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

Playground fun

This week, in DT, we designed and made our own play parks. In groups we looked at different structures and decided which ones we would like in our own parks. 

Once our decisions were made, we then gathered our materials. I was impressed by the imaginative ideas that different groups came up with. 

Using our wide range of skills and knowledge of structures and materials, we built the different parts. Some children made zip wires, whilst others made swings and climbing frames. They used glue guns and hacksaws with expertise. 

we just need a few finishing touches to the creations, then they will be ready to evaluate.

Learn. Grow. Discover

Our new hall display has been installed this week by local company ‘Print 2 Media’ The display consists of a map of Cornwall, the United Kingdom and the World, as well as our school values and a nod to our local farming community. It also includes a quote from David Attenborough, ‘The future of humanity and indeed all life on Earth, depends on us.’ We hope the artwork will help the child reflect on the beauty of the world and how important it is to protect it.

Lantic Class

As part of our Geography fieldwork about our local area, Lantic class took part in a short walk around Pelynt to carry out a survey of the local area. They looked at the local landmarks in Pelynt, and when back in the classroom they will use this to create a simple map of our local area.

Talland Class have been studying the Anglo Saxons, who they were and where they came from.  To mark the end of our topic we attempted to recreate the Anglo-Saxon building technique of wattle and daub.  We started by ' weaving' with a selection of sticks and then covered them in dried grass and sticky mud.  The children showed excellent skills of teamwork and delegation.

Lansallos Class

The football team enjoyed a rare home win against Four Lanes End last week. In the first half every time we went ahead, they managed to peg us back.  Eventually we came out winners 6-3.  Excellent performance all round, especially from the substitutes and a great stickers performance from George. 

Last week, the whole school attended the village war memorial to celebrate the 80^th anniversary of Victory in Europe and also reflect on the pain and suffering caused by war, both historically and in the world today. The children demonstrated impeccable behaviour during the service led by Reverend Richard and represented the school magnificently. 

Art – Weaving

In art, we focused on the skill of weaving. Using paper strips, students learned how to create simple woven patterns by going over and under to build colorful and creative designs. This activity helped improve fine motor skills and introduced the idea of patterns and textures in art. Everyone enjoyed seeing their work come together in a unique and satisfying way.

Science – Absorption and Materials

Our science topic this week was absorption, where we investigated how different materials soak up liquids. We tested materials like paper towels, sponges, plastic, foil, and fabric to find out which ones were absorbent and which were non-absorbent. Students recorded their predictions and results, then discussed why certain materials are better for specific uses. It was a great way to explore everyday science through hands-on experiments.

Literacy – "The Magic Bed"

In literacy, we read the story "The Magic Bed", which took us on a journey into the world of imagination. After reading, students used their creativity to innovate the story by coming up with their own magical beds. They wrote about where their beds would take them, what adventures they’d go on, and what magical features their beds might have. This helped develop their narrative writing and encouraged the use of descriptive language and original ideas.

History – Florence Nightingale

In history, we learned about the remarkable life of Florence Nightingale. Students created informative fact files about her, including key facts such as her work during the Crimean War, how she improved hospital conditions, and why she is known as the founder of modern nursing. We looked at images, timelines, and quotes to better understand her impact on healthcare and why she remains such an important historical figure.

P.E. – Football Cricket

In P.E., we had lots of fun playing a game called football cricket! This exciting team sport combines elements of both football and cricket. Instead of using a bat, players kick the ball to score runs, while the fielding team tries to stop the ball and get players “out.” The game helps build a variety of skills including kicking, aiming, teamwork, and quick thinking. It was fast-paced, energetic, and enjoyed by everyone!

Thursday 22nd May- End of half term

End of yet another half term! Wow! One more half term to go!

Its amazing to see the children progress and learn so much. We continue to be so proud of them!

This week’s blog is about the trip!

The children were an absolute credit to the school and their adults at home. It was the foundation children’s first trip out at school, and they were just amazing!

We had a great day exploring so many different animals, learning so many fun facts and feeding the farm animals was very giggly! The children were so brave, holding their hands the correct way to feed the animals!

We had lunch in the jungle barn and the chickens kept coming in to try and steal the sandwiches!

What an amazing day we had!

