Kindness catcher elf
The children received a very special delivery in Celebration Assembly on Friday!  A kindness elf has been sent by Father Christmas to spot kindness throughout our school, to report back to the North Pole.  He will be visiting every class during his stay.  He set the children the task of choosing him a name, so we look forward to hearing the suggestions next week!

Snow closure
Thank you for your understanding, and for coming so promptly to collect your children when we had to close due to the snow. We always try to be open for our families, but on this occasion we made the difficult decision to close, due to dangerous conditions on surrounding roads, and staff shortages due to the closure of other schools attended by the children of our staff.

Keeping contact details updated
Please can we ask that you let us know straight away if any contact numbers (including those of other people named on our system as your emergency contacts) have changed, as we have had several occasions this term where we have struggled to contact a parent/emergency contact by phone.

Nativity costumes and tickets Classes 1-4
Just a reminder that Nativity costumes are needed in school on Monday 4th December. Tickets have now been allocated and will be sent home on Monday. We still have some available for Tuesday 12th at 9.15am.

Christmas Parties/Save the Children Fundraiser (whole school)
Tuesday 19th December is our ‘Christmas Jumper Day’ (or any home clothes if your child doesn’t want to wear Christmas themed clothing) to raise money for Save the Children, with a suggested donation of £1. We will be having our Christmas parties that afternoon and would be very grateful for small donations of cakes, biscuits, crisps, cut fruit and vegetables. Please bring these to school on the day. If anyone is able to donate party plates, or small prizes for party games, please bring these to the school office next week.

Christmas cards postbox
Children can now post these in the postbox in our winter wonderland by the school office! Please help the elves to sort these by putting full names/class numbers where known. Pre-school cards can be handed to staff. Unfortunately we are unable to give class name lists out, due to GDPR rules.

We hope that you have a wonderful weekend! 
Mrs Abigail Oliver (Head of School)

Staffing News

We are delighted to announce that Mrs Horn will be returning from maternity leave to Class 1 on Tuesday 19th December. She has already spent some time with the Class 1 team this week, and will be in again over the next few weeks to get to know the children.  This sadly means that Mrs Westacott will be leaving us on that date, but we will be seeing her again as a supply teacher. She has had a huge impact on the learning of all the children that she has taught and we have been very lucky to have her on our team.

Bridge Trust Dodgeball Stars

Congratulations to the children who represented Pelynt at the Bridge Trust Dodgeball competition, where we came second!


Art with Sean Hewitt

As you may remember, the weather delayed our plans for the children in classes 3 and 4 to create a garden wall mural with artist Sean Hewitt in our Amazing Animals enrichment week.  We’ve finally managed to get started, this time on a big board that will be attached to the wall.  Across the week, Sean has been working with classes 3 and 4 to create a stunning piece inspired by the jungle art of Rousseau.  We can’t wait to see the finished mural.  This is a picture of what they’ve done so far!

Nativity Lines Learning

Preparations for our Nativity are well underway.  This week we have been starting to put the words and songs together.  We can really see that many of the children have worked hard already to learn their parts, so thank you for your support.  If your child has lines to learn, please help us by reading the lines that come before your child’s, so that he or she can get used to when to speak. 

FOPS Fundraising Christmas Party at Tredudwell Manor

FOPS are currently raising money for their theatre project.  A wonderful evening has been organised at Tredudwell Manor, Lanteglos on 8th December from 6.30pm until midnight.  There will be music by DJ Buckwild and food courtesy of Holy Molé Taco Truck.  See flyer in the newsletter for more details. Thank you to Valerie and Justin Shakerley for hosting!

 

We hope that you have a lovely weekend,

Abigail Oliver (Head of School)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Children in Need
An enormous thank you to our wonderful children and staff for their fundraising efforts. We raised a phenomenal £1117.37! A special thank you to the children on our School Council, and Mrs Forbes for organising the activities. We all had lots of fun playing bingo, taking the Joe Wicks Burpees Challenge and tackling the round the field fun run. Money raised will support children across the UK, including many in Devon and Cornwall. Organisations who will benefit from the fundraising include: Plymouth and District Deaf Children’s Society; Disability Cornwall; Penhaligons Friends; CLEAR Emotional Trauma Therapy and Hayle Youth Project.

