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This week is Problem Solving Week in school. The children will be engaged in solving different maths problems each day this week. Below is a video of quotes from some of the worlds best problem solvers.
As part of the week there will be three new problems posted in the 'Marvelous Maths' section (under parent zone, maths zone) of the school website each day from Monday to Thursday - each one a bit more challenging. If you have a go at the challenge bring it in on the following day and put it in the 'Maths Challenge Box' by the office. Each day we will choose a selection of the work to go onto the school webiste to show the solutions to everyone. Those pieces of work that explain how the solution was achieved are more likely to get chosen. Please make sure you write your full name and class on the piece of work.
You could have your name in lights!
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We have started this week with a story telling assembly.
This Thursday we have a story telling event, led by Clive Pig 6-7pm, suitable for all primary aged children. The school office are selling tickets and we look forward to this exciting evening.
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We have had a great day with the highlight for the children being 'Stomp' and for Mr Moore and Mr Wilsher eating a KFC in front of the children at the services!
We are now all in bed and the lights have gone off - fingers crossed!
Here are some photographs from the day:
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14:48 text received from Mr Moore: 'We have arrived safely and are sat in the theatre ready for Stomp to start. All very excited!'
Due to their busy schedule, they haven't yet had chance to blog but keep looking for updates.
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The Exminster Primary School Choir are brimming with excitement with only four days to their exciting residential to London. The choir have been working incredibly hard over the last 6 months in preparation for what is going to be a once in a life time opportunity. They will perform at the iconic O2 Arena with a choir of 8500 children to a sell-out audience.
Below is an itinerary of the amazing three days they are about to have:
| Thursday 29th January 2015 | Friday 30th January 2015 |
Saturday 31st January 2015 |
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Leave school at 8:30 (children to arrive in 2W at 8:00) 15:00 – Matinee performance of ‘Stomp’ 17:30 – back to the hostel for the night. (YHA London Thameside) 19:00 – Evening meal |
8:00 - Breakfast AM – Visit the Natural History Museum 12:00 - Visit to Pizza Hut 13:30 – Practice at the O2 17:00 – Packed dinner 19:00 – Concert at the O2 21:30 – back to hostel for the night |
8:00 - Breakfast 11:00 – Thames River Sightseeing Cruise 13:00 – Leave London to return to Exminster. |
We will endeavour to keep you updated and try to take you along with us on this fun-filled few days - Wi-Fi dependant!
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On Friday 14th November Exminster welcomed schools from across the Dawlish Learning Partnership to share Computing expertise. Schools presented a range of different hardware which included Kodu, Lego WeDo, K'Nex and Lego Robotics. The children had an opportunity to ask questions and visit each schools presentations.
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Year 2 have enjoyed an Aztec day today. There was much excitement as I went into Year 2 this morning with children being in 2 separate classes – the girlswith Mrs Coville and the boys with Mr Wilsher. The girls were involved with activities that they would have learnt at school as an Aztec girl – cookery and crafts. The boys were enjoying making hunting spears and shields as they would be taught how to hunt and fight. In the afternoon, the children were making hot chocolates as the Aztecs were the first people to discover the cocoa bean. They were also making Aztec calendars. The children were keen to tell me facts they had found out through their topic work and about their day:
Wilfred: "The Aztecs were scared of tomatoes because they thought they were poisonous."
Georgia W: "Tie-the-knot came from the Aztecs as when they got married they tied them together."
Ollie: "They hunted for snakes."
Alex: "They searched for wolves because they ate them and used the fur for cosy blankets."
Joe: "They hunted panthers for food and for their skin."
Tianna: "The girls learn about lovely pretty things and the boys learn about hunting and fighting."
Danni: "We've been making necklaces with beads on."
Crystal: "We've been making hats."
Lexi: "We've been making hats and putting glitter in patterns on them."
The children have also been producing some very interesting projects for their home learning. I am looking forward to visiting their exhibition on Tuesday 21st October. Parents are invited to view the exhibition in the hall from 2.45pm.
Mrs Whalley
p.s. Thanks to Year 2 for making me a calendar. Next time I need to sample the hot chocolate!
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Last Year Mr Herring and the old Digital Leaders Picked the new Digital Leaders.
