Apart from the weather disruption, it's been a very calm and purposeful first week back to school. Thank you once again for your support yesterday afternoon and this morning.


Digital Safety
We regularly post and share with our community information to support children staying safe online and being digitally responsible. Dame Rachel de Souza, Children's Commissioner, has published a new guide to share with parents/carers - What I wish my parents or carers knew: A guide for parents on managing children's digital lives (link emailed home).
Please do take a look at this guide as part of our shared responsibility (schools, families and wider society) in balancing protecting children from online harm whilst enabling access to spaces that are now central to learning, socialising and play.

FOWPA - AGM & The Great Wadebridge Primary Academy Quiz
Our AGM is being held on Monday 26th January, 6pm - all welcome to attend. Location to be confirmed.

The Great Wadebridge Primary Academy Quiz - Friday 30th Jan, 7pm, Wadebridge Town Hall
Get your team together, dust off those thinking caps, and join us for a brilliant evening of quizzing at The Great Wadebridge Primary Academy Quiz. Organised by FOWPA and hosted by everyone's favourite quiz master, Robin Moorcroft, it promises to be a night full of fun, friendly competition, and plenty of laughs. There'll be a bar open throughout the evening, prizes for the top teams, and a fantastic raffle featuring beautiful hampers packed with goodies. It's the perfect chance to enjoy a great night with friends and support a wonderful cause.

Spaces are limited, so book your table early to avoid missing out. £20 per table - maximum of six people

Book your table here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1980033460381?aff=oddtdtcreator

Every ticket sold helps support Wadebridge Primary Academy, funding projects and resources that make a real difference to the children.
From FOWPA

House Points
Congratulations to this week's winners, Choughs. Overall, Choughs maintain the lead:
Choughs - 5525
Puffins - 4907
Swans - 4659
Cormorants - 4232

PE Days from January 2026
Nursery: Monday & Tuesday
Reception: Friday
Year 1: Friday
Year 2: Thursday
Year 3: Friday
Year 4: Tuesday
Year 5: Wednesday
Year 6: Thursday

Best wishes,
Chris Wathern

Friday 9th January- Happy New Year

We have had a wonderful start back to school this week. The children must have had Christmas magic sprinkled on them as they have grown over the holidays and have come back so determined to explore and learn! 
Our big question for this half term is: What would it be like if the world were frozen?

THis week the children have explored polar regions and made pictures, they have made icicles from small parts, used pencil control to follow lines and make a snowy picture, painted lasagna sheets in frosty colours ready to make a polar collage next week and so much more! 

In phonics we have started to learn level 3 phonemes and write the graphemes and the children have been trying so hard to write CVC words that include our sounds of the day! 

In maths we have been exploring zero. We have completed activities including zero or not zero. The children are really beginning to use mathematical thinking and full mathematical sentences when answering questions! we have a class of mathematicians! 

In outdoor learning this week we went on an ice hunt! It had all melted by the time we got there but we found some wonderful things in our forest area. 

On Thursday we were so lucky to have M and M productions visit us and put on a wonderful pantomime- Snow White! We had so much fun and it has really got us excited to start our English learning journey on Snow White! Wonderful wow work coming soon! 

Welcome back, and Happy New Year to you all. We are delighted to welcome our new families and six new pupils to our school community.

Thank you for your patience and understanding when the school opened later than usual on Tuesday and again yesterday when we closed early as a precaution due to the storm. Our caretaker, Mr Sands, has been checking the school premises and repairing any damage caused by the weather. I am pleased to report that the greenhouse remains intact which means the children will be able to continue growing their own fruit and vegetables as planned when Gardening Club resumes next half term.

