Hello Everyone,

This week we have all been working hard in maths. Reception have been introduced to our maths puppet, ‘Counting Keith’. He helped the children to count accurately this week, making sure they have 1:1 correspondence, counting each object carefully. We have been practicing counting objects, sounds, actions, and as shown in the picture, we have also counted the amount of times that we catch an object.
Year 1 have been busy working on adding and subtracting. They have been using part whole models to explain number sentences, and have also learnt about fact families, sets number sentences that use the same 3 numbers.

Drawing club this week has been great fun. We have used the story of Little Red Riding Hood to inspire our writing and drawing. This week we have had a visit from Little Red Riding Hood, (Mrs Fitzsimmons in disguise), who was lost and needed the children to draw a map to help her to find Granny’s house. We have also used puppets to retell the story. The children have drawn a getaway vehicle for the wolf, and have created a disguise for him, so that he can get away. We have also been singing songs about Little Red Riding Hood during our weekly music sessions.

We have been grateful for the continued warm weather this week, as it has allowed us to explore and play in our school garden, looking for natural and man made objects. This helped Year 1 with their Geography lesson, where they were able to identify human and physical geographical features.

This week, we also welcome to Penhallow, the lovely Mrs Musgrave from Marion, who will be with us every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday until January.

Have a lovely weekend,

From The Penhallow Team

What a busy and exciting week we have had! The children have been working incredibly hard and enjoying lots of fun, hands-on learning experiences across the curriculum.

In English, we have been learning all about sentences and how to identify the subject, verb and leftover information. The children have been developing their understanding of how sentences are put together and thinking carefully about the different parts that help to make a sentence.

In Science, we have been exploring our five senses and discovering how we use them to learn about the world around us. We put our senses to the test by tasting a variety of different foods, including lemons, chocolate, chilli, apples and crisps! The children enjoyed exploring the different flavours, describing what they could taste and discussing whether the foods were sweet, sour, salty or spicy. There were some very interesting reactions, particularly to the lemon and chilli!

During ICT, we have been developing our research skills by searching for information about animals eating. The children explored how to find information online and discovered more about different animals and their eating habits.

In Maths, we have been busy practising our number bonds and doubles. The children have been working hard to recognise number pairs that make a given number and to recall doubles facts. We have been using a range of activities to help us become more confident with our number knowledge and develop our mental maths skills.

Our Forest School session was another highlight of the week! We put our knot-tying skills to the test as we practised tying things together, using our hands-on skills and working collaboratively. We then enjoyed gathering around the fire to toast marshmallows. The children loved this special outdoor experience and had a wonderful time developing their practical skills while enjoying the fresh air.

To finish off our week, we had the lovely opportunity to sing in church as part of the Harvest Festival celebrations. The children did a fantastic job and it was wonderful to come together as a school community to celebrate the harvest. We were so proud of them as they shared their singing with everyone.

Our Issy's Brunel Nursery children have had a wonderful time at St Anne's this week and became wonderful music makers. As a school, we really treasure this wonderful link.

TALLAND'S BLOG 16.10.26

Another Wonderful Week in Talland Class!

What a week we’ve had! We hope you’re all ready for a lovely, well-earned weekend. It’s been another busy and brilliant few days in Talland Class, with plenty of brainpower, determination and lots of reasons to feel proud. The children have continued to embrace their learning with such enthusiasm, and it’s been wonderful to see them tackling challenges, developing new skills and giving things their very best shot.

Let’s take a little look at what we’ve been up to!

Maths:
Our Year 4 mathematicians have been getting to grips with adding and subtracting 4-digit numbers, including the tricky business of renaming and exchanging digits.

Meanwhile, Year 5 have been exploring multiplication and division, identifying multiples and common multiples. Plenty of mathematical thinking going on!

English:
Our budding authors have been busy planning their very own non-chronological reports about an extinct animal of their choice. They’ve been putting their research and writing skills to good use, and we’re really looking forward to seeing their finished reports next week. We might just have a few future wildlife experts in our midst!

PE:
Things have been getting physical in PE! In yoga, the children challenged themselves with trickier poses requiring plenty of arm, shoulder and core strength. There were some impressive efforts!

Over in tag rugby, our teams put their developing skills to the test in a mini-tournament. There was lots of energy, teamwork and determination on show!

Geography:
We’ve been exploring some of the UK’s coastal areas where erosion is having a significant impact. The children investigated why our coastlines are changing and what might be causing these dramatic changes to the landscape. Some fascinating geographical thinking!

Celebrations and Special Mentions:
A special shout-out this week goes to Dexter for taking increasing responsibility for his reading and showing such fantastic effort across the curriculum. It’s lovely to see this growing independence, and he should be really proud of himself!

