Friday 18th October

Some of this week’s learning in Foundation class:

The foundation children have worked so hard this week, and we have seen some lovely wow moments!

This week the children have explored so many wonderful learning opportunities!

In outdoor learning this week Mrs Gregory set up an amazing nature hunt for the children. They worked in pairs with pictures, and they had to explore the forest area and find the items to match. The children found pine needles, apples, berries, bark and much more. The children used wonderful vocabulary to explore these items, and it was a wonderful session!

In maths this week the children have been learning to count on to 20 and back from 20 verbally! We use a lot of songs to help us with our learning and the children love to join in and sing when they are learning.

On Wednesday Miss Hughes found a big stick insect on Miss Bolgers class door. We took this opportunity to bring ‘Stam’ ( his new name) into class and explore him. We learnt all about stick insects by researching and we even held him , if we felt comfortable to do so! He tickled!!

In English we continued to explore rhyming words and the children were amazing at matching rhyming words and pictures in one of the activities. We then listened to another Edward Lear poem called The Jumblies’ this poem was a long poem but the children loved the adventure within the poem and enjoyed acting out sailing in the sea in a sieve!  

In Phonics we explored diagraphs: ll/ss/ff/ and s saying /z/. The children were soooooo amazing with their phonics this week that they actually 'blew Janets socks off'!!!!!! 

The children have also been practicing their writing, making owl and pussy cat masks , using foil to make boats to float on the water just like the owl and pussy cat and so much more!

Next week is a four day week as we break up for half term on Thursday 24^th at 3:15pm

Have a lovely weekend

The Foundation Team 

What a week at Brunel!

What a vibrant and eventful week it has been at Brunel Primary and Nursery Academy!

Our pupils have been engaged in a variety of activities that not only foster learning but also build community spirit.

Here’s a recap of some highlights from the week:

Seaton Class Assembly: Were the Victorians Really Vile?

We kicked off the week with our very first class assembly delivered by Seaton Class. The children did an outstanding job presenting their research on the Victorian era, raising thought-provoking questions about this fascinating period in history. Their creative approach and confidence truly shone through, making it a memorable experience for everyone in attendance.

Street Dance Workshops
This week, we were joined by Toby Gorniak MBE who dazzled us with his positive messages and dance moves. There was a real buzz around the school as he shared with us his 5 elements for life: Respect, love, peace, unity and having fun. These 5 elements are very close to our hearts at Brunel! It was an incredible day for the whole school community!


Swimming at Saltash Leisure Centre

Years 1 and 2 took a trip to Saltash Leisure Centre for their swimming lessons this week. It’s wonderful to see our young learners gaining confidence in the water while improving their swimming skills. Each session is a step toward ensuring our children not only learn an important life skill but also enjoy the benefits of physical activity.

Food Bank Donations

We are incredibly proud of our school community’s generosity! This week, we organised a collection for the local food bank, and our families responded with kindness and support. The food bank team came to pick up the donations, and it was heart-warming to see our children understand the importance of helping those in need. Thank you for your contributions!

Year 5 Sports Competition

12 of our Year 5 pupils participated in a bench ball and dodgeball competition at Callington. They showcased fantastic teamwork, sportsmanship, and resilience throughout the event. It’s always a joy to watch our children engage in friendly competition, and we couldn’t be prouder of their efforts!

Cricket Sessions with Cricket Chris

We wrapped up our final "Time to Shine" cricket session with Cricket Chris. The children have made remarkable progress in their skills and teamwork over these sessions. It has been wonderful to see their enthusiasm for the sport grow, and we hope to continue fostering their love for cricket in the future.

School Council’s Terracycling Campaign

Our School Council has been hard at work promoting our TerraCycling campaign, and I’m thrilled to report that we are currently in third place! They designed eye-catching posters to raise awareness about recycling and sustainability within our school. Their commitment to making a positive impact on our environment is truly commendable.

As we reflect on this incredible week at Brunel Primary and Academy Nursery, I’m filled with pride for our pupils, staff, and community. Each event showcases the hard work, creativity, and spirit that define our school. Thank you all for your continued support! 

This week, we have been continuing our learning about 'Animals including humans'.

We have been learning about teeth and their function and today, we have completed the second part of a Science experiment where we found out what happens to teeth when they come into contact with different liquids. 

Don't forget to ask your children about it so they can say what they learned!

(The white on the egg submerged in milk is white from toothpaste drying, however, the white from the apple juice and the energy drink is due to those sugary liquids and the damaging effects of sugar!)

Our learning this week!

We’ve had another great week in Foundation / Year 1 class.

