I hope that you all had a lovely Bank Holiday weekend. What a refreshing change to see the sunshine! I hope that you all managed to make the most of it- long may it continue. 
We were very fortunate last week to have visit from Mr Peter Salisbury, who is an ambulance driver. He brought his ambulance along to both school bases and showed the children the exterior, the interior and even let them see the flashing lights and sirens. Ambulances can be quite a frightening sight for children - they are fast moving and very loud. With their blacked-out windows they can also seen quite mysterious. Children often have a fear of the unknown but this visit has showed them what is behind the windows. Whist I hope that the children will never have to experience travelling in an ambulance, I hope that the visit would make the experience less scary.
Recently, the Reception children, along with some of the Nursery class had a fantastic session of Maypole dancing. It was wonderful to see the absolute joy on their faces they wound the ribbons around the pole. I was impressed by their skill and focus.
Last week some pupils in Year 5 have been taking part in the Bikeability programme. This scheme is run by our sport's partnership provider, Arena, and it teaches pupils how to ride safely on the roads. I presented them with certificates and badges in last week's celebration assembly and they were very proud of their achievements. 
I recently sent out a letter explaining Accelerated Reader levelled books and how we are using them in the school. If you missed it there is a copy uploaded below.
Congratulations to Year 3 who won the attendance award this week with 100%.
I hope that you all enjoy the sunny weekend!

This week we practised our Egyptian Dance routine before completing our final PE lesson and video performance in the hall. 

We all really enjoyed this unit of learning and learnt some brilliant Egyptian moves! 

We have had lots of fun and managed to take some of our learning outside despite the wet weather.

In Science we have been learning about 'Living Things and Their Habitats'.
We started by classifying things that are living, non-living, dead and never been alive. Then we learnt about different habitats around the world and how the animals that live there, adapt to their environment and depend on each other for survival. We managed to spend some time in the woods looking at micro-habitats and undertaking a survey of bugs that we found there.
In Computing we have been learning all about programmable toys and our teacher was very impressed that we can all explain what 'algorithm' means!

We have also been creating some amazing sketches of the view of our playground in the style of Lowry. We learnt lots of techniques beforehand such as hatching, crosshatching, stippling and shading. We also had fun creating matchstick figures and adding details to them. We tried to include many of these techniques in our sketches.

Our topic 'Where Do We Live?' had a mainly Geography focus. We really enjoyed our walk around the local area identifying human and physical features and created some fabulous maps for another class who wanted to know the way to the park. 

Wishing you all a relaxing Easter break with your families.

Polar Bears on Patrol

We finished our polar bears this week.  We spent the last few weeks
creating these amazing sculptures out of Modroc and finally we painted
on the finishing touches... We think they look fantastic, you will be able
to have a look at them and some more of our work which will be on
display in the Reception lobby after the break.

March 2024 Blog.

Wow, where did that half term go! We have definitely had the shortest but busiest 6 weeks here in Perranporth. Here are some of the highlights.

World book day.

On world book day, all of the children from Gunnislake dressed as their favourite book characters and spent the day at Delaware doing lots of different world book day activities. What made this day special was that the children from across both schools were mixed together in groups, so each group had children from reception all the way to year 6! The whole day was wonderful, the children worked really well with the younger children and took their responsibility of looking after them very seriously. At the end of the day, there was a parade for all the children to show off their fantastic costumes to one another. Each class had a best costume prize awarded and in our class that was won by Ivy S for her beautiful Fiona costume.

Wild tribe day.

On wild tribe day, we had a lovely lady come and spend the day with the class teaching them various survival techniques, this included learning some basic first aid. The children also learnt how to make shelters and make fire using cotton wool, Vaseline and a fire starter survival tool. By the end of the day, the children were able to successfully identify the contents of a first aid kit, put others into the recovery position, and put a sling on another children. The children really enjoyed this day and the large variety of activities that they completed and were very well behaved throughout the entire day, even when they got a bit wet!

Alternative sports day.

Last Thursday, half of the class went to Looe school to compete in an alternative sports day against 11 other schools in the trust. The children competed in frisbee golf, street surfing, fencing and mini-Segwaying. The children received specialist training for each activity and then had friendly competitions to see how their skills have developed. The children enjoyed it immensely and have requested for the school to buy all this equipment in! It was also lovely to hear from various schools and staff about how well behaved, respectful and courteous our children well. The children represented the schools in a fantastic manner. Ultimately, we did not win, however, the team running the day acknowledged how well our children did all day.

