It's been another very busy week at Darite with all the children working hard in all their learning. The songs for Song Fest are sounding amazing and the children who are attending Sterts are looking forward to it. We also have our Bridge Song event on Monday and some KS2 children will be singing with all the other schools in Liskeard! We had amazing grounds to celebrate yesterday as the First Lego League team won the Robot Performance award for the 5th year running at RNAS Culdrose! The team of 6 children from class two performed amazingly under pressure in their three times games, coming first with a huge score of 285 points! Despite coding issues and technical problems. this was the highest score in this part of the event over both days! The support the team showed each other in help, guidance and problem-solving means more to us than any trophy. Sadly, the team did not qualify for the national finals in Harrogate this year, such was the strength of the competition, but they should be really proud of themselves (I know I am). The icing on the cake was that they also won the top placed play of for ultimate bragging rights for this next year! The team at Culdrose were so impressed, we even made it to Spotlight and BBC Radio Cornwall! Well done team!
I had a meeting this week with the Educational Welfare Service about attendance and punctuality in schools. Our attendance is improving which is brilliant and thank you for your help in this. Remember, we are happy to administer Calpol in school if needed.
We have been asked to monitor punctuality as our next step as we have a number of pupils who are sometimes later in. This means learning is being missed. If punctuality is an issue for you, please let the school know and we can see how we can help improve this for the children.
There is a lot still comping up in the final few weeks of this term, make sure you keep up to date with the newsletters and website.

We have finally been able to start the improvement phase for our Early Years outdoor learning space.  A lovely group of volunteers, Looe Shedders have previously built us a playbus and some large planters for the Key Stage 1 playground.  They have been enjoying making this shed for a number of months and yesterday it arrived and was built in the front play space.  They have made the shed from items they already had access to with donations from local suppliers for paint etc. and I am very aware that they have contributed to this project themselves.  As you can see, it is beautiful.  It has stairs and a small mezzanine floor inside and Mrs Phillips, the Foundation class teacher has already begun to stock if with homely items for role play.  It took most of the morning to erect in place and the children were getting more and more excited as they saw it grow.
Thankfully, we had some sun and they were able to give it a good check over and explore.  It was a special moment to watch their joy and excitement at their new house.  It has made such a difference already to the space.

The class with the help of the adults, raised an amazing £500 from a pancake race on Shrove Tuesday and some of this has already been spent to begin to make their outdoor space more colourful and appropriate.  The recent storms had a big impact on the spaces and we had trees down and lots of debris.  It has meant that the children have not been able to safely use these spaces for a few weeks, but the arrival of the playhouse gave us new energy and excitement to get the project done now and with some help from our premises team at Bridge Schools.  Watch this space and a very big thank you from us all to Looe Shedders!

It has been an incredibly busy week at Brunel. Please enjoy catching up with the latest news and events in our weekly Brunel Bulletin.

Making clay fish and litter picking! 

We've had a great start to the half term in Year 1 and 2.

We have been enjoying our new big question: Would you rather live in a hot or cold place? In Geography, we have been finding the seven continents, the North Pole and the South Pole and the equator.

In Science we have been exploring living things and their habitats. This week, we learnt about why habitats might become endangered, and what might happen to the plants and animals that live there if they do. We then went around the school and picked up any litter we could find. The school looks cleaner and we helped the plants and animals too!

We were very lucky to take part in the Clay Fish project that is happening around Looe. The children were taught how to make the fish and they really do look wonderful.

We have got lots of learning to look forward to - especially our Eden project trip on the 19th March!

Thank you all.

Year 1 and 2 Team

Curiosity and Questions

This week we have been writing our sonnets in English based on cats after midnight. We used Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 for inspiration and the children have enjoyed using archaic language.

In maths, we have been learning about metric measures and how to convert between them. We have been using our knowledge of how to multiply and divide by 10,100 and 1000 to help us. 

In science, we conducted an experiment to find out what the best material for a phone screen is. The children tested a range of materials to see if they conducted electricity, if they were magnetic and if they were transparent. We discovered that the marble was the best material even though it doesn't conduct electricity because it was not magnetic but it was transparent. Through research, we found out that the glass used in phone screens has a special layer of metal called indium tin oxide added to it which enables it to conduct electricity from our fingertips to the phone. This is what makes it work and why we cannot wear gloves when using the phone. 

Have a great weekend!

Miss Burton

Hello Everyone,


It's been a lot of fun, learning in Penhallow this week.

Our world book day on Thursday consisted of reading with the pupils in Chaipel class, making story cubes and inventing stories, going on a book scavenger hunt, and making pancakes after reading 'Mr Wolf's Pancakes.'

We have enjoyed some Geography learning, in which we found out more about The Isle of Coll in Scotland. We have read some of the Katie Morag stories, which are set on the fictional Isle of Struay, which is actually the Isle of Coll.

