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Mr Applegate

About Mr Applegate

Posts by Mr Applegate:

School Closed Today – Friday 18th Feb

Dear parents and carers,
 
I have just received guidance from Hampshire County Council that schools should be closed today. This is because of a red alert issued at 4:30am this morning, meaning threat to life. Obviously, the forecast had changed from last night, hence the updated guidance.
 
Therefore, there will be no school today. Please do not attend. We will be setting some suggested (non-compulsory) activities for online learning, available by 10am on Google Classroom. However, there will not be live lessons.
 
Thank you for your understanding, and keep safe everyone.
 
Best wishes,
Charles Applegate
Head Teacher

Year 4’s Roman Soldier Day

The Year 4 children thoroughly enjoyed their recent Roman Soldier Day which enriched their understanding of what life would have been like in one of the most successful armies of all time! We’d love to share some of the photos and activities to show you what their day entailed.
 
Throughout the day, the children took on the persona of a soldier in the Roman army. They were given a new age, a new name and also a ranking in the army. Did you know that Roman female names usually ended in -a such as Julia and male names ended in -ius such as Julius!
 
We loved seeing all the different costumes and accessories. Many of the children were prepared for battle with their protective shields and swords!
 
Being in the Roman Army wasn’t an easy job, and men were put to the test to ensure that they were physically and mentally strong enough. The teacher ‘Generals’ put the children through their paces by checking that they were fit enough for the job. The children were instructed to march following orders – in Latin though! As well as this, they had to lap the playground carrying a heavy object to replicate the 30kg of kit that soldiers would have carried for up to 20 miles per day! A soldier was also expected to throw a pilum (like a javelin) up to 30m. General Thomas even got her class doing some push ups…
 
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The Romans were great inventors and problem solvers too. Building on the children’s existing knowledge of Roman Numerals, they solved some Mathematical challenges which involved using a set number of lolly sticks to make a Roman Numeral that represented the lowest and highest values possible. 
 
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Although invented by the Greeks, the Romans relied heavily on the use of  catapults in battle. The children were asked to create a catapult using lolly sticks, elastic bands and a bottle top as well as their design technology skills. Each class then went outside and tested their catapult by seeing how far they could launch a ping pong ball. They had great fun testing them out! Can you spot Leo and Elouise celebrating as their catapult was the most successful in 4PG? 
 
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After lots of hard work and learning, the children ended their special day by learning about and playing some popular Roman board games. They learned how to play ‘Delta’ and also a chess-like game called ‘Ludus Latrunculorum’. They had to use logical thinking to try and defeat their opponent. 
 
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We still have a week left of our project ‘Rule of the Rotten Romans’ but what a wonderful term the children have had so far. They have gained a wealth of knowledge about the Ancient Romans and their invasion of Britannia in 43AD. Hopefully they have been able to share some of their learning with you at home. 
 
 

11th Feb – World Book Day Details and Safer Internet Day Reminder

A note from Mr Applegate

  • The children really enjoyed safer internet day! Don’t forget to talk about and sign the family agreement (download here). We would ask that you share this document with your children and spend some time reflecting on its content. Rather than returning the form, please display it where it can be seen and not forgotten so that you can refer back to it regularly. Complete this google form to say you’ve done it – the first class to complete it wins their teacher a prize! Deadline is Monday.
  • Has your job or financial circumstances changed? Your child may be entitled to Free School Meals, and additional funding for the school. Find out here. It’s easy for us to check!
  • A huge thank you to Jacob’s family in 3C who reached out with a contact from Zeal Live, who will be helping out with our lights in the hall- generously saving us £1200. Thank you!

Have a great weekend. Mr Applegate

world book day banner 2022

World Book Day

World Book Day takes place at St Mark’s on Thursday 3rd March for YR, Y2, Y3, Y4, Y5 and Y6. Y1 will celebrate World Book Day on Friday, 4th March because of a trip on the Thursday. We hope you’ll join us as we come together to encourage every child in school to be a reader and love books.

To celebrate World Book Day, we will have plenty of fun activities taking place throughout the day including: 

  • inviting children to dress up as their favourite book character. You can find lots of  creative ideas at worldbookday.com/dressing-up-ideas (for children who are not comfortable dressing up, they could make and wear a badge which highlights a favourite book character)
  • children bringing in a book they would like to swap for our Big Year Group Book Swap
  • opening our school day with a special worship all about the joy of reading. Children will take part in a fun quiz to see if they can identify ‘The Masked Reader’
  • running a competition for children to take a photo of themselves as a masked reader (photos will be submitted on Google Classroom and further details will follow)
  • decorating class doors or windows inspired by a fantastic book
  • thinking about which three book characters the children would like to invite to their house to have tea together. Why would they choose these characters? Would they get along? 
  • enjoying an afternoon session of Teatime Tales where a story is shared with the children as they enjoy a special afternoon drink and snack in their class
  • after enjoying some teatime tales, each class will be introduced to their class’s take-home book pack – another opportunity to promote the love of reading at home
  • giving every child their £1 book token to take home – this can be swapped for a free book in local bookstores or used to get a £1 off a book of a higher value.

