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Private Notes
Sam and Bella are back from their summer holidays. Sam's hoping Mali got all the postcards she sent, but he's nowhere to be seen. Worried that Mali's sad because he had to stay at Apple Tree House all summer, they hunt around for him believing that he'll need cheering up. When they finally track him down they are surprised that Mali is feeling exhausted from his amazing 'home holiday' and has his own postcards of all the cool adventures he's had. Bella and Sam realise a holiday is a time to have fun - wherever you are!
Walking in the local park, Bella and Mali learn about how rings in the trunk show the age of a tree. Bella is then curious about the apple tree on the estate. How old is their apple tree? With the help of their oldest and wisest neighbours, who have wonderful tales to tell, they try to solve the mystery of the old apple tree.
Bella is desperate to have a baby sister, or brother, just like Mali. News that Sam might be getting a foster brother or sister encourages Bella to ask even more questions about families and especially babies. The new arrival at Sam's flat causes a great deal of excitement, but Bella has not been listening to her parents and has made an incorrect assumption.
Sam is upset at all the chores she has to do at home, while David doesn't have to do any. Helping her dad fix a shelf and watering the plants makes Sam late joining Bella and Mali who are busy making dreamcatchers. When Sam's dreamcatcher breaks she blames David, and gradually Sam's feelings about David's arrival start to surface. Many hands make light work and there are plenty of friends around to help Sam understand that life with David will settle into a routine.
Mali and Bella see a person dressed like a spaceman in the community garden, they start to worry about aliens invading the estate. Grandma Zainab points out that it's actually a bee keeper looking after honey bees. Bella feels sad when Kobi reports that the bee keeper is looking to close down the hive because Mr Murphy from number thirty-nine can't look after it any more. When Mali suggests that the Apple Tree community should look after the bees in the hive, Grandma Zainab is inspired to come up with a very practical solution.
Sam and Bella are very excited about performing for their dance class, but when Bella suggests dressing up and having fancy hairstyles, Sam becomes uncomfortable and stops going to practice. Sam eventually opens up to her mum, Patience, to tell her what the problem is. Sam is upset because she believes she can't do anything with her hair. Patience reassures Sam by chatting about her own hair and her childhood. Sam is convinced to return to practice, and Patience promises to assist in creating a wonderful new hairstyle for her daughter.
David feels left out when Sam and Bella go on a trip with their dance class. Initially Kobi suggests playing with the a jigsaw, but there's a piece missing. Then Kobi asks David to help out with his jobs on the estate. David quickly gets bored and then manages to soak Kobi with the hose pipe. Things aren't going well until Kobi invents a tidying up song. David enjoys it so much that, when Sam arrives back at home, he volunteers to help tidy her room.
Kobi needs to paint a wall on the estate, but he can't decide which colour to use. Mali, Sam and Bella aren't keen on Kobi's options and are very keen for him not to use the grey from the leftover tin. They search the estate to find a colour to inspire Kobi, but in the end they decide to invent their own brand new colour. Unfortunately, attempts to create a new colour result in a horrible muddy brown mess. However, when Mali accidentally makes a messy paint mark in the kitchen, Bella is inspired to propose that they paint a mural.
David enjoys listening to stories of Kobi's childhood. Bella, Mali and Sam are excited to hear about David's own stories, and David is enjoying the attention he is getting from his friends. However, Sam gets annoyed when she learns, from Zainab, that David is telling tall tales that may not be completely true. Sam challenges David, who becomes upset. Thankfully Kobi is on hand to guide David to tell stories that are both exciting and true.
When Mali and Zainab deliver some food to their neighbour, Mrs Richards, she tells Mali all about the routine sounds that help her work out what's going on around the estate. Later, when Sam and Mali discover that Bella has used up all the blank paper for their school project, Mali has an idea. Inspired by Mrs Richards, Mali gets his friends to help him create a picture of the Apple Tree House estate using only sounds.
Zainab, Kobi and David despair when Mali, Sam and Bella fall out over the school council.
After practising hard for the community concert, Bella suddenly announces that she no longer wants to take part.
When David has to miss the school sports day because of injury, Mali, Sam and Bella with the help of Eli must find a way to cheer him up.
When Mali challenges Grandma Zainab to a race home, he gets more than he bargained for. Will he learn that fast isn't always best?
When Katie's plan to make Bella a new dress goes wrong, Mali and Sam try to make their friend happy again.