Anti-Bullying Week
This week we have been exploring what is meant by bullying, how we can prevent it happening in our school and talking to a trusted adult. We have found the resources from the Anti-Bullying Alliance to be very helpful. There is a link to some useful resources for parents in our newsletter this week.  

Nativity
Please remember to put your requests in for tickets for the Nativity performances, which are on Monday 11th December at 2pm and Tuesday 12th December at 9.15am. This is for children in classes 1-4.

Individual and sibling photos Thursday 23rd November
Please make sure that your child is in school uniform on this day. If they normally have PE, please can this be brought into school in a bag. Any Pre-School children who do not normally attend on a Thursday morning are welcome to come into school with their parent/carer at 9am to have their photo taken.

Facebook
Following requests from our parent survey last year, we have started a private Facebook Group. This will be an additional way to share learning and events with you. Emails/newsletters will continue to be our main form of information sharing. Please follow the link sent by Mrs Thompson and answer the security questions.

We hope that you have a really lovely weekend!
Abigail Oliver (Head of School) 

Remembrance Assembly
On Friday, the children came to school in red and black, proudly wearing their poppies.  They attended a special Remembrance assembly at church with Reverend Allen, which included observing a two-minute silence and laying a wreath at the village memorial. Class 4 wrote the names of fallen soldiers from Pelynt on wooden crosses and positioned these around the memorial. The sun shone as Pre-School and Class 1 added their beautiful poppy crafts to the display. The children have explored war and Remembrance Day in age appropriate ways this week, making us very proud by approaching the topic with sensitive curiosity.

KS1 Sports Event at Looe Community Academy
A huge well done to the KS1 children who took part in a range of sporting challenges at Looe Community Academy this week!

Children in Need Friday 17th November 
School Council have been working with Mrs Forbes to plan their fundraising for Children in Need. Details can be found on this week's newsletter and include dressing up, bingo, Joe Wicks Bearpees Challenge and a funrun!

Nativity
Children in classes 1 - 4 took home letters on Friday with details of the character that they will be playing in this year’s Nativity, and costume requests. Children with lines to learn also took their scripts home. The performances are on Monday 11th December at 2pm and Tuesday 12th December at 9.15am. A letter with more information about tickets will be coming home next week.

We hope that you have a really lovely weekend!
Abigail Oliver (Head of School)

Paignton Zoo Science and Art Trip
Children in classes 1-4 enjoyed a fantastic day learning about the diverse range of animals at Paignton Zoo on the last day before the holiday, as part of our ‘Amazing Animals’ enrichment week. The children have produced some stunning pieces of art linked to the trip, a taster of which you can see here. The children also enjoyed a wonderful writing workshop and interactive story session with conservation-themed author Ellie Jackson (who started as a Teaching Assistant with us this week!). Unfortunately we had to postpone our Rousseau themed jungle art in the garden with artist Sean Hewitt, due to bad weather, but will be doing that in the next few weeks.

FOPS Amazing Animals Colouring Competition Winners
Congratulations to the following children, for their beautiful animal pictures and thank you to FOPS for their prizes. We raised £31!
Pre-School: Reggie, Class 1: Lowena, Class 2: Jack, Class 3: Ruby, Class 4: Scarlett

Remembrance Friday 10th November
We would like the children to come to school wearing something red and/or black. We have a wide selection of poppy themed items to wear with their outfit, available at the School Office (suggested donation of £1 for two items). The children will be having their assembly in church that day with Reverend Allen, and will lay a wreath at the memorial. Please note that there is no Family Friday for Class 1 that day.

Open Day Monday 6th November 9.30-11.30am
We still have some availability on our school tours. If you have a child at Pre-School, please come along. Please also spread the word to friends who are undecided about Pre-School or school choices, or anyone who you know is looking to move to the area. 