In English we have started our new learning journey focusing on poetry. We have been looking at the poem Owl and the Pussy Cat by Edward Lear. We have learnt the poem through making up some actions and looking at the rhyming words. Foundation have started writing words using their phonics sounds to match pictures and Year 1 have started to make their own verse of a poem, thinking of a new character and new rhyming words!

In Maths, Foundation have been looking at patterns. We have done this in lots of different ways. Our favourite way was looking for patterns in nature and making patterns on a walk outside. Year 1 have started our new addition and subtraction unit and we have been looking at part-whole models.

We also had a special visitor to our class this week! Miss Hughes found a stick insect outside and we have been having a look using our investigation station. We even used our choosing time to draw the stick insect and discuss what it looks like. I think we will be a little bit sad when we have to let him back outside!

In Geography, we have also been looking at hot and cold countries. We have spoken about what clothes you would need for a hot country, and what clothes you would need for a cold country. We have also been locating these countries on a map.

Some important messages:

Please make sure you are sending your child in with their reading record every day. If we get time we will read with the children so it is important that their book is in school.

There is a parent phonics information session next week. This is just to give you some more information of how we run phonics at school and ways you can help your children at home. These will run at 9:30 – 10:00 and 2:30 – 3:00 on Tuesday 22nd October. If you would like to attend please email me. 

Thank you!

The Foundation/Year 1 Team

The class really enjoyed our last cricket session today and the children demonstrated the progress they had made within each skill!

Friday 18th October

Hello Everyone!

We are excited to share the highlights of our week in class! Nancarrow Farm Trip We had a wonderful trip to Nancarrow Farm! The children were brilliantly behaved and had an amazing time. They made and enjoyed fresh food from the farm, harvested a variety of vegetables, planted garlic, and even got to see and feed the pigs. It was also a joy to meet and play with our friends from Blisland Primary. The experience was not only educational but also a lot of fun!

Maths Update
In maths this week, our Reception class has been focusing on the numbers 1, 2, and 3. The children have been counting and manipulating objects to correspond with these numbers, which has been a great way to reinforce their understanding. Meanwhile, our Year 1 and 2 students have been exploring addition and subtraction. They are beginning to grasp these important concepts and the associated signs, showing great progress!

English Learning
In English, we have continued our exploration of recounts. This week, we learned about Neil Armstrong by asking questions, which sparked some fantastic discussions. On Friday, we had a special visit from a nurse, and the children wrote thoughtful questions to ask her. We will be writing up the responses next week, so stay tuned for more insights!

Art Creations
Our art sessions have been incredibly productive! We have finished our collages, adding specific details that truly bring them to life. The children have shown remarkable creativity, and we have some brilliant budding artists in our class. We look forward to sharing their artwork with you soon!

Upcoming Schedule
Changes Next week, there will be a swap in our teaching days: Mrs. Fernie will be in on Monday, while Mrs. Andrew will be in on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Due to this change, we will not have outdoor learning this Tuesday. Instead, please ensure that children come to school in their uniforms as usual, as we will have an afternoon of cooking planned!

Miss Hicks, has officially joined our class! The children have welcomed her warmly, and it has been wonderful to see them interact and engage with her. We are excited about the positive impact she will have on our learning environment. Miss Hicks brings a wealth of enthusiasm and experience, and we look forward to getting to know her better as she helps support the children in their learning journey. We are confident that her presence will enhance our classroom experience and provide additional support for all students. Thank you for your continued support, and please join us in welcoming Miss Hicks to our class!

We look forward to meeting you next week at our parent consultations.

Thank you for your continued support, and we hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Best wishes, Mrs Fernie, Mrs Andrew, Mrs Hicks, Miss Talbot.

Life was 'gruelling' in Victorian times!

During our history topic on Victorians, we have learnt a lot about the lives of the poor, unfortunate inmates of a workhouse.  We have discovered that they endured a very poor diet which included 'gruel'.  This porridge based 'food' was used as an inexpensive way to fill us the hungry workers. 
We had a go at making some and those who were brave tasted some.  There were mixed reviews but most decided that it tasted pretty disgusting and would not like to eat it again. 
Take a look at how it was made.

Week ending Friday 11th October


What another great week we've had in Canute class.

We had two visitors this week, enhancing our understanding of our enquiry question, "Who helps us?"  We were joined by Jonty the guide dog and his owners who told us all about the job of a guide dog.  On Friday we ten had a visit from Jamie who is part of the coastguard team in Polruan.  He told us all bout how and why the coastguard began, explained about the training you need to do and about some of the rescues he has been a part of.  We got to explore the van and found out about the kit needed.

In English this week the reception children have been exploring the story of The Jolly Postman.  Year 1 and 2 have edited and produced some amazing biographies about Florence Nightingale and we have begun our next block of learning, all about writing recounts.  We started this week exploring the 5W's (who, what, when, where, why) and writing and answering questions.

