Test-tubes and VR

Earlier this week, Seaton class took part in a workshop about the ocean by Plymouth Aquarium. 

They started by learning about where energy comes from and the impact this has on fossil fuels and the environment. They learned about global warming and climate change and how this affected the wildlife in Plymouth Sound. 

They then became scientists and investigated the ph levels of different liquids using universal indicator. They predicted whether each liquid was acid or alkali and then watched as they changed colour. We were all most surprised by milk which turned out to be an acid. Ask them what other liquids they tested and what they found out. 

To finish off, they were all given VR headsets so that they could virtually explore the marine wildlife in the Plymouth Sound National Marine Park. They were able to spot crabs, starfish, sea grass, coral and even scuba divers. 
What a wonderful learning experience! 

Well we are finishing the last week of November already!  What a great week we've had.

In English the Year 1 and 2's have been planning and writing some amazing stories all about Christmas.  Reception have been exploring birthday parties and using their imaginations to draw and describe some delicious birthday cakes, party guests and book characters.

In maths, Reception have been continuing to develop their number knowledge, looking at numbers 1-5.  Year 1's have been beginning to explore 2-D and 3-D shape, recapping on shape names and properties.  Year 2 have been completing their last steps in their unit of work on addition and subtraction, explaining and solving a mixture of problems.

In our RE work this week we looked at the importance of Advent at this time of year, to Christian people.  The children discovered the meaning behind an Advent wreath and had a go at making their own.

Our singing for our nativity is sounding beautiful.  The children are working so hard and we are sure you are going to be very impressed.

Next week seems to be looking pretty normal at the moment but I think it may be the last one before the Christmas craziness starts!!

If you have any questions or queries then please ask.

Mrs Andrew, Mrs Fernie, Mrs Hicks, Miss Talbot

Yesterday morning, a few of our tiniest people were helped by some of our biggest people to decorate the Storytellers Christmas tree as part of the St Petroc Churches Christmas tree festival. Nursery and KS2 have been busy making decorations, which are now adorning the tree! It looks spectacular, and everyone can view their tree along with over 70 other beautiful trees in St. Petroc Church. It really is worth a visit as it looks amazing, or as one of our little ones said, ‘Wow…sparkly!’ 

Football Stars

A huge congratulations to Mrs Hannaford and her amazing Year 5 and 6 football stars. They took part in the Bridge Schools Football Tournament at Callywith College last Thursday. They won their heat and came second overall. They were also commended for their sportsmanship and manners- well done you are all superstars!

A reminder that there are parental consultation meetings this week. You can make an appointment with your child's teacher via Seesaw. 
Thank you to those of you who came to the Christmas Kahoot Evening. Great fun was had by all and it was wonderful to see so many of you in attendance. A huge thanks to Dave Cunningham of Dave's Chip Stop who provided the food at such a generous discount.
Please see below for our fundraising newsletter which details how much money has be raised so far and what we have spent it on/intend to spend it on. 
You should have received information about the 'Breakfast With Santa' event being held at the Infant and Nursery Base on Saturday 7th December. We hope to see as many of you there as possible.
We are looking forward to the Rainbow Mufti event on Friday 6th December. See Seesaw and Facebook for more details.

Congratulations to our super team of footballers from Year 5 and Year 6 who visited Callywith last week to take on teams from across the Bridge Schools trust. As always, the represented the school magnificiently and were fantastic sports. Well done. 

Congratulations to our super team of footballers from Year 5 and Year 6 who visited Callywith last week to take on teams from across the Bridge Schools trust. As always, the represented the school magnificiently and were fantastic sports. Well done. 

Crafty and Curious!

This week, Talland have been included in some lovely extra-curricular activities including table cricket and making lanterns for the Saltash Lantern Parade. Thank you to those parents who were able to join us in constructing the lanterns; it is always very exciting (and messy!).

Also, we have moved on in our 'Forces' science unit to learn about levers, pulleys and gears. The children were tasked with investigating pulley systems: they had to explain what they could be used for, and how they help. Some were very successful in being able to easily winch up some of the items on their desks! The children will be putting this knowledge to use in DT, in which we have started a railway project and are building a small electrical locomotive.

Talland get Technical!

Thanks to Hyett Education and Miss Henning, Talland got to experience what it is like to work as an engineer in the robotics sector today.

We first had to follow instructions to construct a small robot, then had to solve a series of design problems to allow a Lego figure to be attached, for the wires to stay clear of the wheels and to include a working headlight! The children then had to  produce some code to ensure that the robot did as they wanted it to do and moved where they intended.

