w/e 23.1.26

It has been another packed and purposeful week for our Year 4 and Year 5 children, full of creativity, curiosity and important conversations.

In Geography, the children developed their map skills by locating the world's deserts. They used atlases and maps to identify where deserts are found and began exploring what makes these environments so unique. This learning fed beautifully into our work in English, where the children have been building their grammar knowledge in preparation for writing their own desert diaries. The children have worked hard on sentence structure and detail, getting ready to bring their diary writing to life.

Some of our children were lucky enough to attend an art workshop at the local library, where they took part in creative activities and explored different artistic techniques.

In Science, the children investigated electricity through hands-on learning. They explored complete and incomplete circuits, testing what worked and what did not by using lamps, buzzers and motors. This practical work helped them develop a clear understanding of how circuits function and encouraged lots of problem-solving and teamwork.

We also began our new DT unit, where the children will be designing and making a book cover. They have started thinking about purpose and design, and will be choosing a fastening of their choice as part of their final product.

In French, we began an exciting new unit on habitats, learning new vocabulary and listening carefully to spoken French as we explored different environments.

It has been a busy and engaging week, and we are very proud of the enthusiasm, curiosity and thoughtfulness the children have shown across all areas of learning.

w/e 23.1.26

It has been another packed and purposeful week for our Year 4 and Year 5 children, full of creativity, curiosity and important conversations.

In Geography, the children developed their map skills by locating the world's deserts. They used atlases and maps to identify where deserts are found and began exploring what makes these environments so unique. This learning fed beautifully into our work in English, where the children have been building their grammar knowledge in preparation for writing their own desert diaries. The children have worked hard on sentence structure and detail, getting ready to bring their diary writing to life.

Some of our children were lucky enough to attend an art workshop at the local library, where they took part in creative activities and explored different artistic techniques.

In Science, the children investigated electricity through hands-on learning. They explored complete and incomplete circuits, testing what worked and what did not by using lamps, buzzers and motors. This practical work helped them develop a clear understanding of how circuits function and encouraged lots of problem-solving and teamwork.

We also began our new DT unit, where the children will be designing and making a book cover. They have started thinking about purpose and design, and will be choosing a fastening of their choice as part of their final product.

In RE, the children continued their learning about racism, engaging in thoughtful discussions about fairness, respect and treating others equally. This linked well with our PSHE lessons, where we focused on staying safe and speaking out, supported by guidance from the NSPCC. The children showed maturity and care when discussing how to seek help and support.

Our guided reading sessions linked closely to both our Islands topic and our science learning about electricity. A real highlight was watching a short clip from Billy Elliot, where Billy describes dancing as feeling like electricity through your body. The children particularly enjoyed making connections between this powerful description and their scientific understanding of electrical energy.

In French, we began an exciting new unit on habitats, learning new vocabulary and listening carefully to spoken French as we explored different environments.

It has been a busy and engaging week, and we are very proud of the enthusiasm, curiosity and thoughtfulness the children have shown across all areas of learning.

Prototype Cars and Moroccan Lemonade

This week Landaviddy have been enjoying continuing to explore our enquiry question 'How far can we travel?' by building prototype cars. We learnt about the history of cars and discovered how an axle helps to turn wheels. This was a practice run prior to us making our own toy cars in a few weeks time. In Science, we investigated how objects can change shape by stretching, bending, squashing or twisting. During Geography, we learnt about land use and explored local maps, identifying different types of land use. Music with Mrs Butlin was lots of fun playing djembe drums and practising being conductors. 

In Maths, we have been revising multiples of 2, 5 and 10 and  using arrays to represent multiplications. We also worked in pairs to problem solve and calculate the cost of making a cup of lemonade, working out the coins we needed too. During English this week, we followed instructions to make Moroccan lemonade which we taste tested today! All of the children loved drinking lemonade and were able to use their senses to collect a range of amazing vocabulary to describe the experience. Next week we will be writing up our instructions. 

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

We hope you have a terrific weekend and look forward to seeing you next week! 

Mrs Wilkie, Mrs Lister and Miss Colton 

TALLAND'S BLOG 23.1.26

Well there goes week 3 of Spring Term 1? Another high energy week that's been full of learning and playing with electrics (safely of course).

Here's a breakdown of our week:

Maths:
Year 5 have been multiplying 4-digit numbers by 2- digit numbers. Next week we will be solving word problems and looking at short division. They have also completed their unit on SHAPE. 

Year 4 have been looking at factors and have been making shapes.

