What an amazing first week back!

We have got off on a running start this first week of the term. In Literacy, we have begun a new unit on writing an information text. This week, we first looked at a variety of non-fiction books and discussed some of the common features they all shared. Then, we looked at an piece of information text to see what key elements we could pick out to include in our Writing Toolkit.

In Maths, Year 1s continue to explore Place Values to 50 while Year 2s have begun an exciting unit on Fractions.

In History, this term we are exploring the History of Aviation. This week, we explored the story of the Wright Brothers with Miss Walker and discussed their contribution to flight.

In the meantime, in Science, we explored the difference between things that are living, non-living and those that were once alive to start off our new unit on Living Things and their Habitats. And of course with the weather playing ball, we took the rest of the lesson outside to go on a "Things Hunt." We had some really interesting debates on the carpet about the difference between non-living things and things that were once alive. If paper is something that was once alive because it is made of trees, then is a basket ball the same because because rubber comes from trees?

This term, in Music, Class 2 are exploring Pitch and Melody and on Wednesday, we had a fun session with Mr Hunt, followed by a creative exploration of Jyll Bradley's installation at the Box to kick start our Art unit on Playful Making.

Key Dates and Information

MONDAY: PE
WEDNESDAY: Swimming 

Please find attached below, the KIRFs for this half term.

**KS1 Weekly Blog – Splashing into Summer!**

What a fantastic week we’ve had in KS1! Our week began with a splash as we had our **very first swimming session**! The children were amazing – full of enthusiasm, confidence, and smiles. It was wonderful to see everyone giving it their best, whether it was their first time in the pool or they were already little fish! We’re so proud of how well they listened, followed instructions, and supported one another. We can’t wait to see how their skills grow over the coming weeks.

In English, we’ve been diving into the world of fiction and non-fiction. The children have loved exploring different types of books, spotting the differences between made-up stories and real-life facts. We’ve been asking some brilliant questions and sorting texts into categories – future librarians and authors in the making!

Over into Science, we put on our explorer hats and went on a mini beast hunt! We investigated **microhabitats** around the school grounds, carefully looking under logs, leaves, and stones to discover where different creatures like to live. The children were so curious and respectful of nature – it was a joy to see.

**Forest Friends Club – Our First Adventure!** This week marked the exciting start of our **Forest Friends Club**, and what an amazing first session we had! The children began by exploring the forest area, getting to know their surroundings and spotting all sorts of natural treasures. There was so much excitement as we ventured through the trees, listened to birdsong, and discovered hidden corners of our woodland space. One of our favourite activities was making clay minibeasts and woodland animals. Using natural materials like twigs, leaves, and stones, the children got wonderfully creative and sculpted everything from snails and spiders to owls and foxes – their imaginations truly came to life! We also had a brilliant time with den building, working together to create secret shelters using branches, logs, and lots of teamwork. The mud kitchen was busy too, bubbling with muddy potions and messy creations, while the dinosaur small world setup inspired some fantastic storytelling and role play. It was a joyful, muddy, and magical start to Forest Friends – we can’t wait for our next session! Well done to all of KS1 for another week of fantastic learning and fun! 

On the first day, the children were out on the water enjoying stand-up paddle boarding and other water activities. In the evening they had a silent disco and participated in a performance with a piratical theme. Sam Watts reported that the children loved the silent disco and danced for ages. The evening performance was really good too, very active and engaging. The children had to follow the journey of a pirate by getting moustaches, walking the plank, sailing past merpeople and making it through stormy seas. There is a photo of a very unhappy Sam Watts dressed as a merperson but he may not thank us for sharing it!
On day two, the children enjoyed archery, high ropes and, for the first time, axe throwing. Year 5 children were learning about the Vikings earlier this year so I am sure they really got into the spirit of this.
We can't wait to find out what the children have been up to today and look forward to their return.