Clubs The Girls' Football Club for pupils in Years 3-6 will begin on Tuesday 13th January. Other clubs will start the week commencing Monday, 19th January as follows:
Monday: Lunchtime Mindfulness and Colouring Club (Mrs Wilkie) for all year groups
After School Running Club (Miss Bowden and Mrs Turnbull) for years 3-6. This club is open to anyone who likes running however it will not run when the Cross-Country League races are on - next races 16th January)
Tuesday: Lunchtime Construction Club (Mrs Lister) Reception/Y1/Y2
After school Girls' Football Club (Y3-6) starts 13th January
Thursday: Lunchtime Choir (Mrs Butlin) Y2-6
After school Art Club (Mrs Fitzsimmons) Reception/Y1/Y2 (limited numbers, 1st come 1st served)
After school Football Club (Mr Langley) Y3-Y6

Please inform us by email or phone call, which clubs you wish your child to attend, by midday on Wednesday 14th January. For all clubs, once signed up children will be expected to attend every week unless they have written parental permission not to, or are absent. This applies to both lunchtime and after school clubs. Please note that gardening club will resume after half term.

What I wish my parents or carers knew..': A guide for parents and carers on managing children's digital lives The children's Commission has published a really useful guide 'What I wish my parents or carers knew..': A guide for parents and carers on managing children's digital lives. Written with children's input, it offers practical advice on setting firm, protective boundaries online and supporting children's safety and wellbeing in today's digital world. Click here to access the guide.

These are the main messages for you at the moment as we start back and we will send out further correspondence as needed, with a regular update each Friday. Further information regarding school is available on the Head's Blog and class blogs on our website and information about dates can be found in the Events Diary on this website.

Have a great weekend.

Mrs Hillman

Welcome back after the Christmas break. I hope you all managed to have some time to rest and relax at Christmas, whether it was with friends, family or others. This half term is a short one but we have lots to look forward to. We have a full half term with visitors, events and amazing learning. Watch this space for more details. Lots of our children received a letter from Anna Gelderd (our local MP) thanking them personally for their entry into the Christmas card competition. They should all be proud of themselves for their efforts! What a week for weather it has been from snow and ice at the start of the week, to a storm on Friday, it really has been an interesting start to the term! Thank-you to you all for your understanding in these challenging weather conditions. I know that decisions to close or open the school have a large impact on all of you. The safety of children, families and staff is paramount. Can I please urge you all to ensure that we have at least two contacts for each child including emails. This is to allow us to contact you in case of an emergency. Finally, following interviews this week, I am delighted to let you know that we have appointed Mrs A Colquhoun as a replacement for Miss Bawden. She has been working in the school for a while now and already knows the children and has many years of experience that she will bring to Darite. She will be a welcome addition to the team at Darite.

What a crazy first week back of this Spring term! Even though we had a late start on Tuesday and an early finish on Thursday, we have managed to learn so much. 

In Maths, we have been adding and subtracting mixed numbers and multiplying fractions by integers. We are really making progress and looking forward to moving onto finding fractions of an amount next week.

In English, we have begun to immerse ourselves in the North American narrative THE MIDNIGHT FOX  by Betsy Byres. We are focusing on writing in character and will eventually re-write the ending through the perspective of the protagonist.

Our enquiry this half term is HOW DOES NORTH AMERICA COMPARE WITH EUROPE? and we have begun to identify the countries in North America and the differences in their climates. For Science we are looking into electricity and have been creating and testing simple circuits. Next week we will learn how to draw circuits using technical diagrams and symbols.

Congratulations to Tristan and Joey for being our People of the Week, demonstrating our school values and to Immy for achieving her 77 Club badge.

That's all from us so have a lovely weekend and see you all on Monday!

Miss Randle and Mrs Clary

Ice and Snow

Welcome back everyone! It's been wonderful to see Tregantle Class full of smiles and enthusiasm as we've started the new spring term.

What an interesting week it's been - from icy mornings to stormy afternoons, the weather has certainly kept us on our toes!

Our new topic, 'Ice and Snow,' has been the perfect way to embrace the chilly start to the year. The children have been fascinated exploring how ice is formed - and with the frosty weather at the start of the week, we had the perfect real-life example right outside our classroom! There's been lots of fun and imagination too: we've been playing in our class 'igloo' and creating our very own beautiful paper snowflakes.

We've begun our new story, 'Lost and Found,' which is all about a penguin who becomes lost and the adventure that follows. The children have really enjoyed meeting the characters and sharing their ideas about what might happen next.

It's been a fantastic start to the term - full of curiosity, creativity, and excitement. It's great to be back learning together at school!

