This week, as part of our learning based around our focus story 'Goldilocks and the three bears', we have been learning about '3'.

We have been looking at our activities to see if we can find or make 3; some children  have even drawn the 3 bears from our story. Others have made groups of 3 and have found the number 3.

We have noticed that some of our friends are 3 years old, too.

w/e 31.1.25

We've had a fantastic and busy week in Year 3 and 4, packed with exciting learning experiences and opportunities to develop new skills. Here's a look at what we've been up to:

English
This week, the children have been working hard on writing their own stories set in the past. They have demonstrated a range of writing skills, including: Using fronted adverbials of time and place; accurately punctuating speech; maintaining correct verb tenses; creating rich descriptions and characterisation through 'show not tell'. It has been wonderful to see their creativity shine through in their storytelling!

Maths
We have continued our work on multiplication and division. A strong foundation in times tables significantly supports mathematical learning, so please keep practising key facts at home. Quick recall of these facts makes learning across all areas of maths much easier once they are embedded.

History
In history, we have been exploring the Bronze Age. The children learned about: How bronze was made and where it came from in to Britain; the differences in how people found food during the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and today. This has been a fascinating topic already, and the children have engaged well with historical thinking and discussions.

PSHE
This week in PSHE, we have focused on having a growth mindset. The children tackled various challenges in groups, demonstrating perseverance, resilience, and teamwork. It has been great to see their confidence grow as they approached each challenge with enthusiasm.

Dance
As part of our whole year group dance, we have been adding rain elements to our routines. The children have displayed excellent collaboration and creativity, working together to refine their performances.

Art
Taking inspiration from the Stone Age, we ventured outside to find natural materials to use as paint. The children experimented with making their own paint and recorded their findings in their sketchbooks. This hands-on activity really helped them connect with how early humans created art.

Science
In science, we investigated reflective surfaces. The children explored how different materials reflect light and discussed how this knowledge is useful in everyday life.

Special Events 
We've had a particularly exciting week with some special events:

~ St Anne's visit for some of our class - it was National Chocolate Cake Day so we made Krispie cakes with the residents! Yum!
~ Arts Lab Parkour Theatre Performance – The children greatly enjoyed watching a performance representing neurodiversity and even had the opportunity to try out some Parkour themselves!
~ Scooter Workshop – On Thursday, the children took part in a scooter workshop, showing fantastic enjoyment, resilience, and skill development.
~ Tree Planting for the King – Three members of our class proudly represented us by planting a tree for the King in Victoria Gardens.
~ Reading Assembly – We explored the book 'It's a No Money Day', which provided a valuable opportunity for the children to see into the lives of others through 'windows and mirrors'.

Looking Ahead to Next Week

We have lots to look forward to, including:
~ Art Week – A celebration of creativity and artistic expression.
~ Children's Mental Health Awareness Week – Encouraging positive discussions and activities around mental well-being.
~ NSPCC Number Day (Friday) – A fun and educational event focused on maths.

Thank you for your continued support. We are excited for another fantastic week of learning ahead!

Let's Get Moving!

We've had a very active week in Tregantle this week! The brighter weather towards the end of the week has meant that we have had lots of time outside. The children have been really helpful around the garden as we have been clearing out and preparing for spring. The highlight of the week was definitely our scooter workshop with Ashlea on Thursday. The children learnt how to scoot safely and completed an obstacle course going in and out of cones and dodging the  volcanoes! What a fun way to stay active and develop gross motor control. 

Class 3 Blog W/E 31st January 2025

Class 3 have had a busy and productive week with a variety of activities both in and out of school.

Earlier in the week, we went on a school trip to Plymouth’s Immersive Dome, where the children enjoyed a rainforest experience and learnt lots about the life cycle of bugs. A memorable part of the visit was being placed inside a giant lemon, which caused plenty of smiles and curiosity.

Back at school, we’ve been preparing for our performance at Cotehele which will take place on Tuesday 4th March. The children have been working with the group Perghenegi during singing rehearsals, and a trip letter with further details was sent out yesterday.

In art, we’ve been creating pieces inspired by the work of Henri Matisse, focusing on his use of bold colors and shapes to ‘paint with scissors’. The children have approached this with creativity and as you can see the pieces are starting to come together well!