The summer term is always action packed with lots of sporting opportunities, trips, residentials and transition preparations. As well as the usual end of term junior performance, we have a new musical experience for all Class 3 and Class 4 children this year. A music teacher from Cornwall Music Service will be visiting once a week to teach whole class flute lessons. I am sure the sound of 34 flutes being played at the same time in Class 4 will be an enchanting and relaxing experience for all involved!
Year 1 and 2 children started their swimming programme this week and Class 3 had their first gymnastics lessons at Copper Valley Junior School. For health and safety reasons, this is a good opportunity to remind you that children must only wear stud style earrings and other jewellery is not permitted - we don't want children sustaining injuries through catching jewellery items on equipment during playtimes and PE lessons.
I look forward to sharing more with you in the weeks ahead.

Welcome back to Class 4.  It is great to see everyone after the Easter break. 

This week, Year 5s have enjoyed their residential in Porthpean.  I think the highlight was Mr Watts dressed up in the evening as part of the entertainment. 

Here are the KIRFs for this term as well as the curriculum overview.  This term we are looking at the Tudors as our topic and Year 6 and their partner have been researching facts about the Tudors for a class book. 

In a few weeks, Year 6 have SATs.  Here is the SATs timetable for Year 6s for SATs week for your information. 

And before we know it, a whole term has ended... and Class 2 have had so much fun learning and growing together. 

In Literacy, we have almost all completed our own version of the poem Calico Pie by Edward Lear. We also had the chance to perform the first 2 stanzas of the poem in front of the entire school on Friday.

We ended our term with a big Maths Easter Egg Hunt on Friday. While Year 2s had a go at solving some Maths problems that they found inside their eggs, Reception and Year 1s went on a number hunt. We ended the hunt by 'feasting' on the chocolate eggs the easter Bunny had dropped off earlier!

We were also very lucky to be able to perform to our family and friends some of the songs we sing regularly in class during our Singing Assembly on Monday. If Class 2 families would like join in and sing with us, just follow the links below.

On Wednesday, Class 1 and 2 went on a class trip to the Box in Plymouth for a most educational workshop on toys. We had a wonderful guided tour of the exhibits where we saw a life-size replica wooly mammoth, wonderful artefacts from around the world collected by some awesome explorers and a virtual history Plymouth. Did you know that there are more than 600 shipwrecks in the waters off Plymouth Sound? We wrapped all up with an amazing STEM workshop about toys.

This week we have been looking at how humans have evolved in Science and thinking about ways to protect our oceans in Geography.  We have been writing up our narrative poems for English.  Sully has written a fantastic poem.  Here is an extract:
The sunset was for an eerie-pale-sun,
Too pale for any other sun.
The seagulls flew over the event horizon, 
Almost like they were hovering the soft, cloudy air.

Revision packs have been sent out for Year 6 pupils so that they can keep up the good work over the Easter holiday.  The activities should only take 10 mins each day or you can complete it all at once if you would rather.

Well done to all the Year 6s and 5 who took part in SongFest this year.  Mrs Lane and Mrs Thomson were very impressed with your performance. 

Next term, PE will on a Wednesday and Friday.  We will be looking at fielding and batting skills in sports such as cricket and rounders.  

I hope you all have a lovely Easter and look forward to seeing you on Tuesday 22nd April.  

In Class 2 we have had another great week of learning and fun.

Now that the weather is getting brighter and clearer, we Class 2 have started a Mile a Day Challenge. This means that for our regular breaks, instead of our indoor recess routines, we try to get outside for a quick jog around the field to clear our heads and get ready for the next round of learning. So far, we have had great fun running around the field and trying our best to resist the temptation of racing each other to the finish line.

In Literacy, we have begun looking at poetry. We read "Calico Pie" by Edward Lear and had a lot of fun sharing our own interpretations of the poem. We have now begun learning the poem as we begin planning new verses of our own.

In Maths, while year 1s have started looking at place values to 50, Year 2s have completed their unit of mass, volume and temperature. Both year groups have also been busy testing their KIRFs and quick fire arithmetic skills.

In DT, we are almost done with our puppet project. This week, we took our Paddington Bear inspired puppet designs and used it to cut out the base of our finger puppets. We then learned to sew the pieces together. I must say we have some budding seamster in our midst!

To consolidate our understanding of how technology is controlled, this week, Years 1 and 2 had a very active ICT session with our Botleys. We used a variety of codes to make Botley do a variety of actions for us. However, we found that some of our Botleys were unwittingly being controlled by other users. This lead to a very heated carpet discussions around why this could be happening. We concluded that some of the signals from different controllers were interfering with each other. So, we all put our heads together to talk about what we could do to help prevent this. We had ideas ranging from individual controllers sending the signals through wires to inventing different signal signatures for each Botley.

