Pelynt is blessed with an amazing outdoor learning area and this week the school had a collapsed curriculum day where the children spent the whole day building dens, toasting marshmallows and taking part in a range of art and design based activities. The weather really was kind to us and the children had a spectacular day!

A huge well done to R/1 for having such a fantastic first half term!!

Here is an overview of some of the things we have been doing this week.

English

In English this week the children have been designing their own Billy Goat and then using adjectives to describe it.

Maths

In Maths we have been continuing to learn number bonds to 10.

PSHE and DT

In PSHE we reviewed our classroom charter and came up with good learning behaviours, these included listening and helping others.

In DT the children reviewed their smoothies by deciding what was good about them and what they could improve, they suggested adding milk to make it smoother.

We have been learning about the fascinating and wonderful Floella Benjamin today as part of our Black History month. The children have learnt about her life, difficulties and how she used courage and determination to overcome these. We shared what we learnt in assembly and listened to the other classes as they talked about who they had learnt about too.

Sustrans Workshop

Thursday 24th October -Half Term!

WOW! It is the end of our first half term! It has been a very long half term, being eight weeks and we can see that the children are all very tired! However, they have been AMAZING and their first half term at full time school has been wonderful.

The children have all progressed in their own way so much and we are beyond proud of their achievements!

This week the children have been assessed in phonics as we reached the end of level 2. The children are progressing well. Each year we revisit level 2 so that we can ensure writing progression and application as well as reading.

The children have been working towards a ‘pumpkin day’ this week and have been making wonderful choices and working hard. They have been using their phonics to write characters and items they remember from our poems. They have been recognizing, matching and making numbers to 10. The children have been working with Mr.  Liddement this week to create obstacle courses and construction walls. The problem solving has been amazing!

In outdoor learning the children were set a challenge with Mrs Gregory. Mrs Gregroy made two areas with rope, she then showed the children a stick, their first job was to find a bigger stick and put it in one of the areas roped out. My goodness did the children find big sticks we even had a log! Then the children had to compare Mrs Gregory’s stick and find smaller ones. The outdoor learning session is a great session where the children learn so many skills in the natural environment.

The children have also been making autumnal pictures, cutting, sticking, painting and drawing. They have been practicing their name writing and so much more!

We wish you all a wonderful half term break and we look forward to seeing all the children on Monday 4^th November

Foundation team 

Happy Half Term!

We made it to half term! This week, we have been focussing our efforts on finishing off our non-chronological reports on owls. I have been super impressed with everyone's writing - well done! 

In Maths, Year 2 have been continuing to explore addition and subtraction, and using base 10 to support their understanding. Year 3 have been practising their column addition, when crossing over 10s and 100s. We have had to work hard to remember when to exchange, but everyone has done fantastically well! 

During Wider Curriculum, we have been discovering what an input is in Computing and designed our own robots, labelling what different components do. In Art, we finished our abstract flower paintings, where we produced an A3 version of our chosen flower section. We then used watercolour paints to add a wash of colour. We were amazed by what was produced! We also had another lovely Music lesson with Mrs Butlin, using the ukulele's. 

Congratulations to Tommy and Anya for being chosen as Landaviddy's People of the Week! 

Please continue to read daily, practise your curriculum spellings and KIRFS over half term. 

Class Trip
A letter has been sent via email regarding a class trip we will be going on next half term, to the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro. Children will be given the paper copy of the letter on the first day back after half term. 

We hope you have a wonderful half term break and we look forward to seeing you back at school on Monday 4th November. 

Mrs Wilkie, Mrs Phillips, Miss Bowden and Miss Colton

Our last week before half term!

Foundation / Year 1 have been busy this week in the lead up to half term.
We have finished off our learning around our wider curriculum question ‘Who am I?’ We have been applying this to our learning activities in the classroom by building houses and using these as discussions for who we live with in our homes.
In Maths, Foundation have been working on their number recognition by having a number, and then making a tower to match the number. Year 1 have been making part-whole models and then using these to write number sentences.
We have been busy outside this week using our water tray. We have been measuring, filling, emptying and practising our turn taking!
We have also explored the library this week and explored lots of different books. We chose whatever book interested us and had a look.
We have had a great first half term in Foundation / Year 1 and I have loved getting to know the children and watch them settle in. They have been just amazing and are real super stars. I hope everyone has a lovely week and I look forward to welcoming the children back to school on Monday 4th November.

