickpockets (I have said that this is not something that we would generally condone!). There were some lovely puns : Pick a new career in acquisitions/Pick us and pocket a top, London career. I think that they’ll have some applicants.
The writing has not stopped there either as a challenge has been set to record as many positive and negative effects of globalisation on our lives as they can remember from our Geography unit. There may have been a small carrot dangled but the competition has been fierce to remember the most.
In Maths, we have consolidated our learning regarding coordinates and reasoning about the vertices, perimeters and areas of shapes on coordinates grids. If you find anything where they can calculate areas and perimeters at home, that would be great to firm up learning.
I have sent home the 4 star spelling mat and would appreciate if you could test your child through the list and circle insecure words. We can pick up common errors next week.
This morning, we enjoyed a Woodland School session. The woods looked so different to when we last visited with water in the pond and the irises grown up. There were beautiful carpets of celandines and bluebells too. They were challenged with creating a natural map of the area.
This afternoon, they have enjoyed an afternoon working with Lydia towards the school play and have been learning a rap – do ask for a performance.
Thank you so much for your contributions of wool and fabric for our weaving project. I think that we probably have plenty now and I’m anticipating a lovely wall hanging that will grace the school for years to come.
I am also planning a fun afternoon and picnic for the end of their SATs week but shall write more about that next week.
Best wishes.

Happy Easter everyone!
I have been a beaming teacher this week. The children have all made such fantastic progress and I couldn't be more proud of them.
Please keep up daily reading and times tables practice during the holidays as well as a daily addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to keep the cogs turning.
The year 6s had their final Easter service today and kept up tradition by insisting on wearing little Spring Chicken headbands to go with the song. They looked the part!

Now for some advance warning of a couple of important dates:
There will be a parent meeting regarding details of the France trip on Tuesday 2nd May in person at North Tawton Primary school from 5pm until 6pm. We do hope that as many of you as possible will be able to come along.
The following week (after the coronation weekend), is the SATs week. The tests will take place from the Tuesday through to the Friday inclusive. These are statutory tests and have to be held all together at the same time so please do not make appointments for you child during this week. Other than that, it will be business as usual and they won't notice any difference to a normal school test week.

I do hope that the rain stops at some point and that you are all able to get out into fresh air over the Easter break. 
Very best wishes.