Our PE sessions this week have continued to develop skills in netball, with the children practicing passing, movement, and getting away from a defender.

Overall, it’s been an interesting week with lots of opportunities for learning and exploration. Well done to Class 3 for their hard work! Next week, there is plenty to look forward to including a cross Country race on Friday afternoon!

TERRIFIC TAMAR TRIP!

We have had a lovely week of learning in Chaipel, topped off with our trip to the Tamar Learning Centre as part of our enquiry into bridge construction.

ENGLISH
We are at the stage of planning our free verse poetry and have compiled some effective poetic devices. Next week, we will be writing, editing and creating our final versions.

MATHS
Y6 have been completing our ratio unit and then multiplying fractions with integers as we further our fractions knowledge and the Y5s have been multiplying a range of numbers using grid and long multiplication methods.

WIDER CURRICULUM
In DT, we have been testing the strength of an unsupported arch bridge by experimenting with height and weight. In Geography, we have been debating on whether mega farms are a good idea and we have some strong opinions!

We ended our week with our trip to the Tamar Learning Centre and it was amazing! We had a tour along the Tamar bridge footpath, learnt how the Royal Albert Bridge was constructed and broadened our knowledge on the different types of bridges and their unique features.

Congratulations to Martha who was our Person of the Week, but really, WELL DONE to all Chaipelers as you did our school proud with your curiosity and responsibility today.

Enjoy your weekend,

Miss Randle, Mrs Clary and Miss Hodge.   

Wider Curriculum

In Science, Class 2 have also continued their enquiry into the world of Everyday Materials by going on a material hunt. We concluded the lesson with a very heated class discussion around why we use certain materials to make different objects. Some of these opinions and comments have been captured on our Science wall for everyone to read.

In RE, we summarised our learning about Islam so far by discussing what we thought God meant to a Muslim based on our understanding of the Shahadah and the 99 names of Allah. On wednesday,  we continued our enquiry into using music to create mood and pictures with Mrs Lane.

Year 1s from Class 1 joined us again for another afternoon of Computing. We reviewed our rocket design and have begun to look at what digital softwares can help us with our design. We are all really excited about using Sketchpad to design our rockets next week.

Friday 31st January

This week the children have been working so hard!

In English this week , we started a new story called: Christopher Nibble! Christopher is a guinea pig who loves eating dandelions BUT they run out!

The children have really enjoyed learning this story. They explored the structure of a story by learning the beginning, middle and end. They sequenced the pictures and wrote key words to match the pictures.

In maths this week we have been exploring 6,7 and 8! The children have used ten frames to represent these numbers and have been AMAZING! We have also continued to learn/sing/chant our 2’s, 5’s and 10 times tables.

In phonics we have explored two diagraphs this week: ai and ee. The children’s reading is progressing so well and during phonics lessons Miss Hughes is always so impressed.

The children have been exploring gardening and mini beasts this week. They have matched vegetables to Christopher Nibble’s garden, dotted, painted and coloured gardening pictures, made minibeast from pipe cleaners and so much more!

Today we were lucky enough to have a community visitor in class that explained all about Chinese New Year. Ava spoke to us about what the celebration means to her family and what they do to celebrate it. She then showed us how to make the most beautiful Chinese lanterns. As Eva came into see us all of our activities were based around Chinese New Year! It was so much fun.

Have a wonderful weekend

The Foundation Team 

Spring 1 

We have had another amazing week in Canute class this week.

All of the class have been making fantastic progress in their phonics lessons, showing determination and enthusiasm for their learning.

In English the Year 1's and 2's have been completely engrossed in their story writing for 'George and the dragon'.  We have had some gruesome sentences, super similes, perfect punctuation and lots of excited chatter.  

In maths our reception children have been exploring mass and capacity.  They have been measuring, balancing and problem solving using a range of resources.  Year 1 have been continuing to focus on numbers to 20 and this week they have been comparing quantities, using number lines and reading numbers.  Year 2 have been completing their unit of work on money, finding change and solving problems with more than 1 step.