That’s another week wrapped up!

Thank you, as always, for your continued support. Have a fabulous weekend, everyone, and we’ll see you next week ready for more learning, laughter and adventures.

Signing off with big smiles (it's FriYAY), Mr. Langley and Mr. Bishop

Thank you so much for all of your donations for Liskeard Foodbank this Harvest Festival. It was wonderful having some time with you in the beautiful St Cleer church. Thank you Rev. Li for welcoming us, Sally Butlin for supporting our singing, the children for being wonderful, the staff too. Thank you as always for your support and trust you put in us to work with your children. 

The Little Red Hen at Storytellers

This week at Storytellers, we have been enjoying the story of The Little Red Hen. The children listened carefully to the story and joined in with familiar parts, learning new words and talking about what happened.

We then became little bakers ourselves and worked together to make our own bread. The children helped to mix the ingredients, noticing how the mixture changed as we added and combined everything. They enjoyed feeling the dough and watching it change as we kneaded it and it began to become soft and stretchy.

This was a wonderful opportunity to develop communication, cooperation, turn-taking and fine motor skills, as well as learning about changes in materials and following simple instructions.

The best part was, of course, tasting our freshly baked bread together! The children enjoyed sitting with their friends and sharing what they had made. They also took some bread home to share with their families, just like the Little Red Hen shared her story with us.

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Another Fantastic Week of Learning in Marazion!

We have had another fabulous week in Marazion, filled with exciting learning and opportunities to develop new skills across the curriculum!

English – Stone Age Stories

The children have been busy finishing and writing up their own stories set in the Stone Age, inspired by Stone Age Boy. They have worked incredibly hard to include key Year 3 and 4 writing skills, including adverbials to add detail, subordinating conjunctions to extend their sentences and apostrophes for possession. It has been wonderful to see the children applying these skills so confidently in their independent writing!

Maths – Rounding

In maths, we have been tackling rounding numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1,000. The children have been developing their understanding of place value and using their knowledge to decide which multiple a number is closest to.

History – From the Bronze Age to the Iron Age

Our History learning has taken us from the Bronze Age into the Iron Age. We explored how and why trading was so important to people living during this period, before putting our learning into practice with an exciting Iron Age trading game! The children had to trade goods to obtain the resources they would need to survive, encouraging them to think carefully about the importance of trade and the resources available during the Iron Age.

PE – Teamwork in Football

In PE, we have continued developing our football skills, but this week our focus was on playing effectively as a team. The children have been putting their passing and dribbling skills into practice, learning how communication, cooperation and supporting one another can help a team succeed.

Music – Learning the Cornets

Our music lessons have continued with learning to play the cornets. The children are growing in confidence as they practise their playing, develop their musical skills and become more comfortable making music together. It has been lovely to see their progress!

There has been plenty more fantastic learning taking place across the curriculum, and we are incredibly proud of the enthusiasm, effort and growing independence the children continue to show.

Well done, Marazion, for another brilliant week!

With half term around the corner, we are nearing the end of many units of work across the school. Children are demonstrating their learning and understanding of the concepts taught. Here is sample of some of that work:

Maths
I had the pleasure of cover teaching in Class 1 this week. In maths, they have been learning about prepositional language; the words we use to describe the position of an object in relation to something else. From the wonderful Pat Hutchins book, Rosie's Walk, Maeve was able to use the small world play table to describe where Rosie was in relation to items around the farmyard. She also drew a treasure map and talked about things being 'next to', 'above', 'in' and 'under' in relation to other things. Developing language is such a key aspect of early years learning, it was great to see how Tom Ottewell-Taylor and Abi Flashman design these language rich learning opportunities for the class.



Forest School
I had a second helping of Class 1 this afternoon, as Abi Flashman had to leave early with the cross country runners for the first race of the season at Great Trethew. During forest school, the children cooked s'mores, made fairy houses, cooked up recipes in the mud kitchen and searched for the minibeast and wildlife living in this part of the school. It was lovely to eaves drop on the conversations as the children explored wherever their imagination took them.



Science
Class 3 children have been learning about magnets. This week, they applied learning so far to explore making their own compass. From the thumbs up, Freya and Emily clearly succeeded in this task. As science lead, Sam Watts is passionate about investigations in science, where children can apply their learning or explore a hypothesis. 



Art
After half term, art lead Tom Ottewell-Taylor, is planning an exhibition of children's artwork from the term so far. Class 4 children have been applying their learning about typeface design to make these 3D maps, which they look forward to sharing with their families at the exhibition.



