Our chosen charities

We wanted to let the children choose which charities to support this year. We came up with lots of options and they then voted for their desired charity. For a local charity, we have chosen to support the Looe RNLI and for a nationwide charity, we have chosen to support the RSPCA. We invited the RSCPA in to educate the children on the charity. The children learnt about looking after animals and what they do when an animal comes into their care.

Stay tuned for our fundraisers over the year!

Remembrance

Our collective worship leaders supported Mrs. Pike in delivering a remembrance worship. We all came together to discuss the importance of remembrance and conducted the 2-minute silence whilst watching the different cities around the UK also showing their respect. One of our families went with Mrs. Pike to lay our own wreath at the war memorial in Morval. This day was a day to be thankful which is one of our Christian values. We talked about how thankful we were and are to those who have served or are serving their country.

Netball event at LCA

We were invited to attend Looe Community Academy for a netball event. We took two teams and they played against a number of other schools. We were thrilled with the effort from the teams learning new skills and following the rules of the game. They showed excellent team spirit/

Dates for your diary for the coming weeks:

Wednesday 19th November-Y5/6 residential meeting for children and parents at 5pm

Friday 21st November-PTFA Christmas Bingo. Eyes down at 7pm

Tuesday 25th November-PTFA Christmas Fair 1:30-4pm

Wednesday 26th November-Individual school photos including siblings

The weather had turned very chilly this week with us seeing lots of frost and ice on our outside equipment. We will be exploring more of the changes of transitioning from Autumn to Winter over the next couple of weeks.

We used our fine motor skills to carefully paint dotty snails using cotton buds and enjoyed using water colours to carefully paint minibeast pictures.

Our afternoon singing assemblies have been getting us used to hearing and singing some of the songs from Light, Camel, Action 2!  Although some of the songs are quite fast for us, the children have been getting good at joining the choruses.

The pre-school children are all 'Stars' in the Nativity performance. We will be making some sparkly star headbands for the children to wear. If you can dress your child in yellow and/or black clothes for the performance that would be appreciated.

If your child does not attend a Friday session, then they are welcome to join us in the church on the day.

The performance of Lights, Camel, Action 2, is on the last day, Friday 19^th December at 12.30pm, in the church.  Pre-School will have a light lunch at 11.30.  All children will then be collected from pre-school after the performance.

Wednesday 17^th December is Christmas Jumper Day, also the school Christmas Fair is in the hall from 2.00pm.  You are welcome to collect your child early to go over and attend and enjoy the stalls if you wish.

The Pre-School Team.

Hello everyone,

Christmas is coming and we have started to practice our Christmas nativity performance. The children all have their parts, and some of the older children in Penhallow may have taken home some lines to learn. Please help them at home if you can. We are all very excited to be performing this in a few weeks time. 

During our English lessons this week, we have been using the story 'Lost and Found' by Oliver Jeffers to improve our writing skills. So far, we have written thought bubbles for different characters in the story, described a lost toy, and written about what we would do, if we found a lost penguin. 

We have all learnt a poem this week, as part of our learning about Benjamin Zephania, for black history month. The poem is called 'Clever Trevor' and is about a footballer. We have enjoyed adding actions and expression to the poem.

In maths this week, Reception have enjoyed investigating 2D and 3D shapes, Year 1 have been learning about addition and subtraction fact families, and year 2 have been adding 2 digit numbers. 

We have also enjoyed plenty of time outside, learning and playing, despite the cold and changeable weather.

Have a lovely weekend!

from the Penhallow Team

What a week it has been! Nativity practice galore all wrapped up with the snow on Thursday when Class 2 managed to get out in time for the best part of the snow shower (?) in the morning. Can you believe it, we even managed a snow fight... of sorts!