£1 World Book Day book token

(These will be given out on World Book Day)

Getting a free £1book for your child is easy – simply take your £1 book token to your nearest bookseller and swap it for a World Book Day £1 book OR get £1off any book or audiobook costing £2.99 or more. You can help your child choose their £1 book by showing them the exciting ‘Look Insides’ at worldbookday.com/books

Bookshops and supermarkets are a big part of what makes World Book Day special and thousands will be taking part in World Book Day 2022, with many putting on special events to celebrate World Book Day. Your local bookseller might be on the high street or could be a supermarket. Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco all stock the £1 books. 

There are also lots of fun reading ideas and resources for you to enjoy with your child at home on the World Book Day Family Hub as well as brilliant book recommendations for all ages.

We’re looking forward to celebrating World Book Day in school and hope you will join in too with your child at home. 

World Book Day could not happen without the support of parents and carers – thank you, you make it happen!

Year 1’s Act of Kindess

Year 1 have made valentine’s card’s for the residents at Pemberley House. Just lovely!

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Children’s Mental Health Week

A lovely activity to do with your child at home!

 

FOSM Readathon!

Click here to download the sponsorship form!

Parents’ Evenings

We’ll be sending out booking details on 14th Feb.

Parents’ Eve (1/3) – Weds 16th March – 4-6:30pm
Parents’ Eve (2/3) – Weds 23rd March – 3:40-5:50pm *
Parents’ Eve (3/3) – Weds 30th March – 4-6pm

* Note that 6C’s second session will be on Thursday 24th March, not 23rd March

Do you live near Old Down Park? Vote for it to become a local nature reserve!

Click here for details!

Star Learners

Star Learner Awards:

  • Year R: Eva, Noah, Harley
  • Year 1:  Anabelle, Sophie, Amaira
  • Year 2:  Daisy Bro, Max, Jamie
  • Year 3:  Sophie, Evie, Henry
  • Year 4: Charlie E, Jack Daw, Bethany
  • Year 5: Jack, Bethany W, Charlie T
  • Year 6:  Charlotte C, Sophie, Ethan

Rock Stars 

Amazing effort :
  • Year 3: Olivia, Poppy, Isabelle Ru
  • Year 4: Harry B, Olivia N, Jack Daw
  • Year 5: Finley, Kalel, Irebami
  • Year 6:  Joseph H, Madison P, Chelsea

Most active class in each year group:

  • Year 3: 3SB (Overall joint winner 73% active players!)
  • Year 4: 4PG (Overall joint winner 73% active players!)
  • Year 5: 5SP 
  • Year 6: 6C 

Special mention to Olivia M in Year 3 who has spent over 2 hours practising and who has answered 2,628 questions correctly this week alone on TT RockStars!

Numbots best effort:
  • Year1: Joshua W, Oliver, Thomas
  • Year 2:  Mia, Amy, Elise

Star Reader Awards:

  • Year 1: Vinelle, Logan, Louie
  • Year 2: Amy, Maicie, Alex
  • Year 3: Lucas W, Effie, Isobel
  • Year 4: Florence, Jas, Alfie
  • Year 5: Scarlett E, Oliver B, Jaiden
  • Year 6: Samuel F, Erica, Oscar

INSET Days

2021-22:

  • Friday 8th April 2022

  • Monday 6th June 2022

2022-23:

  • Thursday 1st September 2022

  • Friday 2nd September 2022

  • Tuesday 3rd January 2023

  • Friday 31st March 2023

  • Monday 5th June 2023

Music of the week!

Gabriel Fauré was a French composer in the Romantic period. One of his music teacher’s was Saint- Saën who we heard from last term.

In worship this week…

We’re thinking about making a difference in our world.

FOSM – Support Our School!

About FOSM

The ‘Friends of St Mark’s’ (FOSM) was formed early in the life of the school. All parents are automatically members and our committee organises social events for children and adults and fund-raising events such as Key Stage discos, Easter Egg Hunts and Summer Fun days.

Over the last few years the ‘Friends’ have donated money that has contributed towards extra resources to benefit the children at St. Mark’s which has included playground equipment, books for the school library, and general school funds. We are now a registered charity, too. Charity number: 1188879

Join our Facebook group here.