Author Visit
Today, local author Laura Sweet joined junior children to talk about her latest book and to read an extract. The children then had the opportunity to ask Laura questions. As English lead, Melissa Pinfield is always looking for opportunities such as this to inspire our children as both readers and writers.



Summer Reading Challenge
Well done to the 22 children who completed the summer reading challenge at Callington Library. Today, librarian Christine joined our weekly celebration assembly to present certificates to the group. It is fantastic that so many of our families use the local library.



Fencing Update
You may have noticed that new gates have been installed on the school drive. To minimise disruption, the contractors are hoping to complete installation of new fencing around the front of the school over the half term break.

Harvest Assembly
A reminder of the invitation to  join us next Thursday morning at 9.15am for our harvest assembly at the village hall.

I look forward to sharing more of what has been happening at Harrowbarrow next week.

Take a look above at the fantastic writing that has been produced this week in Yrs 5 and 6. The children have been writing a short consequence story, based on the novel Letters from the Lighthouse. They have worked hard at including relative clauses, correctly punctuated speech and ambitious vocabulary. We have just reached the point at which their main characters get stuck in a dangerous predicament. Will their characters be saved in time and will they have learned their lesson...?!

Take a look above at the fantastic writing that has been produced this week in Yrs 5 and 6. The children have been writing a short consequence story, based on the novel Letters from the Lighthouse. They have worked hard at including relative clauses, correctly punctuated speech and ambitious vocabulary. We have just reached the point at which their main characters get stuck in a dangerous predicament. Will their characters be saved in time and will they have learned their lesson...?!

Year Group Newsletters
To see what learning has been happening in classes, and what’s coming up, please take a look at the Year Group Newsletters emailed home today. Copies can also be found on the class pages of our website.

PE SCITT (School-Centred Initial Teacher Training) Day
This week, we were delighted to welcome 17 SCITT trainee teachers to Wadebridge Primary Academy for a day of PE training with Mrs Smerdon. Throughout the day, the trainees had the opportunity to observe PE lessons, work alongside Mrs Smerdon and lead small-group activities, gaining valuable hands-on experience. It was a fantastic opportunity to showcase our school and the exciting opportunities we provide through PE, physical activity and school sport. We thoroughly enjoyed welcoming the next generation of teachers and sharing our passion for inspiring children to be active, healthy and confident learners. A special thank you to Mrs Smerdon and all our children involved for such a positive day. As well as providing training, we are also proud to work alongside Cornwall SCITT (and Tamsin Preston, who many of you may remember worked at our school) to host trainee teachers at school.

Harvest Foodbank Donations
Thank you so much for responding to our request for donations. You have been so generous! Wadebridge Foodbank will be collecting the items next week, ready to be distributed to those who need it – thank you!

Parent Ambassadors
We were pleased to hold our first Parent Ambassadors meeting last week, establishing the group's role and purpose. We are excited to launch this initiative, which aims to further strengthen the positive partnership between home and school. Please check your email for a copy of the Parent Ambassadors Charter giving an overview of the group's role and ways of working. We would ideally like Parent Ambassadors from those year groups not yet represented (Nursery, Reception and Year 1) to join the group. If you are interested in finding out more, please contact Mr Wathern.

Reception 2027 Stay and Play Sessions
Is your child due to start school in Reception next September 2027? We are running a couple of Stay and Play sessions on the following dates to show you our wonderful provision:
• Monday 19th October 13:30-14:30
• Thursday 22nd October 10:00-11:00
• Monday 2nd November 16:00-17:00 

Parent Teacher Consultations (PTCs) - Tuesday 20th & Wednesday 21st October
The teachers look forward to meeting with parents/carers next week. If you haven’t made your appointment yet, please do so via the Arbor app. If you have any difficulty with the online booking system, please contact the school office.

School Closed – INSET Day (Friday 23rd October)
A reminder that next Thursday is the last day of half term – school finishes at the normal time. School is closed next Friday as teachers will be at Brunel Primary for a Trust-wide INSET day.

House Points
Congratulations to this week’s joint winners, Choughs and Swans. Overall, Puffins are just maintaining the lead:
Puffins – 1960
Choughs – 1932
Cormorants – 1804
Swans – 1730

Wishing you a restful weekend.
Best wishes,
Chris Wathern

A Wonderful Week of Learning in Lantic Class!

What a fantastic time we have been having! The children in Lantic Class have been working incredibly hard and showing lots of enthusiasm for their learning. Here’s a little look at what we have been up to recently!