Thank you for all your support.

Foundation / Year 1 Team

Forest School!

We have been so busy this last week with many lovely things!  But last Friday was the best.  Even though it was raining, we enjoyed a long time in our Forest School area.  We had a really good play and toasted marshmallows!

We had a lovely time :)

F

This week we have finished our enquiry question “How do I know it is autumn?”
The children have been finishing different crafts including fingerprint acorns and they have been sticking leaves and drawing faces to make leaf animals.
On Thursday we dressed up for Halloween and made apple pumpkins and had a spooky snack of ghost bananas and pumpkin satsumas.
At story time we have enjoyed more autumn stories and the children have especially loved "Room on the broom"

In phonics we have been finishing rhymes that we hear in stories, naming the different sounds that we hear in our environment and copying and making movements with our bodies.

In maths, we have been making arrangements with shapes, identifying numbers in everyday life and counting groups of objects.

It is INSET tomorrow and then half term so have a great week and we will see you when we return on Monday 4th November.

The nursery team

English

In English this week, the children finished writing up their information booklets all about natural disasters.  Exploring the features of this genre first and planning their booklets have enabled the children to make their own ones interesting for the reader. They are looking fantastic, and we cannot wait to share them with you in our PTCs.

Maths

Our maths learning journey has been based around addition and subtraction.  The children have explored adding and subtracting 1s, 10s and 100s in different ways, using number lines, partitioning and the column method.

Wider Curriculum

To finish our learning journey based around rocks and natural disasters, the children have explored art based around waves.  First, the children discovered two artists Maggi Hambling and Katsushika Hokusai. As a class, we discussed describing their work, how the art made them feel, what was similar and different about their work, what they noticed about the brush strokes, textures, colours, feelings and atmosphere, and finally what they think each artist thought about the sea.

Over the two weeks, the children experimented with different materials and mediums with creating their own waves.  Using a colour wheel, the children trialled colour combinations to produce a range of tones.  Our final challenge was to apply our learned artist skills to create wave art, using brusho for the background.  As true artists, we showcased our art in a class gallery.

Well done to our amazing cross-country runners who entered the first cross-country league race of the year with enthusiasm and energy. In spite of the mud and rain they all completed the course admirably. A great start to the season.

Foodbank Assembly and Cookery Demonstration On Tuesday 22nd October, the Foodbank Schools and Rural Outreach Team will be joining us for an assembly where the children will learn about all of the things they do in the community. At the assembly, the children will present our harvest donations collected this month. At 3:15, following the assembly, parents and carers are encouraged to come and join their children in the hall where a cookery demonstration will take place. Any family that attends after school will receive a bag of ingredients and a recipe card to take home. This project is separately funded and is all about encouraging families to cook. It is open to everyone. If your child is at dance club, please come and join us anyway. Please email school by Monday to us to let us know if you would like to attend the cookery demonstration. It would be great to see as many of you as possible there.

Parent Consultations
Please sign up for parent consultations which are happening week commencing 4th November. Details have been emailed and are attached to this blog.

Clubs There will be no clubs the week of the 4th November because of parent consultations ; however wraparound care will continue as usual. Clubs will resume from Monday 11th November as follows:

• Monday: After School Football Club (Mr Langley) for years 3, 4, 5 and 6
• Tuesday: Lunchtime ECO Club (Miss Randle) for years 3 to 6, some places by invitation
• Wednesday: Lunchtime Mindfulness and Art Club (Mrs Wilkie) for years 2 to 6
• Thursday: Lunchtime Music and Singing Club (Mrs Fitzsimmons) for years R, 1 and 2
• Thursday: After School Running Club (Mr Langley and Mrs Turnbull) for years 3-6. This club is open to anyone who likes running however it will not run when the Cross-Country League races are on. Pupils do not have to race in these events. Please inform us by email or phone call, which clubs you wish your child to attend by Thursday 24th October. As usual, if your child has signed up for a club they should attend every session in the half term unless they are unwell.

