Latest News | Appleby Primary School

Appleby Orienteerers Map Out a Route to Success

Fri 26 Apr 2019 D.Spruce

A team of boys and girls from Year Five and Six challenged their map reading skills on Thursday when they travelled to Newton Rigg College to take part in the Eden Valley Sports Partnership Orienteering Festival.

For many of the children it was their first experience of the sport. However, a short 0.6km practice run helped them to get to grips with the map of the college grounds and how to use the electronic “dibbers” to record their visits to each control points. All of the children in Classes 4 and 5 have been working with a specialist orienteering coach from the Sports Partnership this term and the festival, held near Penrith, was a great opportunity to test their newfound skills in a competitive event.

All of the children did fantastically well, demonstrating confident map reading skills whilst running flat-out. We are looking forward to receiving the final results in the coming days. Well done to all those who took part!”

Easter Egg Hunt

Fri 26 Apr 2019 Rachel

Emma's Building have been enjoying the good weather, searching for Easter Eggs and exploring our outdoor classrooms recently. #outdoorlearning

KS1 Cross Country

Fri 26 Apr 2019 Rachel

We are very proud of our Year 2 cross country runners who went to Hunter Hall this week to take part in the KS1 Cross Country. The many weeks of Lunchtime Running Club with Mrs Willacy clearly played off with the talent demonstrated by all of the children. They all did their very best and crossed the line still smiling.

A Special Visit

Thu 18 Apr 2019

We have had three extra special visitors in school this morning for show and tell. While they were here children learnt about the life cycle of a chicken and what a chick likes to eat. We have all enjoyed watching and listening to the chicks. #APS

Easter Experience

Thu 18 Apr 2019

As part of their learning children in classes 4 and 5 have visited The Sands Methodist Church this week to discover the Easter story. Thank you to members of our community who gave up their time to make this possible. #APS

Vaslui - Final Day

Fri 12 Apr 2019

Our final breakfast in the hotel was lots of fun with cucumber being the food of the day - mainly because of its potential for making you look like a walrus (and its nutritional value too!). Then in was time for packing which was ‘interesting’ as some people were packed and ready while others looked as though their area had been ransacked by a gaze of raccoons (gaze is the actual collective noun for raccoons as I’ve just googled it for you fact fans out there!).

On arrival in school, we were soon being crafty. First it was spoon painting with a traditional Romanian design using red, blue and yellow paint. We found that wafting the spoons around helped it to dry! Then a teacher used white paint to add everyone’s name and they look stunning. Next it was a Fimo workshop where we made badges and jewellery - it was the quietest that Mr Caygill and Mrs Johnston had been all week as they were concentrating so hard.

Next it was a very emotional end to our time in school. Each of us awarded one of our Romanian friends a prize for the way they have been with us through the week. It was very difficult making the choice as all the host children had been amazing. We were so proud of all the girls as each one stood up and explained to a room full of about sixty people why they were awarding their award. This took real courage and their reasons were heartfelt and wonderful.

We then said goodbye to the children from the school and there were many hugs, kind words and even a few tears.

Next we had lunch before catching the taxi to the airport. The departure lounge was tiny but just right for us as we were quickly on the plane and in the air - where I am currently writing this.

Mrs Johnston, Mrs Tinkler and I would like to say how grateful we have been to be involved in this project. All four girls from APS have been an absolute joy to spend time with: kind, patient, thoughtful, adventurous, hilariously funny, talented rappers, game-players, croissant-gobblers, friend-makers and just generally excellent company. They should be proud of themselves and what they have achieved/contributed this week.

Iasi Day Four

Thu 11 Apr 2019

Well today started very, very early as we had a long journey to Iasi planned. We loved observing the beautiful countryside dotted with churches and traditional homes as we headed towards the city.

On arrival we dismounted the coach, picked up our packed-lunches and began a guided tour of the city.

We walked to the main square and past some beautifully decorated churches, covered with elaborate carvings - really picturesque. The national theatre was next on the agenda. Again it was breathtakingly stunning both inside and out. Then the science museum in the palace of culture where we learned all about the changes in musical technology through the years. After that the children took part in games in a park. After being initially apprehensive, the girls threw themselves into the games with their European teammates. After a short break for lunch, where Mrs Johnston had her first ever pretzel, they were off again for more games - one of which seemed to involve throwing balls at each other! Having looked closer at the game, I have noticed that they are actually throwing the balls at a target with nets in it to score points.

Next it was time to shop. After a swift game of ten-pin bowling, which was won by AJ - beating all three staff, who were playing as a TEAM! We ventured into the mall where we bought a variety of souvenirs - the parents/siblings/family are in for a real treat when the children arrive home! It was then time for frozen yoghurts, fizzy drinks and to top it off a couple of random mega-buckets from KFC as we had learnt all about nutrition and health lifestyles from a pop-up display earlier in the day. Mrs Johnston, Mrs Tinkler and Mr Caygill all found time for a spot modelling at this point with ‘YoTez’ and ‘Sassy’ being the inspiration ( see accompanying pictures for evidence).

Finally it was time for home and with four little ladies asleep and three adults almost asleep, we headed back to Vaslui for some more shopping (chocolate) then our last evening meal in Romania.

The children are currently playing twister with a girl from Slovakia and having lots of fun.

