Our commitment to the wider curriculum and for providing a vast range of rich experiences for all APPS pupils has been celebrated in our most recent Ofsted report, 2024:

 

"Pupils value the opportunities the school provides. They enjoy a wide range of experiences, including sporting fixtures, museum trips and being part of regional music festivals.

 

This results in pupils' improved understanding of the world around them."

 

"The school carefully chooses experiences, including extra-curricular clubs, to inspire disadvantaged pupils."

 

"All pupils benefit from opportunities such as career-focused media production visits from large companies."

 

 

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APPS welcomed Major Val from The Salvation Army to lead an assembly about harvest. 

Harvest festivals are celebrations of the food that grows below, on and over the land. They happen at different times of year around the world when crops are harvested. Harvests are celebrated in different ways in different places.

Thank you to all the families who have donated food to The Salvation Army's food bank, an excellent community resource. 

The Railway Children

We enjoyed watching M+M's production of The Railway Children, based on the classical text written by Edith Nesbit in 1905.

It was wonderful to see a theatre production in our school with lots of entertaining scenes, colourful backdrops and authentic-looking costumes.

      

       

Pupils thoroughly enjoyed the play, were fully engaged and enjoyed participating when asked.

Aiden (Year 4):  I liked the part when Peter stuck his head in a crate. That made me laugh.

Ezme (Year 4): I enjoyed the play as it was interesting and also linked to drama and history, which I like. 

 

Egyptian workshop

Year 4 had a fantastic day with Mr Egypt.

Mr Egypt is an Egyptologist and lives in Luxor for most of the year, when he is in England he tours schools to bring learning to life.

As part of the day, children were able to hold REAL artefacts that he has personally discovered in Egypt and told us what they would have been used for.

The children also became ‘code breakers’ when they spent some time looking at Hieroglyphics and Egyptians Maths.

To finish the day, children spent some time turning each other into ‘mummies’ but don’t worry - they all came home with their brains intact and not pulled out of their noses!

We have been using our learning in our history lessons, looking at the importance of the River Nile.

        

        

Salvation Army Visit

During RE lessons, Year 5 have been learning all about how many Christians support their community around Christmas time.  On Monday, Mrs Hall and Mrs Miller, along with six Ashford Park superstar helpers, spent the morning at the Salvation Army sorting toy donations for children within our local community. It was lots of fun to be involved with. Chloe said, 'It means a lot to me to be able to have helped everyone have a lovely Christmas this year.' Shay said, 'It was nice to pack presents for others and know I am doing a kind thing for someone else.’

      

                        

Year 5 and 6 drama presentation ‘Who Cares?’

Year 5 and 6 were extremely fortunate to have been able to watch the drama presentation 'Who CARES?' by Enact Solutions.

This performance is targeted towards inspiring primary school children to see the diverse range of exciting job roles and careers in the health and care sector.  The children were taken along on a journey, through time, while exploring the full range of opportunities offered within this sector. 

The main aims of the performance were to: 

• Raise awareness of the different job roles and careers in health and care. 
• Breakdown gender stereotypes that could put limitations on young people's interest in certain job roles. 
• Communicate that anyone can be part of this exciting sector. 

The children were more than inspired by the performance and even had the opportunity to ask questions to an NHS professional at the end of the session.