For 2014/15 the new ones are:
Year4: Mia,Caden and Gina
Year5: Jack,Callie, Tom and Jessica
Year6:Oli, Olly, Alex and Gabe
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There was tremendous excitement this morning when the Tour of Britain arrived in the village. Firstly the police cleared the road and even gave us some high fives! There were then lots of cars which carried spare bicycle wheels. We all cheered and waved our flags as the cyclists stormed past us.
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Year 7 students at Dawlish Community College were joined by Year 6 children from Kenn, Kenton and Exminster Primary Schools to take part in two Gifted and Talented Art workshops led by Art Teacher, Mrs Parr .
During the two sessions students produced some amazing artwork and drawings inspired by fish and sea creatures. The young artists used their creative skills to draw, design and produce collograph prints. Some of the comments from students who took part in the workshops:
Were you pleased you were invited to attend the workshop?
“I was really pleased to be asked on this workshop as art is my favourite lesson, Art is fantastic” – Ella C
“ Yes as I love to draw, and I was delighted we were working with fish forms” - Megan
“ Yes because I enjoy art and would like to do more of it” - Julian
“ Yes I was because I love art and I like to get a taste of Dawlish before I start in September” - Gaia
What was the thing you most enjoyed?
“Learning new things about art, like print making” - Millie
Is it worthwhile mixing students from different years and schools for these types of workshops?
“ Yes it is a good idea as you can make new friends” - Ella C
“ Yes, if I didn’t understand, I could ask a Year 7 student as they would tell me what to do” - Rachel
Please have a look at the website below for some photos.
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On Monday 16th June Exminster Primary School were very proud to take part in the DLP Art Exhibition held at the Langstone Cliff Hotel. It was an inspiring and celebratory event and all schools in the Dawlish Learning Partnership were represented. Thanks to the Helen Foundations funding many children within the DLP had the opportunity to create some amazing art pieces as they worked alongside professional DAISI artists. Performances from the DLP Choir, DLP Wind Band, Exminster Dance Group, Kenton Dance Group and Cockwood Samba Ensemble entertained over 200 family, friends, staff and governors.
The evening followed an arts week at school with the theme ‘Carnival’. Each year group used their creative talents to produce art work that was displayed at the evening. Including Year 1’s Rangoli artwork; digital images were cleverly printed onto fabric to create wall hangings, Year 2’s carnival float pirate ship and a large circus batik made by our gifted and talented artists from across both key stages. Please look on the website http://www.mydlp.org.uk/arts-carnival/ for more information.
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Today, Mrs Jones organised our Greenfingers day. We would like to say a huge thank you for the donations received. Thank you to Mike Bond, Ethan and Emmie's grandad, for his kind donations, thanks to New Leaf and Tracey Conway, Evan's mum, and thanks to St.Bridgette's nursey. Thank you to all the parents who kindly made plant, pot or compost donations. The children all enjoyed the afternoon of planting and working with another class. It truly brightens up the environment so well done to everyone involved and Mrs Jones for initiating this fantastic afternoon. |
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On the 22nd of May the year 6 Allotment group had great success with their Eco friendly t-shirt that they had entered into the Devon county show . They won first prize with their amazing creation made out of carrier bags, chocolate wrappers, sunflower seeds and real flowers grown at the school Allotment .The school will be receiving a prize in September so stay tuned for news.
Well done year 6 !
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The last few weeks of our 9 month building project are upon us. I can't quite believe where the time has gone. The building is now in the final stages - the plastering, the electrical wiring, the painting and the fitting of the carpet. The week commencing the 9th June will be the moving in date for our Year 6 classes. On the Thursday and Friday of that week, the temporary hut will be gradually taken apart and on Saturday 14th June, it will be craned out. The following 2 weeks will be the outdoor classroom going back in, the car park being rebuilt, the containers being removed and the landscaping to be completed.
We are holding a Sites and Resources evening on Thursday 19th June, 5.30-6.30pm, where there will be a chance for parents to come and have a look at our new building. Please let the office know if you are able to attend.
