We have had a fantastic 1^st Half Term back welcoming several new children who have all settled in well to Nursery life. We began with learning all about Autumn we talked about the changes we may observe outside looking at changes in leaf colour, the sounds leaves make when we walk on them. This then inspired lots of creative activities where we used red, yellow, brown and gold colours to make Autumn trees. We also used crunchy Autumn leaves to create trees. We picked apples and used them in our play to included apple printing, rolling and using them to weigh in our role play farm shop. 

We have investigated pumpkins and looked at the different colours, shapes and sizes they can be. The children did some amazing still life drawings using chalks, crayons and pencils. We also used them for a hammering activity to develop fine motor skills. Our first book of the Half Term was the very popular Gruffalo. We made masks and went on a Gruffalo hunt in our woodland area we also explored a sensory tray of ‘Gruffalo Crumble’ which was very popular with the children as they enjoyed scooping and emptying and filling containers. 

Our second book was The Leaf Theif, we offered the children a cutting and sticking activity with leaves we had collected together.  We collected Conkers and used them for a painting activity as well as using them in a sensory tray for the children to count, roll, hold and explore. We collaged acorns and learnt about Oak Trees. 

We have learnt about Harvest and learnt where our food comes from and how important farms are. We joined the rest of the school at Autumn Assembly to celebrate Harvest. 

We have incorporated Autumn into our Circle Times by learning new songs like ‘Autumn Leaves’ which was very popular and playing different memory games with an Autumn theme. 

Following the children’s keen interest in Number Blocks we have offered the children colouring and number blocks too which they have really enjoyed. 

We have read Room on the Broom in the woods and then made wands using natural materials the children found themselves in the environment. Following the theme of Halloween we have changed our role play area to a witch’s kitchen, we made a sensory tuff tray with lentils, pumpkin and jelly and used fine motor skills to rescue bugs and bats from a web.

What a fantastic week to finish the half term in Tregantle Class!

The children have been absolutely brilliant with their ‘have a go’ writing this week. Inspired by our class story, Aliens Love Underpants, they have been trying really hard to use the sounds they know to write words and share their ideas. We are so proud of their growing confidence and the wonderful effort they are putting into their early writing!

In maths, we have been exploring repeating patterns in lots of creative ways. The children have enjoyed recognising, creating and continuing patterns, using a range of resources to show what they have learned.

Our highlight of the week was undoubtedly our fantastic dance workshop, inspired by Black History Month. Our theme was ‘Carnival’, and the children had a wonderful time learning some exciting carnival dance moves and performing them to music. We finished with a brilliant carnival train, stopping along the way to shake our tambourines and wave our pom-poms! Everyone joined in with such enthusiasm and energy, and it was an absolute joy to watch the children having so much fun together.

We are incredibly proud of all the children and everything they have achieved this half term. They have worked so hard, grown in confidence and continued to develop their friendships. Have a wonderful half-term break, everyone! We look forward to welcoming the children back for another exciting half term full of fun, exploration and learning in Tregantle Class!

Thank you so much to everyone who came to share in our curriculum sharing afternoon. It was lovely to see parents and family members getting stuck into the learning and enjoying being in the classroom with your children. Thank you for supporting this event. Happy half term break!

October

October has been a very busy month for Year 5!

In English, we have finished writing our non-chronological reports about dragons and then we used our new-found skills, to produce a double-page spread to show our answers to our Historical enquiry question: 'Were the Vikings raiders, traders or something else?'.

In Music, we have been continuing to develop our keyboard skills. Some of us have even begun to use both hands to play!

In Maths, we finished out Place Value and Addition & Subtraction units and we are beginning to develop our multiplication skills.

In Science, we have been learning all about Forces by carrying out a range of  practical investigations and in DT, we built our spaghetti truss bridges, testing them for strength and the distance spanned.

In PE, we have been creating our parkour movement piece about dragons and in RE, we answered the question 'What does it mean if Christians believe God is holy and loving? 

In Computing, we have been learning all about search engines and combined these new skills with research about the Vikings in History.

A Spooktacular Day at Storytellers!

What a spooktacular day we have had at Storytellers Nursery! The children looked amazing in their fantastic fancy dress costumes, bringing lots of Halloween magic and fun to our nursery.

We have been busy little witches and wizards, mixing our very own spooky potions, exploring different colours and textures, and watching what happens as we combined our ingredients. There was plenty of excitement as we got stuck into pumpkin smashing, explored the pumpkins, and discovered what was hiding inside!

The children also enjoyed making and decorating ghost biscuits, getting creative with their spooky treats before sitting down together for our special Halloween party lunch.

It has been a wonderful day full of laughter, imagination, messy play and fantastic memories. The children have been developing their communication, creativity, fine motor skills and confidence through all our Halloween activities.

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We have reached half term and what a busy few weeks it has been. The children have described and talked about themselves and their families and created amazing self portraits, discussed their pets and the homes they live in and have explored all things autumn! Lots of amazing learning has taken place.

It is INSET tomorrow and then half term so we hope the children have a lovely week off and we look forward to seeing everyone back from Monday 2nd November.

Julie and Sarah

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Happy Half Term- 22.10.26

WOW!  I cannot believe its half term already, its gone so quick! 

The children have been amazing this half term and have adapted to full-time education, new adults, new routines and learning so well! We are beyond proud of all they have achieved this half term. 

This week we finished learning level 2 in phonics, ff/ll/ss and s saying z. The children have achieved so much in phonics and now we will continue to practice using the phonemes they know to blend them together and read small words. We will also have a big emphasis on writing and letter formation. 

In maths this week we have continued to subitise and also explore MORE. The children have observed lots of amounts and used STEM sentences to explain what they see for instance " Sam has more cars than Pat" 

In English this week we finished our unit of working by going on an adult hunt in our local community. The children explored lots of adults that help in our local area, and we were so lucky as Maya in our local shop gave us some sweets for being so good! 