Maths Development
Members of staff from the 14 schools that make up the Bridge Trust met for an inspirational day of professional development relating to maths at Wadebridge Primary Academy on the INSET day. Staff are also currently completing training in maths mastery, as a focus for our school development this year. Please support our initiatives in school by helping your child to learn their KIRFS (Key Instant Recall Facts) at home. Please contact the school office if you need these to be emailed again. We will be continuing to show the children just how exciting and creative maths is in our maths enrichment week later in the year.

Finally, thank you to everyone for braving the weather on Thursday. We hope that you have a lovely weekend, fingers crossed for some dry weather for fireworks!
Abigail Oliver (Head of School)

Harvest
We started the week with a wonderful Harvest celebration at church. The children were fantastic, singing every song with great enthusiasm! Thank you for your very generous food donations, which have been delivered to the Looe and Liskeard foodbank.

World Mental Health Day
On Tuesday we celebrated World Mental Health Day, with class discussions and a special assembly exploring different ways that we can support ourselves, and each other, to have positive mental health at home and school. This included our Mental Health Lead, Mrs Dan teaching the children relaxation exercises.

Parent/Carer Consultations
These were held at Pre-School and school this week. We hope they provided you with a clear picture of how your child has settled into his/her new class, his/her progress and an opportunity to share any concerns that you may have. If you were unable to attend, please contact your child’s teacher to arrange a meeting or phonecall. Please also get in touch via secretary@pelyntprimary.co.uk should you wish to discuss anything arising from your meeting with me, or our SENDCO, Mrs Prinn.

Amazing Animals Enrichment Week
We are all really looking forward to our special animal themed enrichment activities next week! On Monday 16th October classes 2 - 4 will have animal themed writing workshops and Class 1 will have a story session with author Ellie Jackson. She will be selling her books at the reduced price of £5 during the day. If your child would like to buy a book, please provide £5 in a named envelope. The stall will remain open at the end of the day for Pre-School families, or for children in classes 1 - 4 to purchase additional books. Artist Sean Hewitt will also be in school across next week to work with Class 3 and 4 to create a wonderful mural in our garden, inspired by the animal paintings of Rousseau. We would be very grateful for any donations of old adult shirts/t-shirts for the children to wear over their clothes for this activity. The week finishes on Thursday 19th October, with our trip to Paignton Zoo for classes 1 - 4, where we will have science and environmental workshops and learn how to draw animals. Children need to be in school at 7.45am please, and will return at approximately 4.15pm.

A reminder that school is closed for an INSET day on Friday 20th.

Abigail Oliver (Head of School)

SEND Meetings
Next week we are holding meetings for parents and carers of children with an ADPR document (Assess, Do, Plan, Review) to talk through new targets and how we are supporting your child to achieve these. If this applies to your child, and you have not done so already, please make an appointment directly with your child’s teacher. If you can’t make next week, he or she will be happy to see you on another date in the next few weeks.

Pre-School and School Parent/Carer Consultations
Appointments are 10 minutes long and a chance for you to discuss how your child has settled into the new year, progress made, areas to improve, learning attitude and friendships. Pre-School appointments are available at Pre-School between 9-9.30am and 2-3pm on Monday 9th-Friday 13th October. Please book these directly with Mrs Gravener and Mrs Rickard. For classes 1-4, please email secretary@pelyntprimary.co.uk with your child’s name, class and preferred time periods by Wed 4th October.

Tuesday 10th October:         3.30–4pm   4-4.30pm
Wednesday 11th October:   3.30-4pm     4-5pm         5-6pm
Thursday 12th October:        3.30–4pm   4-4.30pm

When you come for your appointment, please enter the school through the Class 2 doors, go through to the hall and wait for your child’s teacher to collect you. Your child’s work will be set out for you to look at before or after your appointment. We would like to talk with the parents/carers of every child, so if you are unable to come into school and would prefer a phone call, please let us know. Please note that no clubs will run on these days, apart from Pelynt Pirates.

Harvest Monday 9th October at 2.30pm, St Nun Church
Families and friends are invited to our church Harvest celebration with Reverend Allen. We would be very grateful for donations of tins/dried foods, to build a mountain on the altar! These will support local people experiencing poverty, via the Liskeard and Looe Foodbank.

We hope that you have a lovely weekend,
Abigail Oliver (Head of School)