English:
We have continued to work on instructions. We've been learning how to develop a method which is in chronological order and has an abundance of description to help the reader.

Geography:
Talland learned about  different grid references, investigated how to use them and had to locate different places on a map.   

RE:
We looked at the story of Noah and the Arc  in more depth and thought about what on our planet is good and what is bad. Are there things we can do to help our planet?

ART:
This week, we looked at how we can use tone and texture through shading. How to hold the pencil differently to give different effects and where light and shadowing would appear on a 3D object.

SCIENCE: 
We have been exploring electricity and how to make a circuit. Talland had to make a light bulb, a buzzer and a motor turn on.

CONGRATULATIONS to Kayla, Renley and Max this week for passing their next round in 99 club and well done to Arnie for being noticed for showing our school values. He's shown real maturity of late and his work ethic is fantastic!

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

Signing off from Mr. Langley and Mr. Bishop.

This week, we have continued learning about the story of Augustus and His Smile. We have been focusing on using the conjunction 'and', and the children came up with some wonderful descriptive sentences.

In Maths, we have been learning how to add and subtract 10 within 100. In PE, we took part in gymnastics, and in PSHE we learned about working collaboratively. The children worked in pairs and had to colour the same welly together.

In RE, we created our own prayer sandwiches, and in Music we learned how to sing using high and low voices. In Geography, we labelled the features of coasts.

Reception have been working hard on developing their fine motor skills and learning about spring. In Drawing Club, they have been writing some amazing sentences.

Can you guess what these are?
They were taken by year 6 in art this afternoon. Answers to follow next week. 

This week in Class 2 we have been working as a team to try and understand multiplication and division, and the relationship between these two operations. We learned that division as an operation is nothing but the simple task of sharing or grouping. There were oodles of counters and cubes strewn all around the classroom during our Maths lessons this week. In Literacy, we have looked at special words that tells us more about verbs called adverbials. Today, we also investigated different sentence types and the punctuations associated with them.

In History, we have continued our enquiry into the history of flight by learning all about the first African American woman to earn a pilots license - Bessie Coleman. We looked at a reproduction of her license and became history detectives as we tried to figure out some details about her life from it. We ended up with more questions than answers this time. Below is an image of Sofia's observation and notes from this exercise. In RE, we learned about some of the teachings from the Qur'an and discussed how they applied to our own lives. In Art, we used our experiments with mark making using primary colours to create our own collages in our sketchbooks, while in Computing we continued learning how to use a word processor by learning how to select a text and change some of their attributes.

Finally, a very well done to:
> William for getting the Ready Award for persisting and not giving up during Maths learning.
> Freya for getting the Respectable Award for always being a kind and responsible member of the class.
> Darcey for being nominated for the Safe Award by the Positive Potato Police for being a kind friend and sharing her play equipment with others.

Ballet Dancing Fun

This week has been wet and windy but full of fun. 

In English, we finished our Jack and the Beanstalk stories, they are all fantastic. Most of the children said it is the longest and most detailed piece of writing they have ever done. We were all very proud of our work and achievement. 

We have continued reading our class story 'No Ballet Shoes in Syria' by Catherine Bruton. The story is getting interesting now and we immersed ourselves into the story by taking part in a ballet workshop. In the story, the character uses ballet as a way of coping with her emotions after fleeing her country and becoming a war refugee. The children found that trying ballet for themselves has helped them to understand the character more deeply. 

In art, we have learned about macro photography. The children then had a go using the magnifier app on the IPad to get some photos for themselves. Keep posted to see if any appear on the blog. 

Have a restful weekend, 

Miss Burton

Despite the rain this week, the children have shone with their learning in so many ways. From fractions to bringing characters to life in Matilda, well done to everyone for their perseverance and hard work. As I'm writing this blog, a Year 5 child has just shown me her amazing writing and voice over - you know who you are - fantastic effort! Amongst many of the additional enrichment highlights (see below), Mrs Orme and I have the pleasure of supporting the choir learning songs ready to perform at Hall for Cornwall later in March at SongFest. This morning too, always a treat, hearing a couple of Year 2 children busy preparing to sing in assembly this afternoon (and for one it's her birthday too)! Friday's Celebration Assembly is always a lovely way to end the week, sharing our Shining Stars from each class, cheering on our 'Best Seats in the House' and of course finding out which year group has won the coveted Golden Rucksack. So yes, despite the gloomier weather, there has been much to celebrate this week. Do read on for just some of the other highlights..