Today, our wonderful children at Brunel Primary and Nursery Academy enjoyed a truly inspiring Aspiration Day. We were delighted to welcome a fantastic number of volunteers from our parent body and wider town community into school to share their experiences and talk about their occupations.

The children were engaged, curious, and full of thoughtful questions as they listened to the many different journeys and careers represented.

It was a powerful reminder of how important it is for our pupils to see the wide range of possibilities open to them and to dream big about their futures.

It really was an incredible day, and it would not have been possible without the generosity of time, enthusiasm, and support from our community.

A huge thank you to all the parents, volunteers, and community members who came into school and helped make this day so special for our children.

Happy New Year!

We hope you have had a wonderful Christmas break with your families and friends. We are looking forward to a wonderful Spring Term here at Brunel. Welcome to this week's edition of The Brunel Bulletin.

This is your weekly update of all the latest news and events from our wonderful school. We hope you enjoy browsing through the 53rd edition of our newsletter. We have had a wonderful week back to school which has included our Aspiration Day today.

What an action packed first week back it has been, but not for the reasons we were hoping for! With snow and ice disruption for many on Tuesday and an early school closure yesterday due to Storm Goretti, it has been less than perfect. However, the children have been brilliant, taking it in their stride and settling very quickly and calmly into their learning. It was lovely to see them all this week and hopefully we will be back to normal routines from now on - fingers crossed!
Spring may be the the shortest term but is is no less action packed. Here is a flavour of what we have to look forward to:

- Year 5 & 6 football league at Callington College (Year 3 & 4 after half term)
- Rocksteady will continue with multiple band sessions
- Pro20 Sports will offer two after school sports clubs again
- Class 3 will be visiting Truro Museum
- Several more cross country races
- Class 4 will be planting trees at Cotehele as part of our involvement in an exciting project with the George Orwell Society
- Year 1 & 2 swimming after half term
- Barrow Beats to sing to Callington Luncheon Club
- Year 1 & 2 participation in a multiskills event at Callington College
- Participation in a Bridge music event in Liskeard with Canadian environmental folk singer Luke Wallace
- Barrow Beats to participate in Songfest
- Class 1 trip to the Theatre Royal

In between gritting the paths around the site and closing the school early due to Storm Goretti, I have had the more pleasurable task of wandering around the classes this week to see how children have re-engaged with their learning.  I was  blown away by the levels of engagement and progress in maths; there is some really fantastic work across all classes in this subject. Here are some examples from Ella Chapman's book in Year 2. Ella received a Praise Award in Celebration Assembly today for her efforts in maths. We will be inviting you all to join us again for one of our morning maths sessions in the weeks ahead so you can see how your children are progressing. Please remember, for your child to make this most of these short morning maths sessions, they need to arrive at school promptly for 8.40am.



Another activity I observed was the weekly reading partner session, where our Year 6 Learning Ambassadors read books to their Class 1 partner. This activity is beloved of both age groups and helps establish that love of books from a young age. Thank you to our Class 4 children, who do an amazing job with this.


Finally, we welcomed a new member into our school community this week. This is Bob the positive potato!

Each week, Bob will be joined by members of the Positive Potato Police (members of Class 4) who will be looking for examples of positivity from a child's perspective. He will then feedback what he has seen to teachers so they can reward identified children appropriately for their contribution to the school. Today, Seth was nominated by Eli and Josh from the Positive Potato Police for his positive contribution at playtime. Well done to Seth and thank you to Eli and Josh for a positive story to share in our Celebration Assembly. I look forward to sharing some more positive stories as identified by Bob and the Positive Potato Police in the term ahead. 

What a first week back to nursery it has been! From ice and snow to high winds it has certainly been an eventful few days.

We have enjoyed welcoming all of the children back after the Christmas break and have been exploring Winter, what happens in winter, why it is cold and exploring which animals like the cold weather.

The children have been welcoming in the new year by making calendars to take home and creating painted ice skates.

We have enjoyed reading the stories "Snowball" and "The Snow Thief" at story time.

