Hello Everyone!

Penhallow have had a very eventful week.

Tuesday was shrove Tuesday/pancake day, so we learnt about the origins of pancake day. We then made our own pancakes and enjoyed eating them with a selection of toppings. Year 1 wrote instructions for how to make pancakes, while Reception sequenced pictures of how they were made. In the afternoon, as you can see from the picture, we enjoyed some pancake races, which then turned into designing our own obstacle race/pancake races.

World Book Day on Thursday was was a lot of fun. We spent some time with Landaviddy choosing books and reading together. We also learnt about 2 different authors; David McKee and Neil Gaiman. Both authors have written stories about animals. We read the story of Elmer, by David McKee, and talked about how sometimes we try to be like everybody else, instead of being happy with our differences. In the story, Elmer tries to camouflage himself. We finished the day with some time in the school garden, where we tried to camouflage objects, so that our friends couldn't find them. 

We hope you have a lovely weekend!

From the Penhallow Team

This week, we have been working on what makes a suspense story.  There have been some fantastic pieces of writing from the pupils focusing on how setting can really help to scene the scene for the reader.  Here are some examples from pupils.  This one is from Rosie and includes some excellent examples of similes. 

During the witching hour, Julia had this gruesome nightmare. It started at dilapidated amusement park where smiles went upside down. The storm raged overhead like a volcano, drowning out spine-chilling moans of despair. The mist swirled overhead, round and round like a carousel. The lightning rumbled like a loud earthquake. 

This one is from Leo B and he has tried to include a rhetorical question too.  

As the clock struck midnight, the haunted graveyard strikes again. Tom entered the graveyard, filming it on his camera. Did he know it was going to be his biggest mistake? The wind howled and the lightning struck.

The spellings for my group this week are: defiant, defiance, reliant, reliance,  assistance, assistant, distance, distant,  elegance,  elegant.  We are recapping these words as the group are still not secure on this spelling pattern.  

Mr Watts is recapping the mis/dis and un prefix.  His spellings are: disagree, disappear, disapprove, dishonest, dislike, incapable, incomplete, incorrect, independent, invisible, unhappy, unkind, unlock and unclear

In Maths, we have just moved on to written methods for multiplication.  Year 5 are starting by recapping 2 digit by one digit multiplication and 3 digit by 1 digit multiplication with questions such as 23 x 8 and 452 x 8.  Year 6 are looking at 4 digit by 2 digit multiplication methods.

Here are some KIRFs to give you a flavour of that Maths that we have covered so far:

This week has been filled with lots of exciting activities and learning experiences! We had a wonderful day celebrating World Book Day, where the children wore fantastic costumes and took part in a fun and lively catwalk. It was so wonderful to see the creativity and imagination that went into each outfit. The children also had the opportunity to design their own bookmarks, which they got to take home, and create a beautiful book cover, showcasing their artistic talents. To top it all off, we spent time sharing and enjoying lots of wonderful stories together, sparking plenty of discussions about our favourite books and characters.

In Maths, we continued to build on our subtraction skills. The children have been working hard to understand the concept of subtracting numbers.

In RE, we delved into the teachings of the Qu'ran. The children learned about its significance in Islam and how it guides the lives of Muslims around the world. They asked thoughtful questions and engaged in meaningful discussions about respect, faith, and understanding different cultures.

In English, we focused on describing Zahra using adjectives and expanded noun phrases. The children used their creativity to come up with vivid descriptions, learning how to make their writing more detailed and interesting. They really enjoyed exploring the different ways to describe a character.

On Wednesday, we had a special treat when we made pasties in celebration of St Piran's Day. With the help of Ginsters, the children got to roll up their sleeves and try their hand at making this traditional Cornish dish. The pasties were delicious, and it was a fun and educational way to learn about Cornish culture and traditions.

It has truly been a week full of fun, learning, and celebration, and we can’t wait to see what next week brings!