We wish you all a wonderful half-term break and look forward to seeing everyone on Monday 2^nd June

Wishing you a wonderful weekend

The Foundation Team 

Year 4 Assembly
Well done to our Year 4 children for their fantastic year group assembly this morning. We had interesting facts about the Vikings; an interview; a newspaper report; a song and quiz…all finished off with information about the upcoming Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check.

Year 5 Brass Lessons
Year 5 are doing really well with their whole class brass lessons. Their lesson in the first week back is on Monday 2nd June since we are closed on Friday 6th June for INSET. Don’t forget those instruments on Monday!

Trust Visit Feedback
Three times a year, Trust leaders alongside Headteachers visit each of the schools in action to support, challenge and share expertise across the Trust. The visits also serve to provide an external perspective on the school’s work towards development priorities, within the current Ofsted framework. Next month, I will be visiting Brunel Primary Academy for such a visit. A few weeks ago, we had our third visit of the year with Adrian Massey (CEO), Louise Gilbert (Deputy CEO/Area Executive Headteacher), Sarah Sanson (Area Executive Headteacher) and Michele Spencer (Headteacher at St Cleer).

Please find below some of the feedback from our report:

Quality of Education

• Adaptive teaching techniques (meeting children’s individual learning needs) are embedded.
• Within Nursery, provision continues to go from strength to strength. The interactions between adults and children are purposeful with adults impacting on learning.
• The quality of continuous provision within EYFS and the way staff engage in children’s learning is very strong.
• Children are able to use manipulatives and resources to support foundational knowledge within EYFS and KS1, as a basis for the quality of teaching observed further up the school in KS2, which included very clear questioning and feedback to pupils.
• There is an increased consistency in the teaching of maths across the school.
• High quality of writing is evident across the curriculum.

• Attendance – there continues to be a relentless focus on ensuring children are in school. Historically below national, attendance is now broadly in line with national. 
• There are high expectations around behaviour for learning. There was no/very little off task behaviour. Where there was any dysregulation, staff managed this calmly and effectively. 
• The introduction of ‘The Retreat’ has had a very positive effect on how staff positively manage children who need additional emotional support. 

This half term has passes in what seems like a flash! This half term has flown by and has been filled with amazing experiences and learning. Thank-you for everything that you all do to support the school. I have had the pleasure in showing some new (and returning) pupils and parents round this week and all of them have said what a special and friendly place Darite is. We know it but it is fantastic to show others. Thank-you to you and the children for making Darite so special. Highlights of this term include the Lego competition, the trip to Deer Park Farm, Mini-police, Parliament sessions and much more! Looking ahead we have swimming, sports day, plays, more trip and loads more still to come. Finally, it is with some sadness that I want to share with you the news that Mrs Saberton is sadly leaving Darite next half term. She is starting a new, exciting journey, supporting children at Liskeard school. She has been an integral part of Darite for a long time now as a teaching assistant, midday supervisor, friendly face and a listening ear and she will be greatly missed by us all. We are excited for her new role and know that she will be fantastic in this as well. I know our Year 6 will like seeing a friendly face in September too. I hope you will join with us in wishing her the best. I am delighted to let you know that Mrs Nel will be taking over in Class 1. She has been doing a wonderful job in Class 2 and knows all the children really well. We are lucky to be able to have such a strong team of staff at Darite. This newsletter is coming out on Thursday as we have an INSET day tomorrow. I would like to wish you all a relaxing half term and we are looking forward to seeing the children back on the 2nd June for the final half term of the year!

Porfell Wildlife Park! 

Foundation and Foundation/ Year 1 classes had a wonderful trip to Porfell Animal Park and Sanctuary! The children were so excited to see all the animals. Our favourites were definitely the meerkats, lemurs, goats and the donkeys! Some of us were even brave enough to feed the animals; it was a bit ticklish! We explored the park and then had a play outside. It was a really lovely day and they did Looe Primary Academy very proud.

We have also been finishing our learning around our big question: How does your garden grow? We have been learning about deciduous and evergreen trees in Year 1, Foundation have been making paper flowers and looking at the lifecycle of a butterfly and we have had lots of fun doing it! We’ve had an excellent half term of learning and the children’s attitude has been brilliant.They are always trying to find out more.

Well done Foundation / Year 1, what a great half term we’ve had. Have a lovely break all and we will see you back after the half term.

Foundation / Year 1 Team