In Literacy, we have all planned our traditional story in the style of the Gingerbread Man and cannot wait to begin using all our new language skills to write our story up next week. In Maths, we have finally completed our unit on Addition and Subtraction by completing our HOT TASK on Friday. I must say, I am very impressed with the progress everyone has made in their knowledge of addition and subtraction this term.

In Science, we continued our enquiry into the properties of material but setting up a fair test to compare the elasticity of different materials. In PSHE, we continued our unit on celebrating differences by discussing "Bullying." We discussed what bullying is and is not, and talked about what we could do if we see bullying in the school. Just have a look at some of the anti-bullying slogan they created for the gingerbread man's hat.

Finally, a very well done to:
> Finley for getting the Ready Award for his amazing work in Maths
> Ella for getting the Respectful Award for always using a respectful and polite voice in the classroom.
> Isla for getting the Safe Award for making sure our classroom is a safe environment for everybody by helping tidy up and following instructions.

CHOCO-TASTIC!

What an amazing week we have had. Play rehearsals are in full swing and everyone is getting into character!

In English, we are planning our Mayan narrative, altering the plot and characters as we go; I am looking forward to reading them. For Maths this week, Chaipel have been problem-solving as well as calculating missing angles. Next week, we will begin to delve into fractions!

Our trip to St Ives on Thursday was a huge success. We visited the Tate gallery and Barbara Hepworth sculpture museum, selecting our favourite sculpture for us to replicate out of clay. We then took part in a chocolate-making workshop at I SHOULD COCO. We put our knowledge of chocolate-making to the test; creating chocolate bars and lollypops, then decorating, piping and packaging them up. We had a great day and enjoyed sharing our yummy produce with our families!

Congratulations to TRISTAN for achieving his 66 Club badge and to Tabbi, Tristan and Aria for being our People of the Week, demonstrating our school values - particularly our focus one 'being curious'.

That's all from me so have a lovely weekend,

Miss Randle and Mrs Clary.

TALLAND'S BLOG 21.11.25

What a wonderful week it's been in Talland.. we have had a slight sprinkle of snow! Talland and Chaipel have been combining forces whilst learning lines and songs for our upcoming Christmas production - the children are very excited!

Here's a breakdown of our week:
Maths:
Year 5 have been continuing to add and subtract decimals with different amounts of tenths and hundredths. They have also solved problems involving angles and lengths.
Year 4 have been dividing by 10 and they have now completed their first SHAPE unit.

English: Talland have completed their fabulous poems about Ade Adepitan and have now started looking at Myths and legends: Beowulf is our inspiration and we've jumped in by using some fun acting games to help us remember the story.

History: Talland have explored the life of an Anglo - Saxon, where they would have lived, social classes and how they entertained themselves.

PE: Talland have had lots of fun playing Netball with Mrs. Hillman and we've played some exciting games in dodgeball, discussing what we can do to be effective throwers and dodgers.

CONGRATULATIONS to Callum this week for passing his next round in 99 club and WELL DONE to Amelia and Lowen for being noticed for showing our school values this week.

That's all from us in Talland this week. We hope you have a great weekend and can't wait to see everyone next week.

Signing off from Mr. Langley and Mr. Bishop.

Christmas play practice is in full swing. Please make sure you are learning your lines at home! Details about costumes will be shared next week.

Landaviddy have enjoyed beginning our new enquiry this week, 'What's new about the Stone Age?'. We started this unit by looking at timelines, putting the Stone Age into perspective. We were amazed to learn that prehistory extended for such a long period of time. In Art, we experimented with line drawing, sketching different British animals. We then looked at recreating some if the shapes and pictures from examples of cave art. In Computing, we created our own flipbooks to create our own simple animation. This was rather challenging as we couldn't get our books to flip smoothly. During PE, we have been enjoying Netball lessons with Mrs Hillman and practicing our attacking and defending skills. 

In Maths, we have been working hard on the column method when adding across 10 and 100's boundaries. This has required a lot of focus, and everyone has worked so hard on this. Next week, we will be moving on to subtraction and how we subtract across place value columns. 