And with that, the spring term has come to an end, the children have had a wonderful 12 weeks, and they are all very tired and definitely ready for a break. I hope you all have a lovely Easter holidays, stay safe, and I look forward to seeing everyone for the summer term.

Happy Easter, Mr. Sherwood.

St Pirans Day

Year 2 and 3 went on an exciting trip to Bodmin to take part in the St Pirans Day celebrations.

After a procession, a dance and a ceremony in the town square, Year 2 and 3 made their way to the church.

When they arrived they got onto the stage and sang 'Trelawney' at the top of their voices and were later rewarded with a delicious pasty. 

I am very much looking forward to starting as Headteacher at Wadebridge Primary Academy after Easter. I have thoroughly enjoyed my recent visits as part of the transition process. I’ve really noticed the warmth and positive relationships between staff and children, as well as the quality of education shining through. I would like to say a particular thank you to the leadership team and all the staff and children, as well as the wider Trust for their support.

I am passionate about creating an inclusive and supportive learning environment where children and staff can thrive and make a positive difference. I share the school’s commitment in meeting the unique needs of all children and ensuring they have a sense of belonging and wellbeing.

My family and I recently returned to Cornwall after 6 years abroad, where I was a Headteacher of British international schools in The Netherlands and Asia. Prior to this, I was Headteacher at Fowey Primary for 8 years.

In my free time, I enjoy playing the piano, singing, cooking and enjoying the great outdoors. I’m already looking forward to the weekly singing assemblies!

After Easter, I’ll be in touch again about some informal opportunities to come in and meet with me. I will be interested in getting feedback from parents about what we do well and what we could possibly develop. On a day-to-day basis, I hope to see many of you at drop off and collection as well as various events next term.

I look forward to continuing the school’s journey, building on the many successes, and helping to shape its future. I’m committed to working with the whole school community to meet our aspiration that children will learn, thrive and excel.

Best wishes,

Chris Wathern

We've been learning all about seasonal changes. We discussed this in relation to to the woodland animals we learnt about previously. We also went on a walk to spot signs of spring. The children took photographs of what they found. We looked at these photos in class and identified the different flowers that we found and talked about what would happen to the buds that we found on the trees.

As part of learning about where we live we learnt about farm animals. We found out about what they eat and what their babies are called. We also found out what the different farm animals produce. When learning about chickens we looked at some eggs. We discussed the fact that they're very fragile. The children investigated which materials they could use to protect the egg when they dropped it. They had great fun making egg protectors, standing on the chair and dropping the egg to see if they saved the egg. Some of the children showed great resilience and perseverance during this activity as when their egg smashed they looked at what the other children had done to protect the eggs that didn't crack and tried again.

Year 1's day at The Eden Project!

We had a great day at The Eden Project today. We started our day with a talk where we learnt about all the things we use plants for. Year 1 were brilliant at showing their knowledge of plants from our science lessons here!

We then had a workshop called ‘Building Brazil.’ We had to think about how we would build a suitable house for the amazon rainforest. To do this, we explored the rainforest biome and collected ideas about how to make it waterproof and what the best materials would be. We then came back and had a go at building models of our houses. Year 1 were very excited to share what they know about Brazil already and we learnt some more interesting facts.

We then finished our day by linking to our big question ‘what’s it like to be an explorer?’ and did our own exploring of the Mediterranean biome! Year 1 were absolutely brilliant and it has been a lovely opportunity to consolidate everything we have learnt this term in a fun and exciting way.

Well done year 1!

Alternative Sports

Blisland sent 6 of our finest athletes over to Looe for an alternative sports day. The children competed in: ultimate frizbee, seqway races, fencing and street surfing. Our pupils showed fantastic attitudes and team work. We are delighted with our 2nd place overall. 

A huge thank you to Looe for hosting and organising the event. 

Spring Term 2

Cross country
Our athletes have been training hard this term - building up to the 5k Landrake run. We have trained for the distance and braved the wind and rain to complete the distance at Sibley Back Lake. A huge thank you to Mr Jones for organising and supporting our pupils.  

Bike club
After the Easter holidays we will be starting a bike club a Lanhydrock. The club will run for 5 weeks and start at 3:45pm. If you are interested please contact the secretary showing your interest. 