Year 2 Times Table Rock Stars
On Monday, Year 2 'rocked' their times tables with their official launch of Times Tables Rock Stars, an online platform used throughout the school to develop accuracy and fluency in recall of multiplication and division facts. The children learnt to use the 'Garage' function which contains their personal 'heat map'. This tracks their progress enabling children to identify which facts they need to work on next. They are really keen to continue the great start made by practising regularly at home and in our weekly sessions. Later in the year, we will set up tournaments whereby the children can work together to improve their scores. We will keep you posted! We would like to say a special thank you to you for helping the children look and feel the part on Monday - the costumes were amazing and really helped to make the day a special event.

Year 2 Farm and Food Roadshow
In Science and Design Technology, Year 2 are learning about nutrition and what we need for healthy growth. We were delighted to welcome Emma Parkyn from the Royal Cornwall Agricultural Association on Thursday. The children had lots of fun learning all about our food and where it comes from. This event really helped the learning come to life. We would like to thank Emma for her fun yet informative visit.
From the Year 2 team

Year 6 Stay and Learn
Today, Year 6 enjoyed a Stay and Learn session in which parents and children worked together during a fantasy fiction writing workshop. They explored real-life prompts to inspire their writing, using everyday objects and experiences as starting points for imaginative and magical ideas. As part of the session, we invited parents to share their feedback.
One parent wrote: "The session was fantastic. It was well led and constructed, taking us through the process of exploring creative writing in dynamic and engaging ways. Thank you for all your hard work Year 6 team, your energy and enthusiasm for learning is infectious!" Thank you to everyone who joined us today. The children showed great creativity and teamwork, and we are very proud of their efforts.
From the Year 6 team

Reception Trip to Eden
What a wonderful school trip Reception had going to the Eden Project! We are so proud of how well all the children behaved and listened carefully to all of the instructions. They had a fantastic time on the ice playing with the equipment. They were able to play on bikes, in cars and pull each other along on sledges. The day linked perfectly to our Winter topic with the children making links between their learning and real-life experiences. Our favourite was being able to walk like a penguin on the ice with one of the children saying that we needed to huddle to keep warm "just like penguins do!" We would like to thank our wonderful volunteers who joined us for the day. Without them, the trip would not have happened.
From the Reception team

EcoCouncil
The Eco Council have been reviewing our Climate Action Plan. They have carried out a questionnaire with their classes and identified areas of strength and next steps. One area highlighted was that our use of paper could still be reduced. The Eco Council are now designing posters to remind everyone (teachers included!) to 'Think before you Print!' We hope to see a reduction in the paper coming out of our photocopiers over the coming weeks.

Reading Ambassadors Buddy Scheme
This week saw the launch of our Reading Ambassadors Buddy Scheme, where some of our older Reading Ambassadors are paired with KS1 children to share reading with an older pupil. Our KS2 Reading Ambassadors recently received training from Miss Johnston on how to support reading fluency, encouraging accuracy, pace and expression, and promoting positive reading habits. It has been wonderful seeing some of our older children working with our younger readers, building confidence and enjoyment.

Year 5 Assembly - Thursday 29th January
We look forward to seeing family members of Year 5 at their assembly next Thursday 29th January. Doors open after morning drop off for refreshments, with a start time of 09:00. To help the morning drop-off routine, any Year 5 families driving are asked to try parking in the staff car park first (double parking is fine).

Caterlink Survey
Caterlink are carrying out their annual pupil survey to assist them in improving their catering service across schools and would value the opportunity to survey our pupils at school. If you wish to take part, please click on this link sent home by email today.

FOWPA - AGM & The Great Wadebridge Primary Academy Quiz
Our AGM is being held next Monday 26th January, 6pm at the Pearl and Trawl - all welcome to attend.
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 are in the lead:
Choughs - 6230
Puffins - 5620
Swans - 5291
Cormorants - 4759

Best wishes,
Chris Wathern

This week we started our new unit of science based on light. We explored how light travels in straight lines by using torches and toilet rolls. Next week, we are going to find out more about reflection. 

In maths, we have moved onto out new topic of decimals and we have been reminding ourselves of place value when rounding, multiplying and dividing. This will lead us nicely into percentages in a few weeks. 

In RE, we started our new topic about what life is like for Muslims in Britain. We recapped some basic knowledge of Islam and then found out more about Mosques. We compared how many Mosques there in London to Cornwall and thought about how that might impact on Muslims living in this area. 

In PSHE, we considered all the different parts of ourselves. We drew pictures to show the different characteristics and chose colours to represent each one. 