In maths both Year 1 and 2 have started their new unit of learning, addition and subtraction.  We have been discovering and revising our number bonds to 10.  In reception the children have begun to look at the numbers 1, 2 and 3. 

The children have been thoroughly enjoying their computing sessions with Mr T and have a great understanding of online safety.  They have been giving and sharing very responsible ideas.

Next week, Tuesday, we have our trip to Nancarrow Farm.  We will be discovering the produce we can harvest in autumn and finding out how the farmers help us. 

If you have any questions or queries relating to school then please don't hesitate to get in touch with us.

Mrs Andrew, Mrs Fernie and Miss Talbot

Nursery children chose some animal story books to take to St Anne's this week; the Grannies loved sharing the stories and especially talking about the adventures they got up to!

The children enjoy a delicious treat of a biscuit and juice, which they say 'Thank you!' for.

We always finish by singing some Nursery rhymes and our favourite song 'If you're happy and you know it'.

This week in nursery we have continued to explore autumn. The children have been making handprint leaves and have been using broccoli to create the leaves on the trees.
We have been looking at pumpkins and the children have made some still life paintings of what they could see, they created some great pictures!
We have been using our fine motor skills to manipulate clay in order to create a dormouse which the children have been taking home.

At story time we have enjoyed the stories of "Owl Babies" and "Shh Quiet!"
In phonics the children have been joining in with songs and rhymes, exploring the movements that our mouths make when we create different sounds and they have been identifying intial sounds during a game of "silly soup".

In maths we have been finding numbers in everyday life. The children have been finding and counting objects that they collected in the school garden and using the outside abacus to count with.

Thank you to everyone that donated to our Bags2school collection this week, we await confirmation of how much we raised.
Next Wednesday it is individual photos, could children please be in nursery promptly at 8.45am.

Have a lovely weekend

The nursery team.

We have had another fabulous week of learning in Chaipel. 

ENGLISH
We have been learning about the use of active and passive voice as well as how to accurately punctuate dialogue: all of which we can apply to our Pompeii time slip story. We finished the week by planning our narrative, ready for us to begin writing on Monday.

MATHS
The Y5s have been learning how to estimate and round to check calculations - a very important skill to have, whilst Y6s have been tackling multiplying 4-digit by 2-digit numbers. We have applied our knowledge to ICT where we have been adding up using the Binary number system.

WIDER CURRICULUM
We have been very productive. In Art, we have been creating abstract perspective landscapes, for PE we have been developing our tactical skills in Tag Rugby and Geography has taught us about how volcanoes are formed, where the Ring of Fire is and what causes eruptions. Following our learning about the Roman invasion on Britannia, we have investigated what the Romans brought to us and how significant it is to today. We explored the types of houses for the wealthy and the poor and how they differed depending on where you lived. What did the Romans bring to Britain? Roads, aquaducts, sewage systems, the list goes on!

CONGRATULATIONS to Elsie who achieved her 66 Club.

Have a lovely weekend and see you all on Monday!

Miss Randle, Mrs Clary and Miss Colton.

Thank you for sending your children in on World Mental Health Day on Thursday wearing yellow. In assembly, we discussed the importance of looking after our mental health and that asking for help from an adult that they trust is always ok if they are feeling overwhelmed or sad. We raised £80 for Young Minds, a mental health charity for children, young people and their parents.

S.P.A.C.E (Supporting Parents and Children Emotionally) Due to the popularity of the S.P.A.C.E course run by the NHS mental health in schools team, there are now three available sessions that parents can sign up to. Please see links below to sign up: Monday 4th November at 10.00am - https://forms.office.com/e/qFxfQicqxe
Monday 4th November at 6.00pm - https://forms.office.com/e/2xA1tY62sC
Monday 4th November at 8.00pm - https://forms.office.com/e/nsdVXmD4YN

Online Safety Throughout the school year we will be working with the children to help them develop the life skills and knowledge they need to use the online world safely and with confidence. The following websites also provide helpful information about staying safe online:
https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/ how to let your child make the most of the internet while remaining safe.
https://www.childnet.com/ Childnet International is a non-profit organisation working with others to help make the internet a great and safe place for children.
https://www.ceop.police.uk/Safety-Centre/ If you are worried about online abuse or the way someone has been communicating online let CEOP know. If you have any questions about how to support your child in staying safe online, please don’t hesitate to contact school.

Parent Consultations – diary date Parent consultations will take place the first week after half term, the week beginning 4th November. Further information to follow next week.