In English this week, we have written diaries and letters based around the story of Grandad's Island. We also worked in pairs to edit and improve our work.

We are looking forward to meeting you for our parent consultations next week. Please book an appointment with us, if you haven't done so already.

from The Penhallow Team

w/e 6.3.26

Our Week in Perranporth Class

It has been a busy and enjoyable week in Perranporth Class, with lots of fantastic learning and creativity across the curriculum.

World Book Day

One of the highlights of the week (the year?!) was World Book Day. The children came to school in some brilliant costumes and it was wonderful to see so many favourite book characters brought to life. We shared stories together, took part in a character hunt and spent time celebrating our love of reading. There was a great atmosphere throughout the day and the children showed real enthusiasm for books and storytelling.

Design and Technology

In DT, the children worked very hard sewing their book covers. They carefully stitched the fabric and added fastenings so that their books can be safely kept inside. Sewing requires patience and concentration, and the class did an excellent job. We were really impressed with their perseverance and the finished results look fantastic.

English

In English we continued working on writing clear instructions. The children explored how to organise steps carefully and make their writing easy for the reader to follow. They are becoming increasingly confident at structuring their ideas and explaining processes clearly.

Maths

In maths we finished our unit on multiplication and division and began learning about fractions. The children have also continued practising their number skills through mini maths activities and Times Table Rock Stars.

History

Our Viking topic continued this week. The class have been learning more about Viking life and discussing how and why the Vikings travelled and settled in different places.

PE

In PE we had our second cricket lesson. The children practised their control and coordination using bats and balls and showed great determination as they developed their skills.

Computing

In computing we continued our work on programming, thinking about how instructions are given and followed in computer code.

Art

We really enjoyed our first Art lesson this week. We learned about the artist Magdalene Odundo. She creates art out of clay that follows large, fluid shapes. So we went outside to allow for large, sweeping movements. It was great fun!

Well done for a great week, everyone! Have a wonderful weekend. 

This week we enjoyed celebrating World Book Day. The children wore some fantastic costumes and had lots of fun sharing their favourite stories. We read a variety of books, talked about different characters, and took part in an activity where the children followed instructions to draw characters from the stories.

In Maths this week we have been learning about adding equal groups and exploring how this can be shown using arrays. The children practised making equal groups with objects and drawing arrays to help them understand how numbers can be organised in rows and columns. Reception have been focusing on subtracting 1 from different numbers and practising their subitising skills, where they quickly recognise how many objects there are without needing to count them.

In English we have begun writing our own non-chronological report about Edinburgh. We discussed what a non-chronological report is and looked at examples to identify the key features. The children then worked on writing their opening sentence to introduce the city. Reception have been reading and learning about The Tiger Who Came to Tea, talking about the characters, the events in the story, and sharing their ideas about what they might do if a tiger came to their house for tea.

In PSHE we talked about healthy eating and discussed which foods are good for our bodies and help us stay strong and healthy. The children sorted foods into healthy and less healthy groups and talked about why it is important to have a balanced diet.

We also enjoyed our singing assembly with Mrs Butlin, where the children practised singing a range of songs and worked on using their voices clearly and confidently.

In PE the children took part in a variety of group games that encouraged teamwork, listening, and coordination. They also explored different ways of travelling across the bench, practising their balance and control while moving safely.

In Geography we learnt about different features and important sites that can be found in cities. We discussed examples such as parks, museums, shops, and landmarks, and talked about why these places are important for people who live in or visit a city.

World Book Day Thank you for sending your child to school dressed as their favourite character for World Book Day yesterday. We saw some of the best costumes ever and really enjoyed seeing them all during assembly.

After assembly, Landaviddy and Talland Classes shared stories and read together, while Chaipel pupils read to Penhallow pupils, which was a lovely opportunity for children to enjoy books together. Later, KS2 took part in a BBC live lesson all about reading while Penhallow Class enjoyed a range of World Book Day activities. All of these activities were designed to encourage a love of reading, which is such an important part of every child's education.

Congratulations to the winners of our paper plate competition: Penhallow: Martha (winner); Brody and Maeve (runners up) Landaviddy: Hector (winner); April and Iylah (runners up) Talland: Harley (winner); Amber and Flora (runners up) Chaipel: Lily (winner); Aria and Skye (runners up). The standard of entry was so high and it was very difficult to choose. Photos of the plates and the World Book Day costumes will be on class pages and head's blog on our website. The plates will be displayed in the library.

Enquiries for this half term Enquiry questions have been launched for this half term as follows: Penhallow: What is it like to live on an Island? Landaviddy: How can the Force be with You? Talland: How have children's lives changed? Chaipel: What was the impact of WWII on the People of Britain? As usual, photos and information about the children's learning can be found on the class pages.