We are so lucky to have Mrs Butlin working with us and this week we were all having a go with the ukuleles, playing a rhythm and we also sang some great songs.

In history we have been finding out about castles.  We created a timeline to show how castles have changed over time, designed our own castles with as many defenses as possible and we have started to create some 3D models.

In our outdoor learning this week we were very busy getting our playground garden spring ready.  The children were weeding, planting and clearing.  We planted a pear and an apple tree and  discovered an old friend 'Tuna' in our pond. Our reception children have worked hard to make bird boxes to add to our rejuvenated garden.

We were all very happy to welcome Miss Northcott back to our class this week to complete her teaching placement.  She will be with us for the next 7 weeks.

Next week is Children's Mental Health Week and we look forward to seeing lots of you in school next Friday at 2pm.

We hope you all have a lovely weekend and the sun continues to shine.

Mrs Andrew, Mrs Fernie, Mrs Hicks, Miss Talbot, Miss Northcott

We have been busy organizing many trips and activities for the upcoming terms including Chaipel Class's trip today to the Tamar Bridge  as part of their DT learning.  Why not look at their class blog for more information and the other class blogs to see the learning across the school that has been taking place. 

Children’s Mental Health Week 3-9 February We will be taking part in Children’s Mental Health Week next week. The week’s focus is Know Yourself, Grow Yourself, with the aim to encourage children and young people across the UK to embrace self-awareness and explore what it means to them. As parents and carers, you play an important role in your child’s mental health. There are free resources here which you may wish to look at beforehand. https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/resources/#families

As part of Children’s Mental Health Week, we will be spending next Friday morning outside when staff and pupils will be taking part in the Big Schools’ Birdwatch; toasting marshmallows and listening to stories around the fire in the school garden; practicing yoga and enjoying art activities involving nature. Children should come into school on Friday in warm clothing with a waterproof coat and wellies or old trainers. They should bring their uniform in to change into in the afternoon. If it rains, we will do wellbeing activities inside but will still go outside for the birdwatching.

RNLI MUFTI Day Thank you for sending your children in yesterday in something blue or sea-themed. We raised £74 for the RNLI in recognition of the Oars of Thunder’s success in the World’s Toughest Row.

Family Worker Drop-Ins, Thursday 6th February, 9-11 am Reminder that the Early Help Hub will be holding Family Worker Drop-In Sessions in our school from 9-11 am on 6th February 2025. If you would like to be able to talk in confidence, just pop along, they will be here to help and support you. They will be happy to discuss and advise on issues concerning your family for example, how to better understand your child’s needs & behaviours; positive parenting and how to keep your child safe; how to better understand the importance of routines for your family. To book a 30-minute slot, contact the school on secretary@polperroprimary.co.uk or call on 01503 272249.

Upcoming dates Reminder that Friday 14th February is an INSET day and half term is 17-21 February.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Hillman

Outdoor learning


We also enjoyed some outdoor learning in the sunshine. In science we are exploring materials so we went on a material hunt around the school to see what properties we could find. We then came back and completed our findings onto a table. We then discussed about what the children know about the different materials from previous lessons and what is the difference between materials and objects? Why are some materials used to make certain objects? - Why can we not make roof out of cardboard? - Why is a chocolate teapot not practical? - What if we made our coats out of wood? There were some lovely conversations and vocabulary used around all the different materials. 

This week we have been looking at writing newspaper reports based on our class novel, The Coming of Dragons. Here is flavour of what we have been doing with orientations by Lexi in Year 6.

Yesterday night, storm Hermia hit the coast of Looe. As the storm was thundering, ship Spearwa was heading out to the coast of Bodmin. Halfway there, the ship sank. The next day, a box covered in sea brine was washed up on the shore. A bystander, who was minding his own business walking their dog, stabbed his toe on the box, causing him to notice.

Well done for the Year 6s taking part in bikeability this week.  You did brilliantly out on the roads despite the cold!

We are continuing to add fractions with denominators that are multiples of each other for Year 5 and adding any fractions for Year 6.