In English, we have been exploring our new WAGOLL (What A Good One Looks Like), The Three Little Pigs: A Twisted Tale. The children have loved listening to the traditional fairy tale and have been busy putting the story in the correct order using picture cards. They then used their sequencing skills to create their own story maps, helping them to remember the key events and think carefully about how stories are structured. We have also enjoyed exploring a different version of the story by listening to The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. This led to some fantastic discussions! The children had to decide which team they were on: Team Wolf or Team Pig! There were some brilliant ideas and thoughtful reasons shared as the children considered whether the wolf really was the villain of the story. It has been wonderful to hear them expressing their opinions and explaining their choices.

In Maths, the children have been working super hard on their addition and subtraction skills. They have shown fantastic determination and have been developing their confidence when solving calculations and using different strategies to help them. We have been particularly impressed with their understanding of number bonds to 10 and 100. The children absolutely blew us away with their learning! They have worked hard to recognise number pairs that make these important totals and have shown just how much they can remember and apply.

In History, the children enjoyed taking part in a debate about whether they would prefer to go to school in the present day or in the past. They used everything they had learnt so far to support their opinions and explain their reasons. It was wonderful to hear them sharing their ideas, listening to different viewpoints and using their historical knowledge to justify their choices.

In PE, we have been developing our throwing and catching skills as part of our striking and fielding unit. The children have been practising their coordination, accuracy and control as they worked on throwing and catching a ball. They have shown great effort and enthusiasm while developing these important skills.

In Science, we have enjoyed putting our learning into practice by building bridges! The children used everything they have learnt so far to design and construct their own bridges, thinking carefully about how to make them strong and stable. It was fantastic to see them exploring their ideas, solving problems and using their scientific knowledge in a practical way.

We are so proud of the effort, enthusiasm and resilience the children have shown across all areas of their learning. It has been wonderful to see their confidence grow as they share ideas, ask questions and take on new challenges. Well done, Lantic Class! Keep up the fantastic work!

What another successful week it has been at Brunel!

There have been so many exciting learning opportunities taking place across the school, and it has been lovely to see the children demonstrating our school values and making the most of every opportunity to Seize the Day! This week, children from Issy's Brunel Nursery and Seaton Class have enjoyed visits to St Anne's. It is always wonderful to see our children taking their learning beyond the classroom and making connections within our local community.

Our School Council and Eco Council have also been busy this week, sharing ideas, taking responsibility and making a real difference to school life. We are incredibly proud of the enthusiasm and commitment they are showing in helping to make Brunel an even better place for everyone.

We have also enjoyed another successful Open Day this week, welcoming prospective parents and families into school. It has been a pleasure to show visitors around Brunel, share our vision and values, and give them a glimpse of the wonderful learning experiences our children enjoy every day.

Thank you to our children and staff for helping to showcase our school so positively.

Individual School Photographs – Monday 19th October A reminder that our individual school photographs will be taking place on Monday morning. We will begin at approximately 8:30am with photographs of children who are in our Nursery but who do not attend on a Monday plus children who have siblings who are not at Brunel, before moving on to individual and sibling photographs of children in school throughout the morning. Please ensure your child arrives looking smart and wearing their full school uniform. We are looking forward to seeing lots of lovely smiles!

Parents' Evenings – Next Week Our Parents' Evenings are taking place next week. If you have not yet booked an appointment, please log in to Arbor to select a suitable time. These meetings are an important opportunity to celebrate your child's achievements, discuss their progress and talk about their next steps in learning. We look forward to welcoming you into school. Just a reminder that we are hoping that our dance workshops will take place next week. The deadline for payment of £1.50 is today. Please log on to ParentPay to pay this voluntary donation if you haven't already.

Half-Term Reminder – School Closes Thursday 22nd October Please remember that our final day of school before the half-term break is Thursday 22nd October. School will be closed to all pupils on Friday 23rd October for a staff INSET Day.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support. It has been another fantastic week at Brunel, and I am incredibly proud of everything our children and staff continue to achieve together. Wishing you all a lovely weekend and please enjoy reading through the Brunel Bulletin.

Whitsand Class Blog 

What a fantastic week we have had in Whitsand Class!

This week, the children have begun their exciting exploration of the traditional tale Hansel and Gretel. We have been focusing on describing the magical candy house, and the children have loved letting their imaginations run wild! They designed their very own candy houses before beginning to write descriptive sentences using adverbials of time. We have been so impressed with their creativity and enthusiasm so far, and we cannot wait to see how their writing develops!

In Maths, we have been exploring fact families and number bonds within 10. The children have been using Numicon to help them recognise different ways to make numbers and understand how numbers are connected. They have worked hard to build their confidence and develop their mathematical thinking.