This week we have been looking at writing narrative poems based on a short film called The Three Brothers.  We have been experimenting with metaphor, adverbs and poetic language and word order.  Watch this space for our completed poems next week. 

In maths, Year 5s continue to work out written methods for multiplication while Year 6 have been looking at revising different types of graphs including line graphs and bar charts.  

The Kirfs maths starter has changed and we now have a sticky question from the previous lesson to refer to.  

There are no spellings for next week to work on as we have assessments to complete in class. 

 Investigations 

The children had a fantastic time conducting a science experiment where they used various materials to build a boat, all in an effort to help Paddington Bear return to Peru! The task involved investigating the principles of sinking and floating, as the children explored how different materials affected the boat's ability to stay afloat. They tested items like aluminium foil, paper, and plastic, carefully observing how each material interacted with water. Through trial and error, the children learned about buoyancy and discovered the perfect combination of materials to create a boat that would safely carry Paddington Bear on his journey back home. It was an exciting and educational hands-on experience that combined creativity with scientific investigation! 

Mastering number

This week in maths, we are reviewing our subitising skills. We have also introduced how we use rekenreks during maths inputs to support our learning. This is an important skill which will be used throughout Year 1. We practise using the rekenreks on the green table as we record our number bonds to 10. On the yellow table, we select a number representation from the basket and then fill our 10 frame with that number of Easter pasta shapes. On the red table, we use tweezers and Pom poms to fill in the Easter eggs. We subjtise the quantities of 1-6. On the blue table, we use Easter stamps to make our own subitising cards which we then use to test out our friends subitising skills.

Highlights of learning in Class 2 this week

In Literacy, we have finally written up the neat copies of our instruction texts and we cannot wait to move on to the next unit of work. In Maths, we ended our unit on Mass and Volume with a splishy-splashy-gooey potions masterclass. We all got rather wet as we measures, poured and mixed some awesome ingredients to make our potions.

In ICT, we have been discussing the multitude of technology that is around us and have been exploring how we control them. To round up our understanding, we spent time this week designing our own robots. We have had robots that alerts adults when a child is hurt to one that makes pizzas on demand. We have had robots controlled with a colour-coded remote controller to one controlled using a smartphone. We even had one that was voice-controlled using a special build-in Alexa!

Geography lesson with Mr Hunt was a very practical and active lesson where we explored how we can measure different daily weather patterns. We now have a thermometer and rain gauge set up outside to help us monitor daily weather at school.

In Science, we looked at how different objects sink or float depending on the materials they were made of. We worked in groups as we made predictions (just like a scientist) and set up our controlled experiment (just like a scientist) and tested our predictions (just like a SCIENTIST!). We had some very interesting results - Finley was completely flummoxed by the fact that a big heavy wooden Jenga block floated no matter what he did to it! 

In DT, we have finally designed our finger puppets and we are ready to transfer our designs on to felt and begin assembling them next week.

Class 3 Blog for W/E 21st March

This week, Class 3 had an amazing adventure at the Farm and Country Day held at Wadebridge Showground! The event was packed with hundreds of children of a similar age, and there were so many exciting stalls showcasing the technology, dedication, and passion that go into British farming. The children had a fantastic time, demonstrating excellent behavior and representing our school beautifully. We were also relieved to return home with all members of staff—especially after Mr. Thomas risked wearing red near a 1300kg bull!

Today was Red Nose Day, and we want to say a huge thank you for all your generous contributions to charity. The children also brought in some hilarious jokes, which we had a good laugh about. It was wonderful to see so much joy and enthusiasm for such a great cause.

In learning, the children have been working hard as always. In maths, they are getting to grips with fractions, tackling some tricky concepts with determination. In PE, the dodgeball lessons with our external coach, Owen, have been a big hit, with everyone enjoying the fast-paced action.

A special mention goes to all the children who participated in cross country this year. Today marked the final race, and we are incredibly proud of everyone’s effort and perseverance throughout the season.