Parent Consultations Reminder We will be holding parent consultations next week for Penhallow, Talland and Chaipel Classes and the week commencing 16th March for Landaviddy Class. If you have not already signed up, please call the office to arrange an appointment either in person, on TEAMS or by phone.

Fantastic Footballers Well done to our football team, who played against Bishop Cornish on Wednesday. They performed brilliantly against an older side, showing great determination and teamwork throughout the game. The team scored two fantastic goals and were unlucky not to add another after hitting the post. Although the final score was 4-2 to Bishop Cornish, the result does not reflect how competitive and closely contested the match was.

FOPS Fundraising Quiz Night Join us for a fun-filled Quiz Night at school on Friday 13th March. The event is open to parents, carers, and friends of the school. Doors open at 6:30pm for a 7:00pm start. Form a team of 4-6 people and test your knowledge while supporting our fundraising efforts. Tickets are £5 per person and are available from the school office. See the attached poster for more details. We hope to see you there!

FOPS Easter Discos We will be holding Easter discos on Friday 27th March. Tickets are on sale in the office and cost £3. The disco for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 will be from 3:15 - 4:15pm. Pupils should bring a change of clothes and will be able to change after school. KS2 (Years 3-6) children should go home at the usual time of 3:15pm and then return to school for their disco which will be from 4:30 - 6:00pm.

Comic Relief, Friday 20th March - Crazy Hair Day This year Red Nose Day is on Friday, 20th March. The School Council would like the children to come to school in MUFTI with Crazy Hair with a minimum donation of £1 for this MUFTI day.

Support for a Pupil We would like to share that one of our Year 6 pupils has been in hospital for some time. This has been a very challenging period for the family, and we are keeping them very much in our thoughts. A GoFundMe page has been set up with further details about how we can offer support during this difficult time. If you are able to help, any contribution would be greatly appreciated. https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-support-my-goddaughters-road-to-recovery We are sure you will join us in sending your very best wishes the family.

Enjoy a (hopefully) sunny weekend.

Mrs Hillman

This week, I would like to share some of the wonderful design technology learning from the junior classes, alongside some of the other activities children have been involved in.

Design Technology

Class 4 are designing a playground structure, which they will transform into a model by the end of term. They started with design sketches, which were  then uploaded to NewArc AI to see what their designs might look like.



Rudy's design sketch is on the left and then AI's interpretation is on the right.

Rosie added some children to her sketches, which the AI tool was able to add to the interpretation of her design.

We were all in awe of the power of this technology, which has helped the children visualise what their finished model may look like. The next step was to plan their design more carefully using Tinkercad, a Computer Aided Design platform. There is more work for the children to do but these are Alfie, Arabella and Josh's CAD playground structures so far.


Class 3 continue to explore different mechanisms through making model prototype cars. This week, they constructed rubber band racers which were tested at the end of the lesson. Well done to Lowenna and Sophia, whose car travelled the furthest.


Football
Unfortunately, our Year 3 and 4 footballers were unable to win either of their two matches this week, but I am really proud of the determination and teamwork on display and feel a first win is just around the corner. Well done to Jacob, Eva, Abigail, Spencer, Max, Edith and William for their efforts.

World Book Day
It was lovely to see the children dressed as book characters yesterday to celebrate World Book Day. I also enjoyed seeing the range of favourite books they brought in. From fantasy novels to traditional tales and favourite information books to riddles, we had the full range of books being shared. As J.K. Rowling once said, 'if you don't like reading, you haven't found the right book'. Well yesterday showed that there is a book for everyone.

Staffing Update
We welcomed back Sam Watts this week after his parental leave. I know the children were very excited to see Sam. On Thursday 12th March, Tom Ottewell-Taylor will be undergoing a routine operation. His recovery period takes him up to Easter, so Abi Flashman will once again help us out by teaching Class 1 full time until the end of term.

I look forward to sharing more from the classes next week. 

Our new focus story is 'Polar Bear, Polar Bear, what do you hear?'

We have been listening to the story together and talking about the different animals and their different 'voices'.

We have also found the story online and a song about it too.

Can your child tell you the story?

We have been using our ears to listen to the sounds that we hear around school or in the garden.

World Book Day
World Book Day began with a special assembly led by Gangsta Granny (AKA Mrs Orme!), with the theme of reading being great fun and full of adventure. It was wonderful to see the fantastic costumes across the school, with pupils and staff bringing their favourite book characters to life. Throughout the day, children enjoyed a range of creative activities, including making movie trailers for books and inventing their own versions of George's Marvellous Medicine. The day ended with a lovely paired reading session with mixed year groups, giving children the chance to share stories together, followed by a well-deserved biscuit for everyone.