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If you are visiting Devon County Show next weekend, look out for 2 competition entries by our allotment groups. One group has made a t-shirt out of recycled materials, the design based on a 'chocolate sunflower' (a real type of sunflower!). They have thought of everything with it - seeds for the middle inside a plastic casing, recycled shopping bags, a tape measure for the straps, old chocolate wrappers. The final product is truly amazing. The second entry is a model scarecrow, all made out of recycled materials. It has a painted pine cone base with bugs made out of seeds on it, the scarecrow is made of wood, plastic, seeds and material - all materials that have been recycled. Well done to the allotment group for their creativity.
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Last night, the Atmospheric in Starcross held a pub quiz to raise money for our school allotment. Many of our staff attended in support of the quiz. Apart from having a lot of fun, the quiz and raffle raised an enormous £176 for our school allotment. Our huge thanks to Jane at the Atmospheric and we are busy swotting up for next year. The money will be spent on tools and equipment.
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Mrs Whalley's blog
The allotment group kindly invited me to accompany them to our school allotment this week. Simon set me a challenge of planting the broad beans following his step by step instructions. The group all made a mini greenhouse for their seeds to help them grow and protect them whilst they are germinating and a small seedling. They planted carrot seeds, measured the shallots, weeded and gave me a guided tour of the allotment showing me what they had planted so far this year. The group are entering a competition for Devon County Show, designing a gardener's T-shirt.
This is what the group said about their visits to the allotment:
Charlie: "I like when you get all the weeds out and out the seeds in."
Sophie: "I like it when we all work together and we work as one big team. The best bit about it is when you plant stuff and you get to be with your friends."
Simon: "I like getting a chance to plant."
Jamie: "I like planting."
Josh: "I like to be out of school for a bit! I like growing stuff as well."
Thank you to the allotment group for my kind invitation and to Mrs Sills and Mrs Dickson for all their hard work. I am looking forward to going back soon to see all their seeds growing.
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Thank you for all your support last week for Devon Waste Free Lunch Week. We managed to decrease the amount of food waste, the number of pieces of waste per pupil, and the amount of different pieces of waste e.g. crisp packets, drink cartons etc.
We now need all your support to continue to make the school a more eco-friendly place, and to carry on decreasing the amount of waste we produce that is sent to landfill.
Please take a look at the graphs below to see how much our packed lunch waste decreased by.
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Next week is Devon Waste Free Lunch Week – Mr Wilsher and the Eco-Council did a packed lunch waste audit recently and found that a lot of the rubbish in the lunch boxes could be reduced so there is less rubbish going to landfill. They have put up posters around the school and been campaigning to ask for parents' support to decrease the amount of waste. A packed lunch waste audit will be carried out on Tuesday 11th March to see if we have reduced the amount of packed lunch waste.
The most successful school in Devon will win £250, so fingers crossed!
Check this week's newsletter or pop in to see Mr Wilsher if you need any more details.
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Mrs Whalley's blog
I was honoured this week to be asked to help launch the next Year 6 project. They have spent half a term learning about natural disasters. We have seen some amazing home learning projects where children have been presented with an open-ended task and produced so many different amazing projects. The children have presented weekly in our 'together time' celebration assembly their wide ranging learning week by week. Now they have a new challenge. On Monday I became Sir Alana Sugar, Mr Moore was Nick and Mr Hardee was an excellent Karen. The children were filed into the hall and given a number which related to a table number. Once the children had found their allocated spaces, in came Mr Moore, Mr Hardee and myself (aka: Nick, Karen and Alana... Sir Alana). We presented their task. Year 6 are working in teams across the classes. They have to set up a charity drawing on the successes from the charities that are already founded. They will be designing a logo, creating promotional art work and any slogans associated with the charity. They will provide a mission statement which shows the thinking behind the charity. They will be designing and writing leaflets and promotional information as well as setting up a website. They will invent an item to help people in the natural disaster, design the survival pack and budget plan. At the end of their allocated 6 weeks, they will be presenting their pitches to their peers, their teachers and their parents. The focus is on the leadership qualities they show, their team work and their work ethic.
Good luck Year 6 - you have a lot to do and little time. I am looking forward to the pitches.
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Mrs Whalley's blog
I was just looking at the class blogs and found the homelearning on the recent Year 6 class blog. Please go and have a look. Jamie has produced an amazing information video of our local area and highlighted the HFA (Highly Flooded Areas) from aerial views and maps. He has researched the science behind flooding and thought about the advantages and disadvantages of it. I love the subtle music in the background: Take That 'The Flood' and the final 'Thank You' song. Great work Jamie!