Mrs Chalkley
Last week we said goodbye to the fabulous Mrs Chalkley. After a decade at the school, it is impossible to quantify her impact. We will greatly miss her but are very excited for her next adventure in Yorkshire. We gave her a fitting send off: flowers, cake and a wonderful painting to remember us by. Mrs Chalkley gifted us a fabulous poetry book with one poem for every day of the year.

Trumpet
We have finished 11 weeks of trumpet lessons in KS2. Mr Jones has done an incredible job of teaching with all pupils able to read music and play along to a Mexican Samba. Keep you eyes peeled for the video on BridgeTube.

Easter Fayre
This Thursday is our Easter Fayre. We are extremely grateful to the PTA for organising this. Please come along and show your support. 

Farm and Country Day
Last week KS2 attended the farm and country day at Wadebridge Showground. We had a wonderful day making pasties, eggy bread and tacos whilst learning about food production in the local area.

The morning didn't go as planned as the fire station crew was called out, so we could not visit. This meant we could spend longer visiting Cardinham Woods exploring the interactive Gruffalo trail with party-themed activities and games, as well as fun facts along the way to learn about life in the forest for the Gruffalo and other creatures. The children followed the trail to help find the missing party items to give the Gruffalo a birthday to remember. They searched for balloons, pinecones, apples, and the Gruffalo himself! The sun shone as the children enjoyed the activity park and tested their balancing skills! All this exercise built up an appetite, so we enjoyed a picnic lunch and well-earned ice cream before heading home. 

Storytellers had a wonderful morning visit to the Hugs Foundation. We have been learning how the charity supports animals that have been neglected or abandoned and how they do this. The children explored the area and met some fantastic characters along the way. The pigs were very popular, and helping to throw the food in was great fun, as well as watching the pigs forage around in the mud. Meeting the cheeky goats and giving them a fantastic scratch ensured they enjoyed walking with the children. The children investigated various foods that the animals enjoyed and looked at some wonderful treasures, from horses' teeth to antlers. Meeting the ponies and learning how and why they were rescued was a definite highlight. Thanks to Hazel for showing the children around, providing many learning opportunities and fantastic enrichment for our class topic.

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This week, the children have thoroughly enjoyed getting their teeth into their printing learning journey. They made Styrofoam print blocks, string print blocks and sponge print blocks. After experimenting with these different methods, each child decided which they would like to use in their main art piece. They justified their choice and shared top tips with each other. Many children loved what they had managed to create out of a piece of sponge but decided that they will use a Styrofoam print block as it would give them the chance to add more fine detail in their print.

During PSHE, the children learnt about wellbeing; they drew a wellness well and thought about how positive and negative thoughts affect mental health and how we can help ourselves and others.

In our science lessons, the children learnt about materials and their properties. We explored various properties including transparency, hardness, magnetism and finished by creating an investigation to test electrical conductors and sorting these from electrical insulators.

During our English lessons this week, the children have been drafting a newspaper article about an earthquake. They have learnt about speech punctuation and have used examples in their articles.

Homework has been set on Mathletics and Spelling Shed. Please also remember to read regularly and that we have Times Table Rockstar logins.

Points to remember:

PE on Mondays and Wednesdays

Parent consultations Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

Break up for Easter on Thursday (school closing early)

Canute class have had a great week of learning, a few of the highlights…

In English year one and two completed a comprehensive set of instructions on how to make a “cool den”, this followed on from the fabulous Den Building day they had with the National Trust. We also put our bird feeders high up on the fence in the hope of attracting some feathered friends. Reception have been enjoying the book The Tiger Came to Tea

In maths year 1 completed their unit of heavier and lighter, reception are doing brilliantly at finding different compositions of 9 and 10 and we have been so impressed at how well the year 2s have been storming their way through the multiplication and division unit and they easily recited their 10 times table on Friday

In Geography we have been looking at the differences between a village, a town and a city and how the UK is made up of 4 countries. In PSHE we discussed how medicines can help us when we are poorly and how important it is to follow the instructions, the children were able to look at boxes of different types of medicine and explain what it was for and how it should be taken. They all confirmed that only grown ups should administer medicine.

We have all been enjoying the spring weather, the children had excellent ball skills in PE this week and our pre-school and reception children made a fantastic assault course for the older children .

We hope you all have a lovely weekend with abit of sunshine!

Best wishes from the Canute Class Team