This week at nursery we have been continuing to explore farms and where our food comes from.
The children have been busy creating collage carrots and handprint corn on the cob. We have been talking about different foods that can be grown and about what foods the children enjoy to eat.

At storytime we have been reading books such as "Farmer duck" and "Vegetable glue" and in phonics the children have been playing "I spy" where they have had to identify different animals from their initial sound. They have also been using their bodies to create different movements of animals and making and matching sounds as well as beginning to match rhyming words together.

It has been a busy week:
On Tuesday we had pancake day. The children had pancakes with different fruit toppings for snack and we played pancake races outside.
On Wednesday we celebrated ST Piran's day. The children made flags to take home and there was the option for pasties for school dinner.
On Thursday it was World Book Day. The children came in dressed up as their favourite book character. They all looked amazing and we had a great day of sharing our favourite stories and making footprint book marks.

We have introduced "Travis the T-Rex" to the children this week. Travis will be taking it in turns to go home with the children and is looking forward to many exciting adventures. Children are encouraged to draw a picture in the book and any pictures can be emailed to Julie.

Have a great weekend, see you on Monday

The Nursery Team














































L

Lots to celebrate.

This week, we have learned about the origins of Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday in addition to learning about and celebrating our patron saint St Piran on St Piran's Day. 

It was lovely to welcome our parents and friends into our class. Together, we joined in with a range of activities linked to St Piran. 

With World Book Day coming around once more, don't forget to spend your vouchers. Worth the usual £1 or a special addition WBD book!

Don't forget to also visit the Book Fair in the library before and after school. Plenty of goodies to be had by all.

Depending on what you read - some accounts of St Piran speak of a man who enjoyed being at the centre of the community. He was born in Ireland but was banished by the King of Munster across the Celtic Sea. He amazingly managed to survive and landed on the beautiful North Cornwall coast and made Cornwall his home. As we joined together as a community we celebrated that we have each made Cornwall our home - some of us born here, some of born elsewhere in England and some of us born elsewhere in the world. We are all welcome and have been lucky to make Cornwall our home and St Cleer our community. Thank you celebrating with us and Gool Peran Lowen to all!

It has been great to see everyone back in school after half term.  This week, we have been revising some fraction work, particularly adding fractions with denominators in the same times tables.  We have started our new writing unit looking at suspense stories.  It has been great to read some really spooky stories set in a variety of places.  

This week's spellings are a recap of ie and ei words.  The words for my group are:  relieve, believe, concieve, achieve, reign, weight, neighbour, protein and conceit. 

Mr Watts is looking at the prefix "sub".  His words are subdivide, subheading, submarine, submerge, subsoil, subtitle, subway, subzero

Our KIRFs this half term have also changed.  Year 6 are looking at percentages of amounts and Year 5 are looking at adding and subtracting with negative numbers.  Here is a taste of the some of the questions that we have been looking at:

Information for a new half term

 SPRING 2 in Year 5/6H

It has been so lovely to have some sunshine to start this half term. The children have settled back in brilliantly after half-term and we are enthusiastic to get stuck into our learning.

CURRICULUM

Our topics for this half term can be found in the overview that I have attached below. In addition to this you will find this half term’s Key Instant Recall Facts (KIRFs) to practice with your child. I have also included the Year 5 and Year 6 recommended reads and statutory spelling lists.

PE

Our PE day has had to change to a THURSDAY – please remember that children should come into school in full PE kit.

CLASS BLOG

We will endeavour to regularly update this blog to give you a flavour of what we have covered in class, and also pass on any important information. To help us with this, please make sure that all permissions are up to date on Arbor so that we can share images as soon as possible.

YEAR SIX

In preparation for the SATs in May – we have given Year 6 children access to ‘Yearsix.co.uk’ which has a range of videos, practice tasks and assessments for each area of the Maths and Grammar curriculum. If you have lost your child’s login then please do get in touch and we can send it to you.