In English, we have been writing our Stone Age narratives. We have been amazed by the language and determination all the children have demonstrated when writing. We hope to finish these off next week. 

Please find below the Homework Grid for Autumn 2. If you complete any of the activities, feel free to bring in your work to share with us. 

Congratulations to Sonny for being chosen as Landaviddy's Person of the Week. 

We hope you have a super weekend and look forward to seeing you next week. 

Mrs Wilkie, Mrs Lister and Miss Colton

Pupils in Chaipel Class visited St Ives yesterday, participating in a chocolate-making workshop linked to their Mayan Enquiry. They also explored the Tate Gallery and the Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden to enrich their art learning. We are very grateful to FOPS (Friends of Polperro School) for organising the fundraising that helps to subsidise these valuable educational experiences. Our quiz last week raised nearly £500, which will allow us to purchase trikes for our younger pupils. We will also be buying styluses for iPads, using funds already raised, to support learning across all of our classes.

A huge congratulations to Zoe Maycox, one of our wonderful grandparents, who has raised an incredible £750 for our school by completing her very own triathlon! We are so grateful for her amazing effort and generosity. We have exciting plans to put this money towards something very special for our school so watch this space!

Swimming Success Over the past two Friday assemblies, we have enjoyed celebrating the swimming achievements of Maeve, Hector and April who have each earned certificates and medals outside of school for their swimming distances. If your child has an achievement or interest they would like to share and celebrate with our school community, please let us know, and we will be delighted to include it in a future Friday assembly.

Christmas Wreath Making Workshop Please see attached a poster for a Christmas Wreath Making Workshop on Wednesday 10th December at 6:30pm in the Village Hall. This is kindly being hosted by Megan Fletcher on behalf of FOPS (Friends of Polperro School) with all profits going to School.

Book Fair Thank you for supporting our book fair so generously last week. It raised over £200, and we are delighted to have this much-needed extra funding to spend on new books for our pupils.

MHST SPACE Programme Please see attached a poster advertising the Mental Health in Schools Team (MHST) SPACE programme for parents/carers starting in January 2026. This programme is designed for parents/carers and will help with understanding and managing emotions, it will offer practical approaches to support children and cover some coping strategies.

Have a great weekend

Anthea Hillman

This week has been a very busy and exciting one for the children. In English, we have been learning all about writing clear instructions. We focused on using imperative verbs-our bossy words-and time connectives to help our writing flow in the correct order. The children especially enjoyed applying their new skills to something they know very well: how to make a jam sandwich! They loved talking through each step and making sure they didn't miss any important instructions.

In Maths, we have been exploring place value, concentrating on tens and ones up to 100. The children have been using place value charts, equipment, and drawings to show numbers in different ways, and they are becoming much more confident in recognising how numbers are built.

PE was a real highlight this week. The children became Chinese dragons, working together to move, weave, and perform just like the traditional dragons seen in celebrations. They particularly enjoyed creating their own dragon-inspired movements and performing them as a team.

In PSHE, our discussions focused on bullying. We talked about what bullying looks like, how it makes people feel, and what we can do if we ever see it happening. The children shared thoughtful ideas and showed great empathy during the conversation.

During Learning Adventure, we continued our work on historical events and acted out the story of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot. The children loved stepping into character and bringing the story to life through role play.

Reception have also had a wonderful week. They have been practising their special friends in phonics, working on number formation, and even wrote their very own letters to Father Christmas-a magical moment for everyone!

It's been another great week in Darite. The children loved having an assembly by "Rock Steady" on Wednesday with children (and staff) playing instruments in a rock band! There will be more information coming to you all soon as this group also run tuition. On Friday Class 2 had a willow-weaving workshop to create lanterns ready for next weekend's Liskeard Lights Up! The theme was "Anything Goes" and my word they had some great ideas. Thank you so much to Biddy for coming in to lead the day. The children had a great time and the lanterns look AMAZING! Next Thursday we have our whole-school trip to the Eden Project. There is no cost to this thanks to the amazing generosity of a member of the community. Please make sure that you have given permission for this trip on Parent Pay.

