May

In May, we have been enjoying some beautiful sunshine. This month, we've been focusing on developing our gross motor skills both indoors and outdoors in the warm weather. During Hall Time, we practice our climbing, balancing, and strength exercises. We have also used these skills outside.

This term, our theme has been "People Who Help Us." It has been fun learning about the jobs of veterinarians, medical professionals, police officers, firefighters, and dentists.

In Science, we have been exploring scientists and inventors, including Ole Kirk Christiansen, who invented Lego. We had a great time creating our own Lego inventions. We also learned about George Mottershead, whose dream was to build a "zoo without bars" after witnessing an elephant chained behind bars as a child. He was the founder of Chester Zoo.

Much planting has taken place this month, including cucumbers, strawberries, sunflowers, and wildflowers. We are excited to watch them grow over the next few months.

Happy Half Term!

This week, we have been working hard on finishing up our letters to King Charles on plastic pollution. These will be prepared to be sent after half term. Fingers crossed we get a royal reply! We have also continued working on Fractions in Maths, with Year 2 finding quarters and thirds, and Year 3 finding fractions of amounts.

Preparations for Polperro Festival have begun! Please make sure you practise your speaking parts, dance moves and My Lighthouse song. Here are some links which should help you!

Walk like an Egyptian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr6fOhS123s 
My Lighthouse song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFBZJGSgyVQ

Congratulations to Benjamin and April for being Landaviddy's People of the Week! And a big well done to Jemima for achieving her 99 club badge! 

We hope you have a wonderful half term holiday and come back feeling refreshed on Monday 2nd June 2025. 

Mrs Wilkie, Mrs Phillips, Miss Bowden and Miss Colton

TALLAND’S BLOG 25.5.25

Wishing you all a brilliant week off and can’t wait to see you all for our final half term.

CONGRATULATIONS to Lily and Everly for earning their next badge in 99 club and great effort to the whole of Talland class for a super half term.

Thought we would show you some of our best bits from this half term. We hope you enjoy!

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

This week, Seaton class enjoyed using the microbits in their computing lesson. They showed off their coding skills by making different sounds and light patterns. 

Today Seaton class enjoyed their reading with Daymer class. It was wonderful to see them sharing books and enjoying the wonderful grounds we have. 

Nail painting!

Today was break the rules day so we ended it by painting our nails. Everyone joined in and I enjoyed seeing the different colours. A fun end to the half term!

Apologies for the absence of last weeks blog due to technical issues!  This is a roundup of our last 2 weeks of summer term 1 in pre-school.

We have completed our learning around our enquiry question ‘What do we like to eat?’

Lots of different fruits and vegetables have been tried throughout our snack time with the most popular ones being cucumber, grapes, peppers, watermelon and pineapple. The children were all keen to try everything!

We have had lots of discussions around what our favourite foods are, but also what we do not like and why.  Sometimes it can be the texture of a food, surprisingly many of the children did not like a tomato because they said it was too squishy on the inside.

We have looked at where our food comes from, and what foods we can grow in our gardens.  We have even planted some carrot seeds and a raspberry plant. We will keep watering and crossing our fingers that they grow!

This week we have been using food items to investigate ‘heavy’ and ‘light’, we then took this into our play and explore time with weighing pasta and rice on weighing scales. 

Outside time has been glorious with the beautiful weather we have had.  The children have enjoyed lots of water play, the sand pit, and the mud kitchen in our garden area. A lovely way for us adults to observe their social and language skills as they use their imaginations and interests to lead their play.

When we return after half term, we will have a new enquiry question ‘Where can we go on an aeroplane?’ We will explore holiday destinations, looking at world maps, what we may need to pack for a holiday depending on the climate, what we will see and hear in different countries.    
A fun topic to build on the children’s understanding of the world.

We return to pre-school on Monday 2^nd June, but a reminder that the Friday 6^th is another Inset Day. 
A newsletter was handed out this week but it will be attached below for anyone who has not received one.

Finally, if you wish to book a parent consultation to talk about how your child is doing in pre-school then please sign up on the appointment sheet in our entrance area. 

We hope all our children and families have a wonderful half term break.

The Pre-School Team.

Great Gardeners! 