Photographs Individual Photographs will take place on Wednesday 23rd October. We will arrange for siblings to be photographed together including those in our nursery.

Spooky Discos Tickets for next Thursday’s discos are selling quickly. Don’t forget to buy yours from the office!

INSET and Diary Dates Reminder that next Friday is an INSET day and pupils will not be in school. There is an Events Diary on this website where you can find upcoming events and dates such as the year’s INSET dates, sports day and other events.

Have a great weekend

Mrs Hillman

Well done to the 8 cross country runners who took part in the first of the 5 races that will take part again this year. We started in Trethew and we are looking forward to the next 4 races over the coming months. We show cased our new school banner and all of the runners were so fast zooming past me that I just about managed to get a few photos! These event are attended by around 400 pupils and the enthusiasm and energy as the runners take off at the start of their races is a thing to behold. Everyone did themselves proud and it was great to be there with you to cheer you on!

Another week has gone by in Landaviddy class. And what a week it has been!

On Wednesday, we learnt about the famous author and olympian, Ibtihaj Muhammad, in celebration of Black History month. We created some fantastic posters, ready for our annual Black History assembly, where we will share our posters with the school. In Art, we continued practising our sketching and shading skills. We began by creating botanical drawings from our observations of plants and flowers we found outside. Then, using viewfinders, sketched varying parts of flowers to create a plan for a piece of abstract art. 

In Maths, we have continued exploring addition and subtraction. Year 2 have been using concrete objects to support their understanding of exchanging, when crossing 10s. Year 3 have been focussing on using the column method with accuracy this week, taking great care with our presentation.

In English, we finished off our plans for writing non-chronological reports on owls. We spent today's lesson writing our first drafts, which required a lot of determination! I can't wait to see your final reports next week! 

Congratulations to Amber and Hector for being Landaviddy's People of the Week! And a big well done to Rosie for achieving her 99 club! 

We hope you have a super weekend and look forward to seeing you on Monday for our last week before half term! 

Mrs Wilkie, Mrs Phillips, Miss Bowden and Miss Colton

Sensational Street Dance Session!

This week we were extremely excited to welcome Toby Gorniak MBE (a well-renowned street dancer, choreographer and mentor), along with his student 'AMR' to Brunel.

He firstly delivered an inspiring whole-school assembly whereby he discussed five elements to a happy, meaningful life: respect, peace, love, unity and having fun! He also explained why dancing has been so important in his life and so beneficial to him as a person.

Talland's excitement grew as we were the last workshop of the day - and boy were we not disappointed! We were taught some warm up techniques, a routine including some of the most recognisable step-types in street dancing, as well as 'breaking'. We finished our session with a group movement routine and Toby and AMR wowed us with some more of their amazing moves! It was such an inspiring, wonderful day: we've not been so happy to be so exhausted before!

Positive Vibes All Round!

This week, Talland took part in the whole school celebration of Mental Health Awareness Day 2024. They were channelling sunshine vibes in their yellow clothing and accessories.

We undertook a wide range of relaxing activities including mindfulness colouring, a reflective session focussing on our emotions, as well as watching some tutorials guiding us through calming techniques.

Later in the day we took a walk, scanning our surroundings using our senses. We heard Jane cooking in the kitchen, birds tweeting and the crunchy leaves under our feet. We smelt freshly cut grass and Jane's roast! The gravel in the garden felt great to walk on, as well as sounding good. Of course, we were spoilt for choice of nice things to look at walking around our grounds: trees, flowers, squirrels and birds were some highlights.

To top off the day, we finished with some chick therapy! Sitting round in a circle, we let the chicks out for a roam around: both the chicks and children seemed to enjoy their first proper encounter! The children agreed that stroking their soft, downy heads was a very satisfying, comforting feeling - a lovely way to end the day!