SUPPORTING LEARNING AT HOME

In Upper Key Stage 2, it is important to support the children’s learning at home as much as possible. A reminder that our home learning expectations are:

Daily Reading (15 minutes) – recorded reading record to contribute to a Reading Karate reward

Times-tables and KIRF practice (20 minutes weekly) using TTRS and the KIRF sheets below

Spellings (20 minutes weekly)

Online learning – set on Atom Prime (logins will be stuck into children’s reading record)

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please do get in touch. All the very best, Mr H and the Year 5/6 team .

Exciting Learning in Our Class This Term!

This term has been packed with exciting learning opportunities across English, Geography, and PE. From exploring gripping stories to investigating the importance of our oceans and developing new sporting skills, pupils have been engaged, curious, and eager to learn.

English – The Mousehole Cat and The Great Storm

In English, we have been delving into the beautifully written and illustrated book The Mousehole Cat by Antonia Barber. This heartwarming tale, set in the Cornish fishing village of Mousehole, has provided us with a fantastic opportunity to develop our descriptive writing skills. One of our main focuses has been using fronted adverbials to add variety and depth to our sentences. Pupils have practised structuring their writing with phrases such as With a deafening roar, the waves crashed against the harbour wall and Under the darkened sky, the wind howled through the village streets.
We have also explored figurative language, using similes, metaphors, and personification to describe the terrifying Great Storm that threatens Mousehole. Pupils have crafted vivid descriptions, bringing the storm to life with phrases like: The sea was an angry monster, thrashing and roaring in fury and Lightning split the sky like a jagged scar. We can’t wait to bring all these skills together in our final pieces of descriptive writing!

Geography – Why Oceans Matter


Our Geography unit this term is all about Why Oceans Matter. Pupils will explore: The importance of oceans for climate, wildlife, and human life. The role of coral reefs, learning how they provide habitats for marine life and protect coastlines. The challenges of sea pollution, discussing plastic waste, oil spills, and the impact of human activity on marine ecosystems. To bring our learning to life, we will end the unit with a field trip to Polzeath Beach, where pupils will carry out a beach debris survey. This hands-on experience will help us understand the effects of pollution and consider ways we can protect our oceans.

PE – Tennis

In PE, we have been developing our tennis skills with the help of Pro 20 coaches. Pupils have been learning essential techniques, including: Correct grip and stance Forehand and backhand shots Controlled rallies and movement around the court The sessions have been a fantastic way to build coordination, agility, and teamwork. Pupils are making great progress, and we are excited to see their skills improve throughout the term! It’s been a fantastic start to the term, and we look forward to sharing more of our learning soon!

Blisland Primary School’s Skateboarding Club Takes Off!

This week, 18 excited pupils from Blisland Primary School kicked off their first session at our brand-new after-school Skateboarding Club, held at TR7 Skatepark. With a rotation of 12 pupils attending each week over six weeks, this club promises to be an exciting opportunity for our young skaters to develop their skills and confidence on the board.

Under the expert guidance of our coach, Chaz, pupils began their skateboarding journey by learning the basics of foot positioning, ensuring they had a solid stance for balance and control. They then practised jumping onto the board with confidence before moving on to pushing and gliding smoothly across the skatepark. It was incredible to see how quickly they picked up these essential skills!

As the session progressed, some pupils even had the chance to take on the ramps, testing their bravery and coordination. Chaz was incredibly patient and inspiring, offering encouragement and support to help everyone feel comfortable and motivated. Whether complete beginners or those with some experience, every pupil made fantastic progress during their first lesson.

A huge thank you to the parents who helped with transport—your support makes opportunities like this possible! Keep an eye out for more updates as our young skaters continue their journey at TR7.

Hello Everyone!

We have really enjoyed our first week of our enquiry question; 'Can I travel by dinosaur?' 