Regular Notices

Latest Posts

Fantastic Pioneers

Year 2 have been extremely busy this half term and have been working hard with their learning. We are incredibly proud of them all! They continue to amaze us with their knowledge, resilience and creativity! Please do ask them about what they have been learning, We are sure you will be impressed too! 

In Science, they have thought about how to keep healthy in terms of the foods that they eat, hygiene and exercise. They have carried out exciting investigations and surveys to support their learning. Do ask them what happened to the pepper (representing the germs) in our soap experiment. They loved it and it was a great visual representation of the importance of using soap to wash away germs. 

In DT, we designed a very tasty vegetable soup as a better option for Charlie Bucket (from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), who was just eating cabbage soup.  We wanted to help to give him a more balanced diet and we think we succeeded. We had a food tasting session to pick the vegetables that we wanted to include.  We then prepared the vegetables, cooked, tasted and evaluated our soup. We all thought it was delicious!

In our English and History lessons, we have been learning about fictional and real life pioneers: Mr Wonka, Marcus Rashford, Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole. We have enjoyed creating some exciting writing linked with these topics and will be finishing our biographies next week which we hope to share with you. 
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Here is some of our art work, linked with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Florence Nightingale.
We have enjoyed being creative!
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We have also been thinking about how we too can be pioneers, and thinking about ways that we can make a difference and be good role models. We are extremely proud of 2B who decided to make a difference by tidying and sweeping up around the school grounds. We think you'll agree that they did an amazing job! 2R and 2BT will be carrying out their own tasks in the next few weeks. 
A few reminders: 
  • Please can all children bring in their library books to be exchanged on a Monday. They are also able to change reading books on these and other days across the week. 
  • We ask that all children read at home at least 4 times per week and that this is recorded on their reading record sheet. Remember to also access Oxford Owl books online for children on RWInc and Bug Club books for all other children. The comprehension tasks that accompany these are also really useful in helping to support the development of comprehension skills. We give out a weekly class star reader certificate to a child in each class who is working hard with their reading. We also hope you are engaging with the Friend's of St. Mark's '22 days in February Sponsored Read' which is also a great way to get children reading. 
  • An additional weekly homework task, is to spend at least 20 minutes of numbots or ttRockstars. The login for both of these platforms is the same and was sent to you at the beginning of the year. By the end of Year 2, it is essential that children are confident with these number bond facts, and also with their 2, 5 and 10 times tables and related division facts. Any additional support that you can give your children with these key skills, will be beneficial and will build confidence. Thank you for your support with this. In class, we will be carrying out speedy tables tasks and will work towards our Ruby Award certificate which we hope almost all children will achieve by the end of the year. Children also receive regular certificates for time and effort on these platforms and when they go up levels.
  • As we move through year 2, it is important that children become secure and confident spellers. With this in mind, spellings are put up on Google Classroom to be covered across two weeks and are also available on Spelling Shed. It would be great if you could find time to look at these with your children, trying to identify the tricky bits or patterns in the words that can be applied to other spellings too. Spotting these spellings in books can also be great fun!  We are keen for our children to be confident spellers and are really focusing on spellings in our classes.
Thank you for all of your continued support and encouragement. Do chat to us at the classroom door or contact us via our year group email if you have any questions: year2@stmarksce.org.uk
The Year 2 Team

4th Feb – Bumper Newsletter including Safer Internet Day details

A note from Mr Applegate

  • Safer Internet Day – Tuesday 8th Feb – Non-uniform – details below!
  • It was great to welcome Maria Miller MP to St Mark’s this morning to speak to our school council and Year 6!
  • Could you or someone you know save us £1200 by changing lightbulbs?! We have 6 units in the main hall that need changing. They are 8m high, and scaffolding is required. Let us know if so! Thank you.
  • Thank you to 2B for doing their act of kindness this week, by doing a garden tidy-up around Year 2!
  • Has your job or financial circumstances changed? Your child may be entitled to Free School Meals, and additional funding for the school. Find out here. It’s easy for us to check!
  • Is your child a Young Carer? We’d like to run an after school club especially for Young Carers. Please email the office if your child might be interested. It’s a great way for your child to know there are other children who have additional responsibilities at home. Find our more about Young Carers here.

Have a great weekend! Mr Applegate

Safer Internet Day – and win a prize for your teacher!

Remember:

  • Download our letter with more information here.
  • Wear anything orange and/or blue on Tues 8th to celebrate SID!
  • At home, talk about and sign the family agreement (download here). We would ask that you share this document with your children and spend some time reflecting on its content. Rather than returning the form, please display it where it can be seen and not forgotten so that you can refer back to it regularly. Complete this google form to say you’ve done it – the first class to complete it wins their teacher a prize!
  • What’s Natterhub?! This year, we have committed to raising the profile of internet safety even further by introducing a weekly Digital Citizenship lesson called Natterhub. Natterhub is an online safety teaching tool which has been developed specifically for children at primary school.