Harvest Assembly and Donations Reverend Allen came in on Tuesday for our harvest assembly where he talked about the importance of sharing what we have. Thank you for your donations for the foodbank in Liskeard so far. We are continuing to collect donations until half term. If you would like to donate, please send your donation in with your child or bring it to reception where there is a collection box. There is also a collection point in the nursery. 

Spooky Discos Reminder that we will be holding Spooky school discos on Thursday 24th October, the last day of this half term. 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.

Have a good weekend.

Mrs Hillman

We have thoroughly enjoyed PE this week! On Tuesday, we continued developing our Yoga skills with Mrs Phillips. Just look at how flexible we are! On Wednesday, Mr Langley joined us for our PE, and we had a fantastic session practising being attackers and defenders.

We continued our enquiry this week, 'what makes the world go around?' in Geography, by learning the water cycle. We sketched our own diagrams and were able to recall the key vocabulary. Can you remember how the water cycle works? In Art, we used our texture rubbings to create a frottage of a flower. We had to carefully tear our paper to create the shapes we wanted for our flowers. 

In English, we finished writing up our character descriptions of Plop and began our non-fiction unit, where we will be writing non-chronological reports on owls. We have already identified features using WAGOLL's and started planning for writing, by recording facts about owls for our reports. 

Year 2 have been working hard on addition this week, using their number bond knowledge to support their learning, use number lines to add by making 10 and adopting strategies to add three numbers together. Year 3 have been adding and subtracting 1s, 10s and 100s across and making connections with their understanding of addition and subtraction to answer questions. 

On Thursday, we wore Yellow in support of World Mental Health Day! We spoke about who we could speak to if we were worried about our mental health and spent time doodling things that make us happy. 

Congratulations to Emma for being chosen as Landaviddy's Person of the Week! And a big well done to Lowen J for achieving his 33 club badge!

Enjoy a lovely weekend, and we will see you refreshed on Monday! 

Mrs Wilkie, Mrs Phillips, Miss Bowden and Miss Colton

Hello Everyone!

We enjoyed a lovely end to the week today, when the children sat outside in the sunshine, eating some freshly-made bread that they had just baked. 

The Reception children have used 'The Little Red Hen' story to inspire their English lessons this week, and they finished, by following instructions to make bread, just like the little Red Hen did.

It has been lovely to see the children continuing to enjoy their library books and choosing to read during their choosing time. We keep discovering children quietly reading in all sorts of places, such as self-made dens, or reading in tents with torches.

Year 1 have surprised themselves with how talented they are at sketching. They began by experimenting with sketching pencils, drawing different lines, as well as blending and hatching. They finished the lesson by sketching their own faces. The results were impressive. Well done everyone!

Reception have really been making progress with their phonics over the last few weeks. Not only are they remembering the sounds that they have been learning, but they are also beginning to blend and read words independently. Please keep practicing reading your Twinkl phonics books and your own reading books at home everyone. New phonics reading books are sent home every week, so please look out for them in your child's reading folder.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

From the Penhallow team

TALLAND'S BLOG 11.10.24

The eggs-perts have been in along with the results and it's safe to say we should all brush our teeth twice a day AND avoid drinking too many sugary drinks. Water wins the day!

Maths:
Both year groups have continued with subtraction and addition - now would be a great time to quiz them on what they have learnt so far - why not ask them to solve some addition problems?

English:
We have just started looking writing a narrative. We've been pulling apart some of the features this week to help us understand what a great piece of narrative writing requires.

Art:
This, as always, was great fun! Talland were exploring different techniques and textures to apply to a page in order to create some amazing ideas for our mixed media piece we will soon create!

A huge well done to all of the children who were noticed this week for being responsible and BRILLIANT (Chilali, Thomas and Lily)!  

That all from us - we hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Signing off rom Mr. Langley, Mr. Bishop and Miss. Colton.

A Fun Filled Week in Tregantle!

What a busy week it's been - we've been non-stop! The week started with our wonderful Harvest Festival celebration. It was so nice to come together as a school and community and take the time to give thanks for all that we have. The children's singing was breath-taking! Our EYFS children have begun the 'brighter smiles' project which has been very exciting. We have been learning how to clean our teeth effectively and are now brushing our teeth at school every day to support good oral hygiene. On Thursday we had a really great day observing mental health awareness day. The children looked magnificent in their yellow clothes and accessories and we took time out to practice some relaxation techniques while listening to calming music. We have also been busy learning some new songs about the traditional story 'The Princess and the Pea.' We are really looking forward to joining together with some other schools to sing our songs together next week. On top of all of these exciting things the children have continued to work incredibly hard in their lessons. The children are become experts at recognising and writing all of the sounds we have learnt and have started to blend these sounds to read simple words - amazing!