Sam's not happy that David has lost her frisbee. Zainab and Mali turn their attentions away from playing pirates to help make a map that could find the missing frisbee. However, when a rain shower makes the map all wet Zainab's plan stalls until she gets out her telescope and shows the children that stars and landmarks can help us navigate our environment.
Bella's upset that she's missed out on a place in the arts and crafts after-school club, and she's not happy that she's doing basketball with Sam instead. Believing that she's not sporty and shouldn't bother trying, Bella hides her gym kit and feigns sickness to avoid taking part in basketball. However, Grandma Zainab steps in to help Bella realise she can try her hand at anything if she's prepared to do a little practice.
When David has a problem at school, he gets worried about all the school rules. When Zainab tells him that everyone has to follow rules, even adults and even superheroes, Mali and Bella help him consider the rules that help everyone's life on the estate run smoothly.
Mali is upset that Alex, the star player on his football team, hasn't been showing up for practice. Zainab and Kobi decide to make sure Alex is okay, and they discover that Alex is having to look after her mum who's just been released from hospital. It looks like there isn't much room for fun or football in Alex's life until Mali and Sam come up with a plan and a rota to help Alex and her family out.
Sam is confused: she can't work out what David is up to as he looks around for 'something new'. David certainly seems determined to find something special for his show and tell at school, but it's Zainab who finally discovers that David's determination is about helping out a friend.
Mali's dad, Nadeem, has brought Grandma Zainab tickets to watch the cricket - live! When Mali tells his gran that he doesn't want to go and watch the match because 'cricket's boring', he doesn't realise how much he's upset her. Mali is determined to go to Alex's football party instead. It's not until Mali really listens to his friends and some of the adults that he works out what might be the right thing to do to show his gran how much he cares about her.
David is super-excited at the prospect of writing a poem for the Apple Tree community poetry event. As David tries to write about his trains, he also tries to convince his friend Laila to take part too, but no matter how hard he tries, Laila remains determined not to participate. Eventually David, with Grandma Zainab's help, works out that Laila's problem isn't stage fright but more to do with her difficulties with reading. However, David is able to rely on Mali and their friends to find a solution that allows Laila to participate.
After Grandma Zainab tells Bella all about news and newspapers, Bella works out what she wants to be when she grows up. Determined to make television news, Bella goes out to try to find a story. But finding a proper news story proves to be a little difficult.
Football is cancelled but, worried about what his teammates might think, Mali chooses to help Kobi tidy the shed rather than join Bella and Sam at dance class. However, Kobi hopes that a discovery in the 'Kobi cave' will convince Mali that dance is for everyone.
David's friend Laila is keen to look after Nibbles, the school hamster, during the holidays, but her dad isn't so keen. When David and Sam convince Kobi to let them take care of Nibbles during the school break, Laila is delighted that she will get to spend time with the pet too. But things don't quite go to plan, and Grandma Zainab must help Mali and Laila do some extra special solving to prevent a hamster catastrophe.
David's worrying about the 'All About Me' poster that he's preparing for school, and he seems completely disinterested in the postcard that's just arrived from his Grandma. When Laila encourages David to refresh his interest in his Cantonese lessons, David can finally read the message on his Grandma's postcard, which inspires a special solution for his poster.
Sam has upset David by telling him stories about going to the dentist. There's no way that Kobi or Patience are going to convince David to go for his check-up now. However, Mali and Grandma Zainab tell stories about silly things that have scared them in the past and make David realise that he shouldn't always believe everything he hears. Inspired by David's change of heart, Kobi then confesses about when he got scared by the estate boiler room.
When Kobi takes Sam, David and Mali to borrow a book, they discover a plan to close the local library. Grandma Zainab is particularly upset by the closure and works hard on a petition to keep the library open, but when things don't go to plan Sam has to figure out the best way to cheer Grandma Zainab up.
Mali seems remarkably keen to visit the opticians, but he's bitterly disappointed that he doesn't need new glasses after he'd convinced himself he would get a pair with a fancy coloured frame. When Mali's glasses break he is again super-optimistic that he will get a new pair, but first he must learn that a little bit of patience goes a long way.
Bella and Mali are desperate to join Sam and her cousins at the carnival, but it looks like they will be disappointed when there's no adult around who can take them along. It seems Bella and Mali will have to make do with Sam relaying details about carnival music, food and costumes, until a broken down truck means that carnival planning takes a completely different turn.