In English we have learnt the story 'Gigantosaurus' by Jonny Duddle. We have been using adjectives to describe dinosaurs, using different verbs to explain how dinosaurs move, and using actions to retell the story as a group.

During our maths lessons, Reception have been learning about capacity, while Year 1 have been finding out more about place value. We have been using tens frames, bead strings and tens and ones to represent different 2 digit numbers.

Year 1 have been finding out about the countries and Capital cities in the UK, during their Geography lessons. This week, we focussed on London. Some children were keen to tell us all about trips to London that they have been on. We found out about some famous London landmarks and then located them on a map.

Reception have created a wonderful land for dinosaurs to explore, and they were inspired to add more details and to act out stories in this land, after reading 'Tom and the Dinosaurs' during our daily story time at the end of every day.

I look forward to seeing you next week at our Parent/Teacher meetings.

Have a lovely weekend!

From the Penhallow Team

• This half term has already got off to a good start with our new enquiries launched as follows:

Penhallow Class: Can I Travel by Dinosaur? Landaviddy Class: Can you Always See Things Grow? Talland Class: How did England Change After the Norman Conquest?
Chaipel Class: What was Life Like in Tudor England?
As usual, information about the children’s learning will be on the class blogs.

World Book Day, Thursday 6th March
• There is still time to send in entries for our World Book Day Extreme Reading Competition.   Please email your child’s entry (secretary@polperroprimary.co.uk) or bring in a photo by Monday 3rd March.  We are really looking forward to seeing who in school has such a passion for reading that they have to do it anywhere and everywhere! Staff will be entering too and there will be a prize (for children) for the winning pictures. See below for example photographs.
• Book Sale - On World Book Day, there will be a range of second-hand children’s books for sale at break time for just 20p each. Any profit will go towards buying new books for class libraries. Please send you child in with cash on the day if they would like to buy a book.
• Dress as your Favourite Book Character - On World Book Day your child can come to school dressed as a favourite character from any book.

Orwell Project Dr Alison Smith, Temperate Rainforest Project Manager, Cornwall Wildlife Trust came to speak to Talland and Chaipel Classes this week about the Temperate Rainforest she is managing just 10 minutes away from school. The children learned about the rare species of which can be found there, such as the Floury Dog Lichen (see photo) and how the Cornwall Wildlife Trust will be managing the rainforest over the next 50 years. Poet, Sally Crabtree came in the following day to write poems with the children using the language they had learned. These two workshops are part of the science, art and writing project we are running with the Orwell Society, which we will be sharing with parents/carers and Orwell Society members later this year at their annual conference which will be held in Polperro.

Fantastic Footballers Congratulations again to our wonderful football team who played against St Germans on Tuesday and won 4-3. The team played very well and really deserved their win.

Cross Country Success Congratulations to Flora and Jamie who have been selected to take part at the Cornwall School Games county schools primary cross-country final on 25th March.

Parent Consultations Reminder that parent consultations are taking place next week. Thank you everyone for signing up.

Clubs Clubs will continue on the week commencing 10th March. If your child is already signed up, they should continue to come. Please contact the office if your child would like to attend and they are not already signed up.
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; After school Alternative Sports Club (Mrs Hillman) for years 3-6
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
Friday: After School Running Club (Miss Bowden 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 – next races 7th March and 21st March. Pupils do not have to race in these events.

SATS club for Year 6 These drop-in sessions will run on Tuesday mornings from 8am (Miss Randle); Wednesday Lunchtimes (Mrs Hillman) from 12:30; and Thursdays afterschool (Miss Randle) until 4:15pm.

Have a great weekend.

Mrs Hillman

Welcome back Landaviddy class! We have had a great start to the second half of the Spring Term! 

We have been concluding our previous enquiry 'What is Light?' by conducting a bee hunt in the school garden, as part of our Geography fieldwork. During PSHE this week, Year 2 collaborated to design and create their 'dream bird' and Year 3 worked together to design a garden for someone who faced a challenge. The results were fantastic, and of course very colourful! 