What a wonderful final week we’ve had in Tregantle Class before the half-term break! The children have been busy, creative, and full of enthusiasm as we've rounded off a brilliant few weeks of learning. To bring our storytelling to life, we’ve been exploring the magical tale of Jack and the Beanstalk. Inspired by Jack’s adventure, the children planted their very own beans! We discussed what plants need to grow and each child carefully potted a bean to take care of. We can’t wait to see which ones grow as tall as the beanstalk in our story! Our young writers also put their skills to the test, producing some fantastic sets of instructions on how to plant a bean. From neat handwriting to clear step-by-step guidance, we were so impressed by the effort and thought that went into their work. Budding authors in the making! In PE, we had tremendous fun playing 'popcorn' – a game using the parachute and lots of bouncing balls! It was brilliant to see such great teamwork, energy, and laughter as everyone took part and encouraged each other.  To top off the week, we were treated to a very special music session with our music specialist, Sally Butlin. The children had a brilliant time exploring rhythms and sounds, and their enthusiasm for making music was infectious. A huge thank you to Sally for such a joyful and engaging session. We’re so proud of all the children for their hard work and enthusiasm this half term.
Have a lovely break, and we look forward to seeing you all refreshed and ready for more adventures next half term! 

Our final week of this Summer 1 term has flown by and Chaipel have been learning about Darwin's Theory of Evolution. We began by investigating his findings on finch adaptation, how their beaks have adapted to suit the food they have available. We then conducted an experiment into what this would look like, using a range of tools to replicate the size and shape of the beaks.

ENGLISH
We have completed our best copy write-up for our Tudor narratives. Everyone has done an incredible job and have written a story to be proud of. We are moving onto constructing a balanced argument on whether we are doing enough to fight the effects of Climate Change.

WIDER CURRICULUM
We have been practising our dolphin technique in swimming this week. In RE we have been looking into how Christians put their belief in Jesus into practice and in Geography, we have been charting Darwin's journey on HMS Beagle.

Congratulations to Lily and Isaac for being our People of the Week, demonstrating our school values and being exceptional role models.

Enjoy your half term break and see you all back for the final part of our term on Monday 2nd June!

Miss Randle, Mrs Clary, Miss Hodge and Miss Colton.

Thursday afternoon we came today in our TEAMS from Preschool to Year 6 to start our Sports Day preparations! We designed our TEAM banners, practised our TEAM chants and had some time together to get to know each other better. We are hoping to come together again soon as the children enjoyed this mixed age afternoon so much. Well done BEARAH, CHEESEWRING, KILMAR and SHARPTOR!

  Lights, Camel, Action!

This week, we’ve been putting on our reporter hats and learning how to create a news report—and the subject we covered was the desert biome. Desert biomes are fascinating places, and they have so much to teach us about how plants, animals, and even people survive in such an extreme environment. We learned how people use the desert in very unique ways, for instance, the military to fly supersonic fighter aircraft. Not only did we learn about the desert, but we also got to use video techniques to create our very own news reports. We used a range of techniques which included close-up, panning shot and long shot.

This week in French, we've been learning some super useful phrases that you can use every day, especially when you're talking about things around your home! Whether it's in the kitchen, the living room, or even the garden, these French phrases will help you talk about all the places and things you see in your house, for example: Les Phrases de la Maison (House Phrases) When you talk about your house in French, it’s really helpful to know a few key phrases to get started. Here are some that we’ve learned: Où est… ? (Where is…?) Voici ma maison. (Here is my house.) Ma chambre est… (My room is…) Il y a… (There is…) Je suis dans… (I’m in…)

Great job this week, Talland Class! You’ve learned some really useful skills in video camera usage, you understand how people make use of the barren land of the desert and are able to use some French phrases to talk about your home, and now you can practice using them to describe the rooms and things around you. Keep practicing, and soon you’ll be able to talk about everything in French—right from your own house! Keep up the fantastic work, and remember: Pratiquez, pratiquez, pratiquez! (Practice, practice, practice!) À bientôt (See you soon - after half term)!

best wishes, Mrs Swabey, Mr Parry and Mrs Walters.

May has been all about Sir Francis Drake!
We have enjoyed learning all about why he is famous, especially in our locality.
Our topic culminated in a fantastic trip to Buckland Abbey today in the sunshine. We drove via Tavistock and spotted the statue on the roundabout. Then we had a tour of the house and found out lots about Sir Francis Drake and his extraordinary life. We also got to dress up in Tudor clothes and learnt how to wear ruffs, doublets and shifts!
Have a look at our wonderful photos.