In phonics, the children have been listening to and trying to remember sounds, copying sequences of movement and exploring words that rhyme.
In maths, we are forming and learning to write numbers and creating marks that represent these numbers.

We hope you all enjoy the weekend ahead and will see you Monday.

The end to a great 2024!

Dear all!

Happy New Year!

We had a great finish to the Autumn Term last Year!  We finished our Egyptian topic by designing and making our own sarcophagus!

In geography, we made our own rivers to include the features associated with upper, middle and lower course rivers.  We used many different materials and they turned out well!

Not to mention all of the Christmas activities we did!  Our Gonks were something else! We hope that you enjoyed hanging them on your tree!

We have lots of exciting things to do this Spring!  We will keep you updated on all of the things we have done!

Time for a little festive fun!

December was a very busy month for Year 6! We had been greeted by a little snow - which got our excitement going - however, it was very short-lived and back to work we went!

In English, we researched Christmas around the world, producing non-chronological reports and in Maths, we finished our unit on metric and imperial measures. In Geography, we used a variety of sources to investigate land use in Cornwall - historical, present and (potential) future. 

In Science, we continued to learn about our circulatory system and carried out an investigation into what happens to gummy bears when we leave them in different solutions. Our findings were fascinating and helped us to understand the concepts of osmosis and diffusion to describe how nutrients are carried around our bodies.

In French, we finished our unit on the weather, by making a weather forecast report, as if we were French weather presenters and in Computing, we designed a computer of the future and made radio adverts to persuade people to buy them.

In the last week of term, we joined the other juniors and infants up the road for our Christingle service, where our families were invited to join us for some readings and lots of festive singing! We also said a very sad farewell to Miss Cunningham but wish her all the very best as she moves on to her next adventure!

Merry Christmas everyone and a very Happy New Year from all of us in Year 6! 

Hello Everyone,

A happy new year to you all.

We have had a short but busy week.
First of all, we welcome 2 new children into Year 2. Well done Penhallow, you have been very kind and welcoming to your new friends.

We have launched our new class enquiry question; 'What happens in the sky above us?' We have started to learn about the life of Amelia Earhart, the American aviator, who was one of the first women to gain her pilot's licence and fly across the Atlantic. As you can see from the photo, we are in the process of making an aeroplane for our role play area. We have enjoyed checking passports, flying through the air and bringing people their snacks and drinks whilst on board.

This week, we have also enjoyed a science lesson, in which we were able to investigate the flexibility of different materials. We used our skills of measuring accurately to find out how far different objects would stretch. 

Have a lovely weekend!

From The Penhallow Team

Happy New Year! Please see the newsletter below to find out what we'll be learning about this term.

December has been a wonderfully rich and creative month in school, filled with exciting learning experiences across the curriculum as we headed towards the festive season.

In English, the children enjoyed studying the much-loved story The Mousehole Cat. We focused on using adverbs to add detail and bring actions to life, as well as learning how to organise our writing clearly using paragraphs. The children impressed us with how they applied these skills to their own pieces of writing, showing growing confidence and creativity. We made a strong link with Design and Technology, where pupils designed and created beautiful lanterns, inspired by those in The Mousehole Cat. These lanterns were proudly displayed during our end-of-term Christingle service, creating a warm and magical atmosphere that everyone enjoyed.

In Art, we explored the technique of collage, experimenting with a range of different materials and mediums. As part of this learning, we took a brief look at the work of artist Hannah Höch, discussing her use of collage and how artists can combine materials to create meaning and interest.

During PE, children consolidated and refined their gymnastics skills, exploring different ways of moving on and off apparatus. They practiced linking movements smoothly, both independently and with a partner, demonstrating teamwork, balance, and control.

In RE, we learned about the Holy Trinity and its significance for Christians, particularly in relation to baptism. Thoughtful discussions helped deepen understanding of this important belief.

Our French lessons focused on speaking about activities using the verb "Je peux", building confidence in simple conversational language.

Finally, in Science and Geography, we explored rocks and volcanoes, learning how rocks are formed and how the movement of the Earth's tectonic plates can affect human life. It has been a fantastic end to the term, and we are very proud of all the children's hard work and enthusiasm.