KS2 Cross Country
On Monday, we had great weather for the KS2 cross country event at Wadebridge School. All the children taking part were fantastic, showing great energy, commitment and perseverance. There were around 200 children competing and we achieved some amazing results including: Toby, Rory and George in the Year 3 and 4 race; Otis, Barney, Ellis and Isabella in Year 5; and Daisy was our first child home from Year 6. There were also some children taking part in their first KS2 cross country event and we were equally pleased with them for having a go and finishing the longer course. There will be another opportunity for children to run at the next event after Christmas.
From Mr Langton

Anti-Bullying Week & Children in Need
Last week was an incredibly busy and rewarding one at school. We marked Anti-Bullying Week with a whole-school assembly focused on kindness and respect, and everyone enjoyed taking part in 'Odd Socks Day' to celebrate individuality. The week ended on a high with Children in Need, where everyone helped raise an amazing £306.62 by wearing non-uniform. A huge thank you to all our families for their generosity and support in making these events such a success.

Congratulations Miss Johnston - KS2 Writing Moderator
We're really pleased to share that Miss Johnston has successfully trained to be a KS2 writing moderator for Cornwall Local Authority. Not only will this benefit our own school and the Trust, but Miss Johnston will be able to share her expertise more widely across Cornwall too.

Year 5 Green Ripple Project
For the first two weeks of this half term, Year 5 took part in the Green Ripple Project. This initiative gave them the chance to deepen their understanding of climate and nature while living out our values of Respect, Relationship, and Responsibility. Lucy, Becky and Shriya from RJ Working, who delivered the project, said that the children showed incredible passion for the environment and worked with great care and sensitivity in their groups. Class 5W rolled up their sleeves in the garden, clearing leaves, spreading fresh wood chips, and planting daffodil bulbs in the triangular bed at the back. Meanwhile, 5B created a fantastic bug hotel to support wildlife and also tidied up the polytunnel. Every child designed a wooden plaque with a personal message about caring for each other and for nature, ready to share with the whole school community. We are so proud of their enthusiasm and teamwork - what a wonderful way to make a positive impact.
From Mrs Orme

Year 6 World War Two Assembly
We were absolutely delighted to welcome so many of you to our Year 6 assembly yesterday. The children have been working incredibly hard this term to deepen their understanding of World War Two, and it was wonderful to see them share their learning with such confidence, creativity and enthusiasm. From powerful drama pieces to thoughtful reflections, the assembly truly showcased the children's knowledge and the effort they have put into this topic. The pride in their work was clear to see, and your presence made the experience even more special for them.
Aisling, summed up the morning perfectly: "I loved acting and sharing all our knowledge with all the adults. It made me feel really proud of what we've learned."
Thank you again for taking the time to support the children and for being such an engaged and encouraging audience, especially with the weather yesterday morning! We hope you enjoyed the assembly as much as we enjoyed performing it.
From The Year 6 Team

Year 3 Stay and Learn - Friday 28th November
We look forward to seeing family members of Year 3 at their maths-themed Stay and Learn next Friday 28th November. Doors open after morning drop off for refreshments, with a start time of 09:00. To help the morning drop-off routine, any Year 3 families driving are encouraged to park in the staff car park (double parking is fine).

MHST SPACE Programme for Parents/Carers - January 2026
MHST are organising a SPACE (Supporting Parents And Children Emotionally) programme for parents/carers starting in January 2026. This free programme is designed for parents/carers to better understand and support their children's emotions, offering practical approaches to support children and cover some coping strategies. Information has been shared via email today.