In Science we have learned about plants and enjoyed dissecting seeds and bulbs. Then we planted some seeds in different conditions and observed what happened. 
In Art we are learning all about Van Gogh and discussing his work. We have been sketching pictures of the sunflowers and we are painting them in the style of the artist ready for our art exhibition in June.

What a wonderful half term it has been at Brunel Primary and Nursery Academy. At 3:10pm today, we close our doors for the start of the half term break. Our school will reopen on Monday 2nd June for the second half of the Summer Term. We can't thank our whole community enough for your continued support. In the meantime, please enjoy this week's edition of the Brunel Bulletin. Have a wonderful half term break.

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This week we have been researching our own discussion texts in class.  We are very passionate from a range of subjects from whether there should be animal testing to whether vapes should be illegal.  Watch this space for examples of our work after we have had a chance to write up our texts after half term. 

We have also been practising ready for the cricket tournament which has been rescheduled for Friday 13th June 2025.  We are keeping fingers crossed for the weather and for a sunny day this time. 

We have also been learning about Queen Elizabeth's royal progress and imaging what it would have been like to be there.  Here is the opening from Lexi's writing which starts, " As the clock struck 10:00, I knew it was nearly time for our own monarch to come to town.  I was strictly forbidden to go and see our monarch but my curiosity got ahead of me.  Very quietly, I dressed in my very best Sunday clothes."

Just a reminder that next half term is swimming.  We will be swimming on Monday 2nd June at Mount Kelly pool.  Please make sure you send your child in with a swimming costume, goggles and a towel on this date. 

This half term has flown by and the children have spent so much time outside and in the pool. Let’s hope the weather continues after the half term break for the many activities we have planned for the final half term of the school year.

In our celebration assembly today, we had a visit from the Mayor of Polperro and Mrs Finnmore, our Chair of Governors, who presented prizes to the winners of the Polperro Festival programme cover competition. Very well done to our winners: Evie Penhallow Class; Amber Landaviddy Class; Flora Talland Class and Hamish Chaipel Class. Special congratulations to Flora, the overall winner, whose design will be on the cover of this year’s Polperro Festival Programme.

Clubs All clubs will start again straight after half term as follows:
Monday: After School Swimming Club (Mr Langley/Mrs Turnbull) for years 4, 5 and 6. This is for confident swimmers who can swim at least 25 metres using a recognised stroke. It will be run on a first come first served basis as the pool can only accommodate 15 pupils at a time. The club will take place even in cooler weather - we can provide wetsuits or children can bring their own on cooler days.
Tuesday: After school Alternative Sports (Mrs Hillman) for years 3-6 (to include swimming when the weather permits)

Thursday: After School Gardening Club for all ages (Miss Randle/Mrs Wilkie/Mrs Fitzsimmons, Mrs Peters)

Friday: After School Running Club (Mrs Turnbull/Miss Bowden) for years 2-6.

As usual, please email secretary@polperroprimary.co.uk to confirm which clubs your child would like to take part in. Please note that running club will include year 2 for this term and will revert to years 3-6 in September. There will be no running club on Friday 13th June. After School Alternative Sports Club will not run on the Polperro Festival’s School’s Day on 17th June.

Rainbow Run Cornwall 2025 Rainbow Run returns to RAF St Mawgan Newquay on Saturday 21 June 2025 and is open to anyone aged 5 years old and over. You can run, skip, walk or jog with family, friends or work colleagues and be showered in powder paint at 8 different colour stations while raising vital funds for Children’s Hospice South West. Please see attached poster for details.

Parent Champions Cornwall Council is looking for parent volunteers who give a few hours a week to talk to other parents about the local services available to them. Parent Champions can make a big difference by sharing their experiences and knowledge with other parents. Please see attached poster and FAQs for further information.

Upcoming dates Tomorrow is an INSET day. Friday 6 th June is an INSET day. School Class photos are on the morning of 10th June. The school will be performing at the Polperro School Festival Day on Big Green this year on Tuesday 17 th June. Sports Day is on 25th June (10am-12) with a reserve date of 27th June. These and other diary dates can be found on the Events Diary page.

As always, thank you for your support this half term. Have a lovely break and we look forward to seeing the children back in school on Monday 2nd June.

Mrs Hillman