Here are the spellings for this week for my group: disconnect, dishonest, immature, immortal, impatient, imperfect, unlock, invisible,  independent,  incomplete
Here are the spellings for Mr Watt's group: superglue, superhero, superhuman, superman, supermarket, supersize, supersonic, supertanker, superwoman

Here are some quick maths questions you could try with your child.
Year 5 quick maths
1. 9 x 6
2. 90 x 6
3. 7 x 6
4. 70 x 6
5.5 x 6
6. DL
7. 7,321 – 355
8. 5,689 + 489
9. What are the factors of 18?
10. What two prime numbers make a square number?

Year 6 quick maths
1. 9 x 60
2. 90 x 60
3. 7 x 600
4. 70 x 6
5. 5 x 0.6
6. DL
7. 77,321 – 355
8. 505,689 + 489
9. What are the factors of 18?
10. What two prime numbers make a square number?

Where has the month of January gone?
We are delighted to bring you the latest edition of The Brunel Bulletin, your go-to source for all the exciting news, updates, and achievements happening within our school community. Whether it’s celebrating pupil successes, sharing upcoming events, or showcasing the incredible work of our staff and pupils, this newsletter keeps you connected and informed. As we end another week filled with learning, growth, and creativity, we invite you to join us in celebrating the vibrant spirit that makes our school truly special. Let’s dive in!

This week we have finished discussing how we keep warm in winter. The children have been busy getting creative and have made lots of craft including  decorating a paper plate wooly hat. On the tuft tray they have explored "The little Polar Bear" story and have used props to support their play.
We have been making cotton wool pad snowmen and the children have been practicing their counting during a creative maths activity.

On Wednesday we celebrated Chinese New Year and the year of the snake. The children decorated lanterns, coloured in snakes and we had a snack of rice, noodles and prawn crackers which the children really enjoyed.

In phonics the children have enjoyed singing along to the song "The farmer claps her hands". They copied actions to the song and had to finish by putting all of the sequence of movements together. They have also explored voice sounds loud and quiet and we have been listening to sounds in our indoor and outdoor environment.

In maths, we have been exploring sequences of patterns and repeating patterns in addition to exploring numbers 1-5 and beyond.

Have a lovely weekend.
The Nursery Team

It has been another busy period across the school, with children engaging in a range of exciting learning opportunities.

Class 3 Trip
Class 3 visited the Immersive Dome in Plymouth to learn about the rainforest. Sam Watts was really impressed by the children's enthusiasm for the subject, even when enormous and scary spiders were projected on to the dome. 

Class 4 Viking Day
In support of their history theme, learning about the Vikings, Melissa Pinfield invited Adrian Chapman from Blast from the Past to run a Viking workshop. Children explored all manner of historical facts through artefacts and resources including the significance of figureheads on Viking longboats and the board games they played:

   


Year 3/4 Football Tournament
Congratulations to the football team, who are going from strength to strength. This week they battled to a brilliant 2-1 win over Sir Robert Geffery's School, followed by a scintillating 6-3 win over Stoke Climsland. 


Bridge MAT Dodgeball Tournament
We participated in our first tournament exclusively for Bridge MAT schools this week. A Year 3 and 4 team of Abigail, Lowenna, Edith, Jack, Seth V and Jacob competed in 6 dodgeball matches. Although they were unable to get through to the finals, it was great to see them having a fun time and learning to deal with the highs and lows of winning and losing. Thank you to volunteer Rebecca Vincent for helping make this happen.



Finally,  a reminder of future dates for your diary:


10.2.25: Year 6 Brecon Beacon parent/carer briefing at 3.25pm in Class 4
13.2.25: Last pupil day before half term
14.2.25: Bridge MAT training day - school closed to pupils
24.2.25: First pupil day after half term
27.2.25: First gymnastics lesson for Class 1 at Copper Valley Junior School
28.2.25: PINS Parent engagement session from 2pm in school staffroom

Advance Notice Reminder
Please note, all Bridge MAT schools finish at 1.30pm on the last pupil day of each full term. This is to give school staff time to organise and prepare for the term ahead. Harrowbarrow hasn't previously adopted this policy, although many schools now do it. To align Harrowbarrow with our partner schools within the Trust, we will be adopting this practice at the end of this term, on the last pupil day before the Easter holiday (Friday 4th April). We will send a reminder nearer the time.