Reception Stay and Learn
The Reception team would like to thank all of the parents, grandparents and carers for coming to their Stay and Learn this morning. During their session, the children showcased their level 3 Phonic skills and tricky word recognition. They followed this with a reading and writing activity, where the children were able to show their adults what they could do. We hope this gave everyone a good insight into how hard the children work and what wonderful progress they have made with reading and writing this year. Thank you again for coming, and for your continued support with reading and writing at home.

Friday 6th March 

Another fabulous week in Foundation with lots of extra learning opportunities!

In English this week we have started to explore the story Whatever Next!

The children have been using their oracy skills to sequence the story, then they have explored adjectives (describing words) and have described characters, the children then wrote adjectives in tehri books using their phonic knowledge.

In maths we have been exploring 9 and 10. We have been working hard to learn parts of 10, we have used counters, rekinrek, counting bears and numicon.

In outdoor learning this week we completed our first orienteering activity; we had to work as a team to find the markers in our playground and then find the corresponding-coloured Duplo block! The children worked in teams and they were amazing!

On Thursday we celebrated St Piran's day and some home adults came into school and enjoyed completing St Piran's day activities with us! We then sang to the parents on the playground; it was a lovely day celebrating our County of Cornwall.

Today was World Book Day at Looe Primary and the children , and adults, all looked amazing. In class we had four focus books; Room on the Broom, Sneds and Smoos, Rainbow Fish and The Scarecrows Wedding. We had activities to go with each book and we had so much fun.

The Foundation Team 

Landaviddy

Another great week in Landaviddy Class! We are now two weeks into our enquiry question "How Can the Force be With You?", and the children have continued to show lots of enthusiasm for their learning.

This week we also enjoyed the excitement of World Book Day. Although it is my first time celebrating it at this school, I was really impressed by the amount of thought and effort that went into many of the costumes. It was wonderful to see the children's creativity and their love of reading.

In English, we have been delving deeper into the adventures of Traction Man from the books by Mini Grey. The children created their own character descriptions, thinking carefully about Traction Man's personality and heroic qualities. We also introduced another story, Traction Man and the Beach Odyssey. The class enjoyed using role play to retell the story before creating story maps to help them remember the sequence of events. We have started to compare the two stories and will continue exploring their similarities and differences next week.

In Maths, we have been continuing to explore multiplication and division. The children have worked incredibly hard this week to apply their knowledge to more complex problem-solving questions, and it has been wonderful to see their confidence growing.

In PSHE, we explored how the amount of calories our bodies take in can affect us. We also looked closely at food labels, particularly focusing on how many grams of sugar are found in some common unhealthy snacks. The children were surprised to discover just how much sugar can be in everyday foods!

In Design and Technology, we have been learning about mechanisms, specifically levers, pulleys and gears. The children identified the differences between each one and discussed how they are used in the real world. We are very excited to begin designing and making our own lever mechanisms to create a pop-up volcano picture over the next couple of weeks.

In Geography, we have been learning about volcanoes and how they are formed. The class labelled the different parts of the Earth and described each of the layers, developing a better understanding of what happens beneath the surface of our planet.

A huge congratulations to Alfie for staying on task and trying hard in all of his lessons this week. It has been impressive to see how well he has managed distractions.

Another well done to Evie, who blew me away with the fantastic vocabulary she used in her Traction Man character description.

A big congratulations to Iylah and Brody for achieving their 99 Club badge this week - a fantastic effort! Well done to everyone for another brilliant week of learning. We hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Miss Bolton & Miss Colton

TALLAND'S CLASS 6.3.26

Another fun and entertaining week here in Talland class.. World book day was brilliant and the children's costumes were fantastic!  

Here's a breakdown of our week:

Maths:
Year 5 have been ordering and comparing fractions along with finding out how to find the are of a compound shape.

Year 4 have completed their unit on multiplication and division and have just began their fractions unit. They have also continued to convert between kilometers and meters.

English: 
Ove the next couple of weeks, we will be writing a news report about Oliver Twist. This week, we have immersed ourselves with newspaper reports and pulled out the features included to create a successful article.

Science:
We planned an investigation to find out which liquids will run down a slope the fasted: Ketchup, water, cooking oil or honey?

PE:
Talland have had lots of fun with Mrs. Hillman on the brand new gymnastics equipment and with me, we have been learning how to bowl - we have some naturals!

CONGRATULATIONS to Reuben, Renley, Archie, Max and Amelia this week for passing their next round in 99 club and well done to Flora for show excellent determination during lesson time and for showing a real maturity within her work ethic.

That's all from us in Talland this week. We hope you have a great weekend and can't wait to see everyone next week.

Signing off from Mr. Langley and Mr. Bishop