In Science, the children put their knowledge to the test by revisiting their bridge-building challenge! Using materials from the builders' shed, they redesigned and improved their bridges, thinking carefully about how to make their structures strong and stable. Through fantastic collaboration and teamwork, they created some amazing structures. Well done, Whitsand Class!

Finally, in History, the children considered a very important question: would they prefer to go to school today or 100 years ago? After thinking about how school life has changed over time, most of the children decided that they would much rather attend school now! They explained how the love the colourful classrooms, interactive whiteboards, and football!

Well done to all the children for another wonderful week of learning, creativity and teamwork. We are so proud of their enthusiasm and the way they continue to challenge themselves across all areas of the curriculum.

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

Dear all!

It has been another fantastic week in Kynance Class!

Fantastic progress in Hockey!

We have been so impressed with the children’s improvement in hockey. They are developing much better control of the ball, keeping it close to their sticks as they move and becoming more confident when changing direction. Their passing and receiving skills are also improving, and it has been wonderful to see their determination and enthusiasm during our lessons!

Maths – Addition and Subtraction

In maths, we have moved on to our new unit on addition and subtraction. The children are developing their calculation skills and exploring different strategies to solve problems. We will be using practical resources and a range of activities to help build confidence and deepen their understanding of mathematical concepts.

English – The Stone Age Girl

We have begun our exciting new English unit based on The Stone Age Girl. The children are stepping back in time to explore life in the Stone Age and will be using the story to inspire their reading, discussion and writing. We are looking forward to developing our vocabulary, exploring characters and settings, and creating some fantastic pieces of writing over the coming weeks.

Art – Cave Paintings

Our Stone Age art topic is continuing, and next week the children will be completing their own cave paintings! They have been experimenting with different ways of making marks and exploring how natural materials could have been used to create colours and artwork in prehistoric times. We cannot wait to see their finished creations!

Black History Month – Inspiring Pioneers

As part of our learning for Black History Month, we have been discovering inspiring pioneers who have made a difference to the world. The children have been making excellent use of our school orienteering facility, following clues and finding out more about the lives and achievements of Rosa Parks and Mary Seacole. This has been a fantastic way to combine outdoor learning with discovering the stories of remarkable women who showed courage, determination and a desire to help others.

Don't Forget – Home Learning!

A little reminder to keep practising those skills at home by completing your Mathletics challenges and Reading Eggs challenges! Regular practice will help the children build confidence, consolidate their learning and develop their maths and reading skills. Thank you for your continued support in encouraging the children to complete these activities.

Well done, Kynance Class for another week of hard work, enthusiasm and brilliant learning! We are looking forward to seeing what you achieve next week!

The children at nursery have been busy exploring all things autumn this week.
They have manipulated clay to make hedgehogs which are now hibernating before they go home at half term.
Last week we sent out bags for the children to collect autumn treasures which they have brought back and now used to make their own autumn wreath with.
In addition to this they have collaged colourful tissue paper leaves and been matching colours using different natural materials found.

At story time this week we have enjoyed reading “The Leaf Thief” and have been looking at non fiction books such as “Harvest Festival” and “Look and Find in the Forest”.

During phonics we have been recognising different volumes by playing a game of loud or quiet. The children have been copying sequences of actions and matching musical instruments to different sounds.

On the maths table, the children have been counting and grouping objects up to 5 and have completed inset puzzles independently.

Just a reminder that it is INSET next Friday and we are closed. It is then half term so we return to nursery on Monday 2nd November.

We hope you all have a lovely weekend

Julie and Sarah

Friday 16th October

We have completed our penultimate week of the first half term in Rame class! Wow it has gone so quick! 

In phonics this week we have learnt phonemes h/b/f/l, the children are using all the phonemes they know to read their books and have been amazing the adults in class this week. 

In maths we have been exploring composition of the number 4. The children have been using multilink cubes to make 4 different ways; they made their very own numberblock! We also used skittles to subitise this week, and I think we may have some amazing bowlers on our hands let alone mathematicians! 

In English this week, we changed our story from We're Going on a Bear Hunt to We're Goin on an Adult Hunt. We discussed the adults that can help us in school and the adults that can help us in the community. We then went on an adult hunt in school to find these adults! we hope to go for a local walk next week to find some of the adults in our community that help us too! 

In outdoor learning this week we used conkers, leaves and skewers to make our very own bear from our story! The children explored Autumn through story and craft, and it was an amazing session full of skills and knowledge. 

We have had a wonderful week in Rame class and we are looking forward to the last week of this half term next week. Gentle reminder that school is Monday - Thursday next week and it is INSET day on the Friday!