Have a fantastic weekend 

Miss Burton

Welcome back

This week we have started our new topic: How Does Population Change? We will be finding out about the populations of different countries and how they have changed over time. We will look at data regarding births and deaths and why people might move to different countries. We launched the topic by having an afternoon of playing games to help us understand including snakes and ladders and top trumps. We then invented our own countries and used blocks to explore the difference between sparsely and densely populated countries. 

In English, we have continued out Jack and the Beanstalk stories. 

In maths, we have been exploring co-ordinates and using our knowledge to solve problems. 

Please see the knowledge web below for the outline of the new topic.

It's been another busy week at Harrowbarrow with a class trip, road safety lessons for our older cyclists and the usual range of exciting lessons. For more information on what your children will be learning this term, please look at the class pages on the website. The teachers post an overview of the learning content in each subject area for your information.

Bikeability
Well done to our Year 6 cyclists who successfully completed their Bikeability training this week. After learning some important safety lessons in the covered playground, the group took to the roads to put their skills into practice.




Cornwall Museum Trip
Class 3 visited Cornwall Museum as part of their history project, learning about the ancient Egyptians. The day started with an interactive lesson on how to mummify a body - don't worry, a doll was used for this! The museum has some great artefacts, which the children were able to explore after the workshop, including a 2,500 year old mummy and his sarcophagus. The whole day was really interesting and brought the history of ancient Egypt alive for Class 3. 



Staffing Update
Sam Watts is due to go on paternity leave in the near future. During his absence, Class 3 will be taught by Abi Flashman on Mondays and Tuesdays and by myself from Wednesday to Friday.

Attendance
We appreciate there have been a succession of bugs throughout the winter period that have impacted on pupil attendance. Thank you to all those parents and carers who notify us if their child is going to be away using the telephone answer system. It is important to phone on each day of absence so we know the reason why absent children are not in school. For mild colds and ailments, we are able to administer medication such as Calpol with your consent. If this helps your child attend on a day when they are slightly off colour, please feel free to drop the medication into the school office and complete a form authorising us to administer it. Quite a few children have missed a lot of school this winter and we are concerned they may not be able to catch-up on missed learning.

Physical Education
This half term, Class 4 are learning netball skills in PE. Here are a few nice actions shots from the lesson this week, which was all about shooting.



Year 5/6 football tournament
Unfortunately, due to the unrelenting poor weather, the team is yet to play a match. Fingers crossed for this coming Tuesday, when the team are due to play Tregadillet and then Stoke Climsland. Please can all players arrive at the college for a 4.15pm kick-off. Thank you.

Another week has gone by and we have covered so much learning. In Maths, we have been learning about angles in a quadrilateral in Shape and fraction and decimal equivalents in FDP. It's lovely to see the 'lightbulb moments' when the children are making links between the different areas of maths and working together to solve more abstract questions.

We have planned our narrative - to rewrite the ending of THE MIDNIGHT FOX - and are ready to write next week. I am looking forward to reading each and every one. Joey, in particular, has really put his all into his planning and I am excited to see what he produces.

In our Wider Curriculum, we have been learning about the city names in North American countries, we have 'built a god' in RE, learnt how to use aparatus for balance and core tension in PE and for our Art, we have been investigating Basquiat's use of animal art for his masterpieces. Tristan, has produced an incredible framed piece of work for his homework - thank you!

Congratulations to Henry and Imogen for being our People of the Week and showing our school values. 

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

Miss Randle and Mrs Clary

It has been another busy week at Darite despite the best efforts of the rain! Class 1 have been working hard in all their learning - it was wonderful to see some of their writing this week. The standard of handwriting and presentation is going from strength to strength. Class 2 have been learning about electricity and using it to solve problems in their science lessons. Wider curriculum in both classes is a time to see all children shine. Parental Engagement project We are lucky enough to have been selected to take part in this program this year and moving forward. It is aimed at making sure that school and parents work together for the best of the children and whole school community. We are lucky at Darite to have a close-knit community around the school and a strong community in the school but there is always room to grow. To help with this, your children will have come home today with a parent survey. This is very similar to ones you've had before but with an emphasis on communication. I would be really grateful if you were able to complete this and send it back to school via the office or teachers. The results of this will help us steer the project moving forward. In addition, I am looking to form a group including myself and other members of the school including parents. This will entail meeting once a term to discuss the plan and how school can continue to improve. If you would like to be included in this group, please let Mrs Norris know and I will send invitations out shortly. Many thanks for your support of the school.

What a wonderful week of learning opportunities we have had at Brunel this week. Please catch up with all our latest news in this week's edition of The Brunel Bulletin!