In PE, we have started Striking and Fielding and Gymnastics which has already proven to be lots of fun! Today in Gymnastics, we explored a range of different shapes using our body. We concluded our enquiry question by completing a Kahoot quiz, which is always popular and recording down everything we have learnt last half term. Well done everyone! Next week, we will be launching our new enquiry 'Can you always see things grow!'. 

In Maths, Year 2 have worked hard completing multiplication sentences and making arrays. I was impressed with the confidence shown by everyone! Year 3 have been learning about all this measurement - comparing lengths in metres (m), centimetres (cm) and millimetres (mm). 

In English, we have been learning the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, with the intention of eventually writing our own imaginary world narratives. So far, we have been using actions to support our recall of the story and participated in a hot seating task, where we asked and answered questions as if we were the Giant or Jack from the story. We have created story mountains to record the key events of the story and learnt how to punctuate contractions.

Congratulations to Amelia for being chosen as Landaviddy's Person of the Week! And a big well done to Finn for achieving this 44 club badge! 

We hope you have a superb weekend and look forward to seeing you on Monday! 

Mrs Wilkie, Mrs Phillips, Miss Bowden and Miss Colton

Class 3 Blog W/E 28th February 2025

Visitors in Class 3

We’ve had lots of visitors in our classroom this week, and they were very impressed with Class 3’s behaviour, effort, and hard work. They also noticed a big improvement in our presentation, especially in English and Maths. Well done, everyone!

Exciting Science Experiment (written by Isaac and Arla)

Before half term, we had an exciting science experiment. We used micro:bits to measure sound in decibels, testing how different materials affected noise levels. First, we measured how loud the classroom was without any noise. Then, we wrapped the micro:bits in different materials and tested the sound levels again. We discovered that plastic reduced sound the most, meaning it’s a great material for ear defenders! It was a fascinating experiment, and we had lots of fun.

Lowender Rehearsal

Our Lowender rehearsal with Emma on Tuesday went really well in preparation for St Piran's day celebration. The children are working hard and are nearly ready for their big performance at Cotehele on Tuesday at 2:15pm.

PE

We are keeping active with PE on Mondays and Tuesdays. Monday is Dodgeball with our external coach, Owen, which is always full of energy and excitement. On Tuesdays, we are going to be focusing on fundamental skills that are useful for all sports, such as balance, coordination, and teamwork.

Computing

After a fantastic term of programming, we are now learning all about websites. We’ll be exploring what makes a great website and even creating our own!

Times tables

The improvement in times tables since September has been incredible across Class 3. Please keep these efforts up. A reminder that all children in Year 4 should know their times tables up to 12x12 in less than 6 seconds by the end of this term.

Talland's Blog 28.2.25

Happy Spring 2 everyone! We hope you had a fabulous break and are feeling fresh for the new term!

It has been a great start back and it has been lovely seeing everybody! Talland are full of energy and have already had an action packed week!

Maths: 
Year 5 have been looking at multiplying fractions by a whole number and calculating the fraction of a quantity. Why not try them out on this brain teaser... What is 1/4 of 20? If they know the answer to that, ask them what 3/4 of 20 is...
Year 4 have just began their fraction unit and have been recognising what a whole is when looking at a fraction. 


English:
Everyone has now completed a fantastic top copy of the life cycle of a turtle. They will be very excited to show them off to you next week, I'm sure! We were also extremely fortunate to have a poem specialist and author come in where  the children were highly creative and even got to eat their own poems...YUM!

Art:
The children completed the screen print art this week. They have turned out brilliantly! Lots of mess equals lots of fun (apparently)!

PE:
This term Talland will be working on rounders and gymnastics. They've shown off their roly-poly's and some children made excellent coaches!

That's all from us this week. We hope you have a fantastic weekend and can't wait to see you on Monday!

Signing off from Mr. Langley, Mr. Bishop and Miss. Colton.