It was a truly inspiring, and seriously fun, morning for all.

Hello Everyone!

It has been a lovely week of learning in Penhallow.

Reception have been very creative in their play this week and have built numerous castles using different materials. We went outside on the hill in nursery, used sand in the outside play area, and also perfected other designs using different construction materials in the classroom.

We have all been busy learning songs for our Christmas play. The singing sounds amazing! A few of the children have lines to practice, so thank you if you have been practicing at home. The fun starts next week, when we begin to practice the whole play, complete with acting.

There were some really interesting show and tell items this week, that got us thinking. Thank you so much for your pictures and artefacts. Next week, the theme is; a book from the past. If you would prefer, a picture of a book would be fine. Particularly if you would rather not send in a special book. Show and tell is on a Friday afternoon.

We enjoyed a lovely whole school lantern making experience on Monday. It was lovely to see the older children helping Penhallow, and supporting them so well. Thank you Chaipel, Talland and Landaviddy. Hopefully the weather will be kind to us on Saturday for the lantern parade.

Have a lovely weekend!

From the Penhallow team.

Thank you to everyone for coming in Christmas Mufti  and with gifts for the Christmas Gift Shop in a few weeks time. We were lucky to have some elves with us today too (Photo pending)!

This week, Landaviddy class went on a class trip to The Royal Cornwall Museum and Truro Museum. We had the most amazing time learning about the mummification process, exploring the Egyptian section of the museum and digging for clues to match to Egyptian artefacts. In the afternoon, we went to Truro Cathedral, which was fantastic! We were mesmerised by how big it was! See the photos below from the day!

Throughout the rest of the week, in English we have been working hard on our Egyptian traditional tales, inspired by Little Red Riding Hood. In Maths, Year 2 have finished their unit on addition and subtraction and will be starting work on Shape. Year 3 have continued Multiplication and Division this week, recapping multiples of 2, 5 and 10. 

Congratulations to Alfie and Lowen H for being chosen as Landaviddy's People of the Week. And a big well done to all the children who achieved their 99 club this week!

We have been working hard on our Christmas play this week. Please help support your child at home, by practising their lines. We will be continuing play practise next week. A letter has also gone home today about costumes for the play. I have attached this below for your information. We are asking for any costumes to be brought in a named bag by Friday 6th December. 

Please keep practising the songs at home. I have also attached the song lyrics for the songs we have covered so far.

We hope you have a lovely weekend and look forward to seeing you on Monday. 

Mrs Wilkie, Mrs Phillips, Miss Bowden and Miss Colton

Scientist's and Architect's 

This week as well as lots of amazing writing during English and working hard with addition and subtraction in Maths, the children have been rehearsing for our Christmas performance. 

They have also been designing waterproof buildings for Incy Wincey Spider in Science and designing new Tudor/Stuart buildings in DT.  They have really enjoyed working together on their waterproof designs - though some were more successful than others.  Then they started to evaluate what they did! 

It has been a fun end to the week with our Christmas MUFTI day - thank you for sending in so many gifts for the Christmas Gift Shop which will take place on Monday 16th December.

Lantern Procession Tomorrow The children have made some beautiful lanterns between them for the procession tomorrow. Children and parents/carers should congregate at the Chapel at 4.15pm ready to leave promptly at 4.30pm. We look forward to seeing you there. If your child carries a lantern, please ensure that they bring the cane back to school on Monday so that it can be reused next year.

Christmas Fayre Friday 6th December 2pm
The Christmas Fayre will be held next Friday, 6th December, and we are looking to accept any teddy tombola donations, raffle prizes as well as good condition toys and books to sell. Please feel free to send these into school with your child. We would also greatly appreciate any cakes/baking donations which we will then be able to sell at our Refreshment Stall. A list of ingredients must be provided for homemade cakes please. If these could be brought into school on or before Friday 6th December, they will be gratefully received.

Clubs Next week clubs will run as usual apart from running club on Friday which is cancelled because of the Christmas Fayre. For the final 2 weeks of term (9 Dec – 20 Dec) there will be no clubs except for afterschool wraparound club and Breakfast Club which will continue as usual. Clubs will restart in January and we will send a letter out after the Christmas break about which ones will be running.

Uniform Reminder If you are replacing your child’s footwear over the Christmas break, please can we remind you that you should send your child in wearing shoes which are black and flat, not boots. Please see https://www.polperroprimary.co.uk/Information/Uniform for uniform requirements. We have collected several sweatshirts this half term which are not named. These will be in the library after school on Monday for you to collect if your child has mislaid one.