Robert has produced a short film about a fictional tornado approaching our area. Robert's calm response shows him packing his bag of essential items and getting to the safest place in his house, Harry Potter style, under the stairs! He then demonstrated the destruction of different strength tornados, with lego. Genius work Robert well done!
Year 3 have promised to give me a guided tour of their home learning after half term. There is such an amazing effort being put into home learning in all year groups with such a range of projects.
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Mrs Whalley's blog
In the morning the children stayed in their classes and had discussions about Drugs Education. Each year group took a letter home at the end of the day to give parents an overview of what discussions were held so that parents could be aware and follow it up at home.
In the afternoon, children had a choice of activity across Rec-Y2, Years 3 and 4 and Years 5 and 6. Walking round the day before, I had heard some very persuasive pitches from the adults, trying to encourage the children to their activity. Here's an overview of what the children did:
Years 3 and 4 Children choose from 2 different activities. One activity was making a paper mache goal. Children discussed what their goals were - these could be short term or long term goals. Each goal had to be challenging for the individual but achievable. Children thought about how they would strive to reach their goals in small steps. Another activity was to make a cube from a net. Inside the net, children wrote their goals. They then decorated the net and wrote a date on the outside. The date had to be the date they could open their box and see if they had met their challenging goal. Jessica's goal: to swim 2000m by the end of Year 4. Josh's goal: to do 50 circles on the pummel. Children wrote goals that were home or school related. "I liked having a place to put my goal and I can check if I have met it," commented Josh. "I enjoyed decorating mine," reported Jessica.
Read more: Rainbow Day - Spring term
This has been a very exciting week with a whole school focus on geography. I thoroughly enjoyed my learning walk throughout school with Libby, our link geography governor. We heard about what all the children have been doing this week. You can find out more on the class blogs but here is an overview: ·Reception started their week with a focus on 'A Walk in London' by Salvatore Rubbine. This is a story book but has lots of facts in it about landmarks in London. They then went on their own walk of their locality in Exminster and looked at all the landmarks. The children have been doing junk modelling of different landmarks in London and in Exminster, involved in clock activities and constructing the landmarks out of lego. Pop into Reception and have a look at their display. ·Year 1 were busy looking at places they had been to in the world, either visited or lived and placed them on a giant map. They looked at ways of travelling to places around the world. They particularly enjoyed their treasure hunt around the school, following clues which eventually led to a golden treasure box full of gold (chocolate) coins. They have been making town scenes out of lego and junk modelling, taking a picture from above and seeing the 'bird's eye view'. They have then been looking at maps and atlases. ·Year 2 have enjoyed orienteering and using compass directions. They have designed their own maps of their journey from school to home. They have been using 'digimaps' to study maps. They did a locality walk, plotted it on a map and looked at the difference between human and physical features. ·Year 3 have been doing compass work. They have been thinking about the human impact that a typhoon would have and writing letters in role. They have been doing direction problem solving activities and their home learning project this half term is to focus on their local area. ·Year 4 were given a budget and had to plan a 2-centre holiday using tools such as the train line and the national express. They considered accommodation and transport and presented their findings clearly. Children visited locations such as London, Cardiff, Exmouth and Dawlish. ·Year 5 have been doing lots of map work, looking at how the coastline has changed over time. They have also been researching the causes and effects of climate change. They wrote an explanation text about erosion and the human and physical impact of it. ·Year 6 are looking at the big question of 'How do natural disasters impact on us?' The children decided on the smaller questions that they needed to answer in order to address the big question. The maths is related to natural disasters and data collection and analysis, their literacy is explanation texts and their ICT has been creating an erupting volcano on 'SCRATCH'. Each group has a display area within the classroom and they are also creating individual flat books. As well as all of this, our assemblies have been on aspects of geography. Children enjoyed a class link at the end of the day where they were able to show any 'geography/travel' related items and talk about them with a different age group. It's been an exciting and exhausting week! Thanks to Mrs Nowell for the organisation of this and to all the staff and children for their enthusiasm and engagement.
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