Vaslui Day Three

Wed 10 Apr 2019

After a fun-filled breakfast, where LCr couldn’t manage to spread her butter (because she was using her fork) and the phrase of the day became: “Excuse me, I’m here to participate”. We headed to school to share our traditional games. First we shared our ‘traditional’ parachute game which everyone seemed to love. Next We played ‘let’s play the week’ game which we learned from our Romanian friends you had to stand in a circle and rest your hands on your neighbour’s hands. You then slapped the hand of your neighbour and went round the circle naming days if the week until you got to Saturday. If you slapped that person’s hand they were our but if that person pulled their hand away then the person slapping would be out. The weather was absolutely gorgeous -nice and warm and ideal for playing games.

Lunch was pizza in school - it was delivered in about 50 pizza boxes and was very nice (ham, mushroom and olive - Mr Caygill’s favourite!)

Soon it was time to head to a museum of traditional Romanian life in a nearby village. We entered a house set up as it would have been in the past. We were entertained by a group of ladies who were embroidering, singing and dancing (multi-tasking in the extreme - needless to say that there were no men involved as we can’t multitask; I’m actually struggling to write this and breath at the same time! Then we enjoyed some orange-flavoured breads filled with a type of cottage cheese which AJ and LCo gobbled down in one!? Some of the ladies/girls needed to spend a penny so were led to a traditional toilet where they hovered as briefly as possible! Then we were embroidering up a storm, making some traditional embroidered mats. HL has her photo taken while we were there with a very interesting look on her face which we then all recreated - it was very funny.

Soon it was time to return to Vaslui, where we hit the shops! Our shopping consisted of . . . Wait for it . . . CHOCOLATE!

After a bit of down-time in our rooms, we had a quiet supper/tea (depending on if you’re of a farming background on not) and all ate a decent amount. Then, as we were all so tired, we thought we’d play Twister - yes, really!

Soon it’ll be time for bed as we are setting off at eight in the morning for our trip to Iasi (pronounced ‘Yash’ not ‘Lassie’ as Mrs Johnston and Mr Caygill thought!)

We’ve had a great day which has been filled with great experiences for everyone involved

Question of the day: what was your favourite part of the day?

LCr LCo: the old woman pretending to sew

HL: the old woman singing

AJ: the toilet.

As I keep saying - Culture Vultures!

Iasi/Vaslui Day Two

Tue 09 Apr 2019

Day two started bright and early. Well it was early and the weather was bright but we, sadly, were rather subdued/exhausted. We ate breakfast in the hotel before our first foray into school in Vaslui. We were treated to an amazing welcome by the children and staff of the school before being taken on a tour. We saw everything from the biology lab to a Y1 lesson on letters and numbers to the school gym and playground. Everyone made us feel very welcome.

Next we played some team-building games before snacks then a performance that could rival X-Factor and Britain’s Got Talent all rolled into one. Romania definitely has talent to rival anything that Simon Cowell and Amanda Holden have witnessed. There was a stunning ballet routine, a variety of individual and groups singing, some very accomplished piano playing and a grand finale of traditional dancing involving everyone from the partner schools - Mr Caygill would definitely have pressed his golden buzzer if he had one available!

Next it was time to take a walk through Vaslui itself. It was a mix of old and new Romania with a highlight being a church built by Stephen the Great to commemorate one of his many great victories in battle (he built 44 apparently so was evidently very good at battling!)

Then it was time for a spot of lunch with all the other schools. Starter was soup and Mrs Johnston tucked into hers like there was no tomorrow. HL managed a whole spoonful of hers, LCr gulped down about a centimetre of hers and AJ and LCo appeared to actually touch the soup with the tip of their tongue. Needless to say, Mr Caygill slurped all of his down. The main course was slightly more to the children’s taste and they all ate some meat and chips (please refer to yesterday’s mention of culture vultures at this point). Mrs Tinkler was delighted to meet up with her ‘Romanian family’ in the restaurant as she reacquainted herself with friends who she made on her very first visit to Romania.

We then returned to the hotel for a ‘nanna-nap’ to perk us up for games later in the day.

We played a variety of games with the best one being a game where we have a ‘secret friend’ from another country and we have to pass compliments to them through the week anonymously. It’s a really lovely thing to do and we are hoping for loads of compliments by the end of the week. We’re also looking forward to complimenting our new friends. The children are currently working in mixed groups to create a flag which represent everyone in the group.

The children have been absolutely brilliant and took their lack of sleep totally in their stride - never moaning but remaining polite and patient at all times. We’re really proud of them.

Iasi day 1

Tue 09 Apr 2019

Well we set off with more than enough time to spare - hours in fact! The journey down was pretty straightforward although we were kept entertained by games of hangman and Dobble to pass the time.

We finally checked in and made our way through to departures where Burger King was our first stop. AJ was regaling everyone with her European language skills - basically English with a European accent!

A while later we boarded the plane where we experienced the gorgeous leather-effect seating and the new and unusual aromas!!!

The flight passed without incident. 2 girls and one adult managed to sleep however Mrs Johnston, Mr Caygill and 2 girls remained wide awake throughout. I feel there may be some grumpiness in the morning (not from Mr Caygill or Mrs Johnston though as they are relentlessly cheerful!). In the in-flight magazine, Iasi was described as the ideal place for ‘culture vultures’ to visit which seems right up our street, even though we are more ‘culture seagulls’ than vultures. LCo might be a culture flamingo though as she has one on her rucksack.

We finally arrived at the hotel, quickly checked in and went to bed.