Christmas Lunch- Wednesday 18th December The Christmas lunch will be held on Wednesday 18th December this year. Please see the separate attachment for the menu. If your child would like a Christmas dinner, please ensure you have booked their meal by Friday 6th December as this tends to be very popular with the children. Please book their meals on Parentpay, even if you do not need to pay for their lunches. If you have any problems, do not hesitate to contact Mrs Turnbull on secretary@polperroprimary.co.uk.

Have a lovely weekend.

TOTALLY TERRIFIC TRURO TRIP!

Another week has gone by and so much has happened.

We are fully into our rehearsals for the Christmas play - it's going to be epic! Everyone has their lines and are getting into their roles, with the stage going up next week.

ENGLISH
We are writing up our draft version of The Circulatory System explanation text and I'm rather impressed. Everyone is applying the grammar they have being learning and it makes for quite a read. Next week, we will be editing and improving and then producing our best copies.

MATHS
We are in full swing with our Fractions, already beginning to feel confident with equivalences and simplifiying. 

WIDER CURRICULUM
In Art, we have been learning about the Italian technique, Chiaroscuro: the art of 3D light and dark. We have produced some work to be proud of! In DT we have been adapting a recipe to our own tastes and we have been writing about what we have learnt about the Romans, following on from our school trip!

TRIP
Our trip to Truro was a huge success! We toured around the cathedral, saw the mineral exhibition at the museum before our workshop on ancient Rome. Our challenge was to create an oil lamp and the finished products were, "The most imaginative that the lady had ever seen." Can you spot the BFG?

Congratulations to our 99 Clubbers Elsie (88) and Hamish (Bronze) as well as our People of the Week, Elsie, Verity and Joel for displaying our School Values.

Remember the Christmas Fayre is on next Friday from 2pm and the Polperro Light Switch On is tomorrow (4:15pm at the Chapel). 
Hope to see everyone there!

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Randle, Mrs Clary, Miss Hodge and Miss Colton.

It's beginning to look a lot like you know what!

It is starting to look a little bit festive at the Infant and Nursery School. Rehearsals are in full swing for the KS1 end of term Christmas production- 'Christmas With The Aliens!' The children have been absolute stars and some have leant their lines already. Thank you to parents/carers for rehearsing with them. 
A reminder that there are parental consultation meetings next week. You can make an appointment with your child's teacher via Seesaw. 
Thank you to those of you who came to the Christmas Kahoot Evening. Great fun was had by all and it was wonderful to see so many of you in attendance. A huge thanks to Dave Cunningham of Dave's Chip Stop who provided the food at such a generous discount.
Please see below for our fundraising newsletter which details how much money has be raised so far and what we have spent it on/intend to spend it on. 
You should have received information about the 'Breakfast With Santa' event being held at the Infant and Nursery Base on Saturday 7th December. We hope to see as many of you there as possible.
We are looking forward to the Rainbow Mufti event on Friday 6th December. See Seesaw for more details.

We have had a busy half term, with lots of new children settling in and learning all about the Nursery routines; some of the very young children have found it hard to say 'good-bye' to Mummy or Daddy, but now they are coming in with excited faces.

The older children have had to learn to be tolerant and patient with the new, younger ones and now we can see how they are all building friendships with each other, enjoying each others company and being able to play alongside and share the resources.

ART

In this week’s step in our textile unit, the children mixed acrylic paint to match their mood boards and added this to their glue covered patterned material. They used their learning of the colour wheel to mix primary colours to make secondary colours and the results were great. Aside from a few blobs of paint on the carpet, the unit of work is on course to be completed next week, when we wash out the glue to reveal the patterns created. 

Christmas Play

I have sent home slips with request for costumes and props for our Christmas play. Please do not buy anything new, we are asking for the children to bring in any suitable items they already have at home. If you are struggling to find any, please let us know by Wednesday 5th and we will find/make something in school.

Singing
Mrs Butlin was very impressed with the children again this week. Their enthusiasm and desire to learn our Christmas play songs is evident for all to hear and makes it a real joy to work with them. We are encouraging the children to take their song sheets home so they can continue to practice the songs at home too.

Dancing
Mrs Phillips has been teaching the class a dance as part of the play. As always, any kind of expressive art is met with gusto and positivity from everyone. That the dance requires “attitude” is only a bonus as you can see from the photos.

Enjoy the weekend,
Mr Twaite and Mrs W