House Points
Congratulations to this week's winners, Puffins. Overall, Choughs maintain the lead:
Choughs - 4010
Puffins - 3607
Swans - 3343
Cormorants - 3185

Friday 21st November

Some of this week's wonderful exploration has included:

In English the children have been recalling their phonic knowledge and using a sound mat to write CVC words that they know form the story of The Little Red Hen. The children continue to practice their tripod grip and letter formation every day.

In maths we have been subitising to five and beyond! The children are becoming amazing mathematicians! We weave our maths learning through all of our daily activities, and we can really see some amazing progress.

We have been practicing our nativity this week and the children are simply wonderful we cannot wait to share it with you in a few weeks.

The children have also been exploring The Three Little Pigs this week, and they have: sequenced the story, made masks, dressed the pigs, completed maths counting based on the story, coloured pictures, made traditional tale castes from blocks, used the small world table to make up their own traditional stories and sooooooo much more!

We are looking forward to the icy weather so we can get outside more and explore ice crystals and frost so please send your child into school with appropriate clothing for the weather each day please.

Have a lovely weekend

The Foundation Team 

Thank You, Brunel Community!

A huge thank you to our whole school community for coming together to support Children in Need 2025.

Thanks to your kindness, enthusiasm and generosity, we raised an amazing £130!

From our pupils and families to our staff team, everyone played a part in making this a success.

Your support truly makes a difference, and we are incredibly proud of what we achieved together.

Well done, Brunel! 

#ChildrenInNeed2025 #BrunelPrimaryAcademy #SchoolCommunity #ProudToBeBrunel #TogetherWeCan #FundraisingSuccess

What a busy and exciting week it has been in Year 2 and 3! The children have shown wonderful curiosity, enthusiasm and teamwork across all areas of the curriculum, and we are very proud of their hard work. A flurry of snow was enjoyed for a brief moment today!

English

In English, we have been learning to become questioners-asking and answering thoughtful questions about the texts we read. This helps us understand stories more deeply and builds confidence in reading comprehension.

We have also continued developing our descriptive writing skills. The children have been working hard to describe settings in detail, use accurate speech punctuation, and begin planning their own imaginative version of Jack and the Beanstalk. We can't wait to see where their giant adventures lead!

Maths

In Maths, the children have been practising working across 10s and 100s. They have been using practical strategies and place value knowledge to solve problems and explain their thinking.

Class Assembly

Rehearsals are well underway for our class assembly, ready to share with you on Monday afternoon. The children are very excited to perform and celebrate their learning with you.

RE

In Religious Education, we have been learning about Shabbat and how it is observed in the UK today. The children discussed family traditions, special meals, and the importance of rest and togetherness.

PSHE

In PSHE, our focus has been on how families may look different from one another but are all important. The children shared thoughtful ideas about what makes a family special and how we can appreciate the differences between us.

PE

Our gymnastics unit continues. This week the children have been practising linking jumps and travelling movements, working on balance, control and creativity in their floor routines.

Art

Our penguin and Antarctic scenes are looking wonderful. The children are using colour, shape and texture to bring their icy landscapes to life.

Science

In Science, we explored forces and magnetism. The children enjoyed predicting and testing which materials are magnetic and how different forces can make objects move.

Geography

In Geography, we learned about the physical features of Antarctica. The children were fascinated to discover that Antarctica-despite all its ice-is actually classified as a desert because it receives so little precipitation. We explored its mountains, ice shelves, and unique climate, linking what we learned to our Art too.

Design & Technology (Sewing)

A real highlight has been our festive stocking sewing project. The children have shown brilliant perseverance and growing confidence, supported by some wonderfully patient parents and grandparents.
If you are able to offer your help with sewing over the coming weeks, please do get in touch-your support makes such a difference.

We look forward to seeing you at our class assembly on Monday.
Next week brings even more excitement with our cinema trip and a special visit from a real Antarctic pilot!

Have a lovely weekend, and thank you for your continued support.