Mrs Greer

We are very sad that Mrs Greer will be finishing at St Mark’s on 18th Feb. Over the past 12 years, Mrs Greer has been on our lunchtime team, LSA team, office team and pastoral team. She wears many hats even in her current role as pastoral lead and family support worker! Mrs Greer has provided support and care to so many children, families and staff, and we are grateful to her for all that she has given. We calculate she has worked with around 150 children in a 1-1 pastoral basis. Mrs Greer will be working with vulnerable children in another county, and we know she will be amazing in her new role. If you’d like to, feel free to write an email to her to say thank you!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Meeting Maria Miller

2022-02-04 St Mark's Primary 2
2022-02-04 St Mark's Primary

FOSM Readathon!

Click here to download the sponsorship form!

Backpacks and clear wallets

Don’t forget to use the clear wallets inside the drawstring bags. This is to protect any books/paper from getting wet or damaged by other items in the bag. Need a replacement wallet? Just ask your teacher! Thanks.

Boris is changing his statement

No, not our prime minister. Boris the Robot!

His principle of “Don’t Rub It In, Rub It Out”, is being renamed to “Don’t Hold Onto What’s Wrong”.

 

Staffing Update

We welcome Mrs Rogers, Mrs Andrews-Peterson, and Mrs Gale to our LSA team. We look forward to welcoming Mrs Edmonds as our new School Business Manager, starting 14th Feb!

Parents’ Evenings

We’ll be sending out booking details on 14th Feb.

Parents’ Eve (1/3) – Weds 16th March – 4-6:30pm
Parents’ Eve (2/3) – Weds 23rd March – 3:40-5:50pm
Parents’ Eve (3/3) – Weds 30th March – 4-6pm

Hatch Warren Community Centre Car Park

Remember, use of the car park is not guarenteed. If we don’t obey the signs, not only could someone be hurt, but we won’t be allowed to use the car park.

Do you live near Old Down Park? Vote for it to become a local nature reserve!

Click here for details!

Star Learners

Star Learner Awards:

  • Year R: Ethan, Aimee, Emily-Rose
  • Year 1:  Ella, Jack, Charlotte
  • Year 2:  Amber, Charlie, Mia
  • Year 3:  Charlotte, Ethan, Jacob
  • Year 4: Toby, Isla, Taya
  • Year 5: Matheus, Ethan, Tanisha
  • Year 6:  Ben M, Jessica W, Reece

Rock Stars 

Amazing effort :
  • Year 3: Jacob, Oscar, Sophia, Charlotte
  • Year 4: George P, Oscar, Marianna, Ruby
  • Year 5: Iremide, Elsie, Scarlett E, Harry A
  • Year 6:  Craig, Sophie, Lottie H, Kai

Most active class in each year group:

  • Year 3: 3SB (78% active players this week)
  • Year 4: 4H & 4PG (47% active players this week)
  • Year 5: 5P (70% active players this week)
  • Year 6: 6B (43% active players this week)
Numbots best effort:
  • Year1: Daniel N, Lucas, Sophie
  • Year 2:  Olivia H, Eli, Darcie

Star Reader Awards:

  • Year 1: Luke, Ruby, Harper
  • Year 2: Emily, Noah K, Owen
  • Year 3: Nathan, Zach, Poppy
  • Year 4: Cullen, Theo A, George H
  • Year 5: Luke, Georgia, Emilia
  • Year 6: Neve, Gemma, Thomas

INSET Days

2021-22:

  • Friday 8th April 2022

  • Monday 6th June 2022

2022-23:

  • Thursday 1st September 2022

  • Friday 2nd September 2022

  • Tuesday 3rd January 2023

  • Friday 31st March 2023

  • Monday 5th June 2023

Music of the week!

Hans Zimmer is a German composer. He composes most of his music for films. You will also hear his music played in films such as The Lion King and Madagascar.

Go Team GB!!

Click here to watch a video that we shared in worship this morning!

 

In worship this week…

We’re thinking about role models!

Year 6 Programming Islamic Art in Python Language!

Just amazing! Click here to see the code!

FOSM – Support Our School!

About FOSM

The ‘Friends of St Mark’s’ (FOSM) was formed early in the life of the school. All parents are automatically members and our committee organises social events for children and adults and fund-raising events such as Key Stage discos, Easter Egg Hunts and Summer Fun days.

Over the last few years the ‘Friends’ have donated money that has contributed towards extra resources to benefit the children at St. Mark’s which has included playground equipment, books for the school library, and general school funds. We are now a registered charity, too. Charity number: 1188879

Join our Facebook group here.

Regular Notices

Latest Posts
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