With the sunshine this week, we’ve been able to use the field every day, which has been a welcome change after the winter months.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

This week, we have been writing up our suspense stories.  Here is a taste of the stories that our class have been writing.  

During the night of the blood moon, everyone was asleep but one: Claire.  It was a clear night - clear enough to see the silhouette of a wolf a mile away.  The city was all lit up and quiet; it was almost too quiet.  All the trees in the cemetery where like plucked chickens.  To the left, colonies of bats disturbed the silence.  Light from the moon made everything red.  It was the perfect night for stargazing on a roof.  Mist started to swirl around the cemetery as the moon rose to its highest.  During the blood moon, all the purest demons came out to play. 

Imogen. 

Here are the spellings for this week:


This week, we have been looking at the order of operations for Year 6 and 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication for Year 5.  Here are the Kirfs that we have been working on. 

Oh the many places we went and the many things we saw on Monday when we all dressed up as our favourite book character for our special belated World Book Day celebration!

It was so very lovely to see all the children dressed up and super excited about sharing their books with their friends. We also had a special treat when all the teachers read one of their favourite books and the children got to choose which book they wanted to listen to.
  

After all the excitement on Monday, we all went straight back to our regular routine of having oodles of fun as we learned and discovered new things together. In Maths, it has all been about weight and mass for both Year 1 and 2. We have been measuring and comparing the mass of different objects in our classroom using both the balance scale and the compression balance scale. In Literacy, we have finished planning our instruction texts and cannot wait to begin writing the draft using all the many different skills we have learned so far.

As we near the end of our unit on Everyday Materials, Class 2 have begun applying our knowledge about materials to discuss why different materials are used to make different objects. We had a very exciting (and hilarious) Science lessons where we discussed some silly objects like a chocolate teapot and a pair of glass trousers. In Geography, we had real fun using a compass and exploring the 4 cardinal points. In RE, we have begun exploring the story of Prophet Muhammad to try and understand why he is important to Muslims. 

Congratulations to our First Lego League Competitors

On Wednesday 12th March, Sam Watts took the Lego team to RNAS Culdrose to compete, with their Lego robot, against 60 other schools. They also had to complete a presentation on innovative ways to explore the oceans. The team of Rioch, Lexi, Caleb, Talan, Connor, Holly, Emmy, Poppy and Olivia did amazingly well, winning the judges award for their enthusiasm, motivation and all round positivity. Congratulations to the team and thanks to Sam for all his hard work preparing the children so well. Thank you also to Karen Brinson for helping out on the day.

Despite the cold weather, we have enjoyed some sunny days which has enabled us to take our curriculum outside more often. As part of their geography, learning about the seasons, Year 1 and 2 children went in search of signs of spring and captured this on their spring sticks.

Thank you to all those parents/carers who helped dress their children up for our World Book Day celebrations. We had some amazing outfits representing book characters and, looking around the school today,  I think the hair dye and face pant has finally worn off!

Music Instrument Lessons
If your child is interested in learning a musical instrument, we currently offer piano, guitar and brass lessons through our peripatetic music teachers. For more information, please contact the school office, who will put you in touch with the appropriate teacher.

Dates for your diary
18.3.25: Year 5/6 football team matches at Callington College
19.3.25: Class 3 visit to Farm & Country Day at county showground
21.3.25: Comic Relief fundraiser
21.3.25: Landrake cross country run
25.3.25: Final round of Year 5/6 football matches
28.3.25: PSA film night after school
31.3.25: End of term singing assembly in playground for parents/carers, followed by PSA bake sale (2pm start but further details to follow)
4.4.25: Last day of term - pupils finish at 1.30pm

This week Mr Watts took the Lego Club to compete against other Cornish schools.  The team did brilliantly and won the judges' award for their fantastic presentation.  Lexi and Emmy commented, "I really enjoyed looking at the stalls and the presentation.  Thank you to Mr Watts for helping us to do so well."



The class have been working really hard on their suspense stories.  We have started to write them up and there will be more next week when they are finished. 

We have moved onto 4 digit by 2 digit multiplication for Year 6 and 3 digit by 1 digit for Year 5.  Here are some Kirfs questions to give us a flavour of what we have been doing.





The spellings for this week are: