Today Primary 4/5N went to Elgin Town Hall to perform in the Choric Verse category of the Moray Music Festival. The children have worked incredibly hard to learn the poem, “One Dark Night” and their hard work certainly paid off as they were awarded a Certificate of Distinction and 1st place! Well done 4/5N! Miss Noble and Mrs Lyall are so proud of you all and you should be too!

Huge congratulations to everyone at Applegrove who has taken part in the Festival over the past two days! An extra well done to Emily Thomas and Lewis Mackenzie for their Solo Poetry recitals and to all the budding actors and actresses involved in the Story-Telling performance, who were also awarded 1st place with Distinction! Good luck also to Lauren Anderson who will be playing piano at the festival later in the week.

If you would like to see some of these fantastic performances, please come and join us at our Moray Music Festival Concert on Thursday evening in Forres Town Hall.

 

A team of Primary 6 pupils represented Applegrove today at the Rotary Club Euro Quiz, held in Elgin.  Matthew Hepburn, Katie Standring, Bruce Evans, Roslyn McRitchie, Ben Shallicker and Talia Pearson have given up many lunchtimes and worked well as a team to become knowledgeable about all things Europe.  They know lots about flags, capitals, currency, car identifiers, iconic buildings, geography, European brands, sport and culture.  In addition they have built up an understanding of the European Union, which is very topical at the moment.  A big well done for all they have done.  The questions in the four rounds covered a very wide range of topics and Applegrove team scored 31 points.  Overall winners were Greenwards with 36 points.

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On Thursday afternoon, in beautiful sunshine, 181 boys and girls from P3 -7 ran in Applegrove’s House Cross Country

This is the first year that Primary 3 had a XC course set especially for them.  Mrs Meehan thought that the boys and girls were finished after 1 lap and was amazed that they all managed to run 2 laps! The children really enjoyed the experience and it looks like they will be up for further sporting challenges as they move through the school.  Very well done to P3.

The P4/5 course was about 1200m long. The girls race was exciting to watch, with a sprint finish from Erin McIntosh in the final few metres to take 1st place. Lauren Anderson 2, Kelsey Martin 3, Olivia Dawson 4, Faye Nichol 5 and Leigh Morris 6.   In the P4/5 boys race there was a close finish from Owen Royan, Lewis Mackenzie and Ben Ross for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.  Dylan Pinder 4, Ethan Lynch 5 and Decylan Dey 6.

The P6/7 year group covered a course of about 2400m. Ashley Donald had a very good run and came 1st, followed by Rosyln McRitchie 2, Isla Brain 3, Abby McKail 4, Jessica Nicol 5 and Alana Smith 6.  David Spencer pulled off another great run today and won the race, with Bruce Evans 2, Aidan Matthews 3, Scott Perry 4, Alistair Clark 5 and Lewis McIntosh 6.

Today some children ran in their first ever competitive cross country race.  Core PE, the Daily Mile, Monday Lunchtime Running Club, active playtimes and all the other activities you do showed in your endurance today.  Applegrove children showed a ‘can do’ mind-set today.  Cross country running is tough but you showed your determination and resilience and crossed that finish line!  Well done to all runners.

 

P3/4 H have made some adverts to help persuade you to buy their recipe book.

This Saturday saw children from all 8 Forres ASG Primary Schools compete at Grant Park for Cross Country glory.  A dry but very cold morning did not deter about 90 P4-7 children and spectators from turning out.
The races were very exciting to watch, with the P4/5 age group running around an undulating 3/4 mile course and the P6/7 age group covering approximately a mile and a half.
Applegrove gained individual placings for Kelsey Martin 1st, Lewis Mackenzie 3rd, David Spencer 1st, Bruce Evans 2nd and Scott Perry 3rd. There were many fine runs from the Applegrove children and some were competing for the very first time.  Applegrove managed to win the overall winners trophy for the fourth year in a row, having scored 1150 points. Andersons Primary were only two points behind with 1148 points!  A very close result!
As results were announced,  Applegrove showed great team spirit, applauding all results and receiving the trophy as gracious winners.
We are very proud of all who represented Applegrove on Saturday.
A special mention must go to David Spencer. His fine tactical race on Saturday is testament to his dedication and loyalty to all training opportunities. David has been a member of the school running club and Forres Harriers for four years. Keep up the good work David!
Full results can be found on the Forres Harriers web page.