The children have been creating and exploring every day, and their hard work, exploration and communication is evident in how much they have progressed in just half a term! 

Rame Class are simply the best! 

Happy Half Term. 

Thank you to everyone who attended our autumn/harvest assembly at the village hall this morning. Seeing our new reception children performing on the stage in front of so many people was amazing. I cannot believe they have only been in school a matter of weeks. The variety of songs from each class was lovely; it is always special to share your children's efforts with you. Thank you to everyone who donated items for the Callington Foodbank. We will deliver this later.



Thank you to all our new Class 1 parents, who have engaged with Showbie to share their children's learning experiences outside of school. Buttons the bear is still going off on little holidays with children in Class 1 and last weekend it was Tilly's turn to look after him. This photo from home shows Tilly and Buttons playing on a swing - it is hard to tell which one is having the most fun!



These are the experiences that contribute to the special nature of early years learning and make learning so magical for the children.

In Class 4 this term, they have been learning about responsibilities, rewards and consequences during our weekly Personal, Social, Health & Economic lessons. This work is linked to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and to our school rules. During one activity, the children were split into groups and given five minutes to build a paper tower. The results were disappointing. They were then asked to repeat the task but this time everyone was assigned a different role. The results were much better. Afterwards the children were asked to come up with a charter for group working. The class agreed the following:
-Respect each other
-Take turns
-Listen to what others have to say
-Be democratic
-Assign roles
-Be positive



These lessons help our children develop skills not just for learning in school but also for the life ahead and the world of work. After half term, we have three guests running workshops across the school about their journeys from education to employment and sharing the skills they have utilised on the way. I look forward to sharing some photographs from these sessions in my next blog.

In the meantime, have a happy and safe half term and here is a free opportunity you may be interested in with your family.

Celebrating Black History Month Through Dance!

What a fantastic day we've had at Brunel today! A huge thank you to Laura Fleet from Ballare Dance School for delivering such wonderful workshops, bringing history, culture, music and dance to life for our children.

Tregantle & Whitsand explored Caribbean carnivals, learning traditional dance steps and creating their very own colourful carnival parade with ribbons, instruments and pom-poms!

Lantic & Marazion travelled back to 1948 to learn about the Windrush generation, exploring their journey to Britain and celebrating the cultures, music and traditions they brought with them.

Seaton & Treyarnon discovered the incredible Katherine Dunham, known as the Queen of Black Dance. They explored her pioneering dance techniques before performing routines and cheering each other on! Laura was full of praise for our children, commenting on how polite, enthusiastic and engaged they were throughout the day.

She was particularly impressed by the children who volunteered to help tidy everything away! A wonderful day of learning, celebrating diversity and embracing new experiences.

Thank you, Laura, for making it so special!

Degemer An Jydh – Seize the Day!
#TeamBrunel #BlackHistoryMonth #BallareDance #DegemerAnJydh

Funny Bones at Outdoor Learning! 

We have felt incredibly lucky this half term to have enjoyed Forest School with Mrs Gregory. Last week, we read the story Funny Bones and then collected sticks and painted them white to make a skeleton on the school field. We all worked together to make the skeleton and we had so much fun. We then researched all about bones and how to keep our bodies strong. Have a look at our pictures of our skeleton!

We’ve had a great first half term in Heligan class and I am so impressed with the progress and attitude to learning the children have.

After half term updates:

Parents evening is on Monday 2nd November and Thursday 5th November.

Please make sure your child comes to school with a coat as the weather is beginning to turn!

Have a lovely half term when it comes!

Heligan class

We have had another active week of learning in Pendennis class. We have been building on our fine motor skills with lots of activities that support our hand eye development. We have created some wonderful pumpkin themed sun catchers for our windows. We have had another exciting forest school session where we had painted sticks white to create a giant skeleton to go with the story Funny Bones.  We have continued our Talking Tots circle time sessions with some fun games and songs. 
We are all looking forward to the half term holiday, hopefully the weather will hold, and we will be able to enjoy some autumn sunshine! When we return, our topic will be How Do We Celebrate? This will include Bonfire Night, Christmas and Diwali and seasonal changes.   

Our final couple of weeks we have enjoyed lots of learning and fun activities around Harvest Time and Pumpkins!
The children have looked at what harvest means, what fruits and vegetables we can harvest and how a pumpkin grows from a seed.
We have enjoyed looking at what we can make with pumpkins, including soup, pie, and roasting it!
We have scooped pumpkins out and collected the seeds.

Some of the children were able to join the Harvest Service over in church and enjoyed listening to the older children sing their songs.

A reminder that Friday 23rd October is an Inset Day and we return after half term on Monday 2nd November.

We hope all our children and families have a lovely week together.

The Pre-School Team.

Harvest Week

On Tuesday, the whole school were really lucky to experience "A Taste of Harvest" with Reverend Li. She, and her wonderful volunteers, taught the children all about harvest at a series of different stations. They learnt about the harvest of the field, flock, sea and grain.

The children had a chance to tast bread, feel different types of flour, complete some origami, plant their own seeds and learn about the way harvest is celebrated! Thank-you to Reverend Li and the volunteers for giving up their time and sharing their enthusiasm. The children had a great time and were a credit to the school and themselves. 

Thursday sees our community Harvest Celebration with singing, food and enjoyment. The whole community are invited and it should be a wonderful way to finish the half term. 

Thank you so much to the East Cornwall Harriers for organising a great first meet to the season! The sunshine, the smiles and the open Cornish countryside air - perfect for those of us who love to run! Well done to you all and thank you to the parents, carers and volunteers who were there to cheer you at the start and over that line!