 

This term P2 have been busy looking at how we use water and electricity in our everyday lives. The children have enjoyed the various activities  related to our learning context.

Ice, water vapour and liquid water have all been part of our learning activities. When singing and using instruments in music we have learned about H2O, whether showers or baths are better and what lives in salty water as well as fresh!

In recent weeks we have looked at life with and without electricity. Most children are glad they have electricity as life seemed very hard without it.

The Forres ASG cross country competition organised by the Forres Harriers takes place this Saturday 5^th March in Grant Park for P4 – 7. You can just turn up on the day to enter. It is a free event and Forres Harriers are keen to encourage as many pupils as possible, of all abilities, to have a go. With so many of you building up stamina in the Daily Mile and taking part in the lunch time club we are hoping lots of you will join in the fun! There are individual trophies and an overall school trophy. It is a great way to demonstrate the Values of Motivation and Challenge from Applegrove pupils! You can register (sign up) from 10am in the Cricket Pavilion at Grant Park and the races start between 11am and 11.45am. The event is run by Forres Harriers and Active Schools so your parents are responsible for you – Good Luck Applegrove!

Congratulations to the cross country runners who represented the school yesterday at Gordonstoun. There were separate races for P5, P6 and P7, boys and girls. At the end the boys’ and girls’ results for each year group were totalled together to decide on the team prizes. In each of their races Bruce Evans came 1^st, David Spencer 3^rd, Roslyn McRitchie 5^th, Luca Abbate 5^th, Alistair Clark 6^th, Lewis Mackenzie 7^th, Talia Pearson 8^th, Ashley Donald 10^th. This means the P6 team won the trophy for their age group and P7 came second. Well done everyone, not only for your successful performance but also for your excellent behaviour.

On Monday 19th February a team of 22 pupils from P6 and P7 took part in the Grampian Regional Sportshall Challenge at Moray College in Elgin. Pupils were allowed to compete in a maximum of two field and two track events. Track events were Obstacle Relay, 1+1 Lap Relay , 2+2 Lap Relay, 6 Lap Paarlauf, Over/Under Relay and 4 x 1 Lap Relay. Field events comprised Chest Push, Standing Long Jump. Standing Triple Jump, Vertical Jump, Soft Javelin and Speed Bounce. Applegrove’s team were – Boys : David Spencer, Scott Perry, Bruce Evans, Alistair Clark, Alex Grant, Luca Abbate, Lewis McIntosh, Lewis Dey, Andrew McRitchie, Matthew Hepburn, Magnus McGhee and  Ruairidh Maver Girls: Ashley Donald, Roslyn McRitchie, Talia Pearson, Jessica Nicol, Kirsty Harthorne, Bethany Young, Isla Brain, Alice Reynolds, Lara Mackenzie and  Abigail Taylor. They all had a fun, busy morning and supported each other so well in every event. It was a fast moving event which was so well organised with the help of the students at Moray College.

There were six schools taking part and Applegrove ended up with exactly the same amount of points as Aberdeen school, Hazelhead Primary, and they both came equal first in the competition . Well done to you all for your excellent sportsmanship  and respectful behaviour at the event.

 

 

What a difference a week makes. Last week the outdoor explorers visited Grant Park and made snow shelters for their lego men. Some brave souls tried sledging down the slopes on plastic carrier bags! Today the sun shone and the sky was blue as we walked to Sanquhar Pond. Children had the choice to draw with a stick, create a birds nest or mix up a potion using forest floor materials. While having all this fun the children are learning to assess risk when in the outdoor environment and stay safe.