This week has been extremely busy and full of learning. 

In English, we have been focusing on our reading comprehension skills and how to use evidence from the text to justify our answers. We have also been learning about prepositions and irregular verbs when changing tenses. 

In maths, we have been looking at reasoning questions to apply our knowledge to solve more complex problems. We have been sharing strategies and showing resilience and determination. 

In PE, we continued with football by practicing our dribbling skills and working on passing and intercepting. We all thoroughly enjoyed some mini games in the sunshine on the field. We have been so lucky with the glorious weather. 

In geography, we have been finding out about different deserts across the world. We used graphs and maps to compare the Mojave desert in California to the Atacama desert in Chile. Ask your children what they found out. 

In RE, we started our unit on Hinduism. This week we learnt about dharma and discovered lots of new vocabulary. 

Have a fantastic bank holiday weekend!

Miss Burton

Welcome back to school, we hope you had a great Easter break.

We completed our art unit (sketching) by using all the skills we had learnt to draw the view from our school playground. (stippling/shading/cross hatching/drawing different types of lines and patterns) . The weather was nice so we sat on the steps and used clipboards. Our pictures are brilliant!
We have now started a new art unit (painting). We have been exploring the work of artist Vincent van Gogh and discussing our likes and dislikes. We will be learning lots of new skills in the coming weeks in order to create our own masterpieces ready for our art exhibition after half term.

We also finished our 'Where do we Live?' topic and enjoyed a trip to the park looking out for physical and human features along the way.
We also undertook traffic surveys and discussed what we noticed.
Finally we looked at the features of a local seaside town and compared them to those in our immediate locality.

We also finished our music unit by putting all the notes that we had learnt together to play 'Hot Cross Buns'. We were brilliant at it and even Miss Evans managed to play it!

We are looking forward to our new learning about Sir Francis Drake this half term and our trip to Buckland Abbey at the end of May.
Watch this space for photos!

It has been a busy first two weeks of the summer term. Both Year 4 and Year 5 have had trips to Cotehele. Year 4 took inspirations from this beautiful setting to create some poetry whilst Year 5 explored the wildlife found in the orchard and the pond. They also received complimentary comments from the general public who were also visiting.
On Thursday we had some fantastic volunteers from "Tavy Task Force". They worked tirelessly in the hottest day of the year so far. The result was a pond (at the Infant and Nursery school) which is now usable by the children Year 1 didn't waste any time trying it out (see the lovely pictures below.) Thank you to Ken Tripp for organising this for us.
We've had 27 donations in the last 30 days, thanks to our supporters using #easyfundraising when they make online purchases! Please keep up the good work, your donations are very appreciated. It's never too late to sign up and help us if you haven't already. Plus, join today and we could win a £250 donation: https://join.easyfundraising.org.uk/copper-valley-infant-and-nursery-academy/4wkcsu/c2s/128FF5bb/CE949/facebook/27
Thursday 8th May is the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day. Pupils can come to school dressed in red, white and blue. There will be lots of opportunities to learn about VE Day during the day.
I hope that you all enjoy the bank holiday.

We’ve had another exciting and enriching week in Year 3 and 4! Here's a round-up of what your children have been exploring and learning across the curriculum:

English – Exploring Imaginary Worlds and Figurative Language

This week, we’ve delved into texts set in imaginative and fantastical worlds. The children have enjoyed describing settings and characters using powerful figurative language, including similes and personification. Their creativity has truly shone as they painted vivid pictures with their words!

Maths – Perimeter and Fractions

In Maths, our Year 3s have begun learning about perimeter—they’ve measured the edges of shapes and are starting to calculate total lengths confidently. Meanwhile, Year 4 pupils have continued their work on fractions, deepening their understanding of equivalent fractions and learning how to place them on number lines.

Science – Marvellous Magnets

The children have been investigating magnets, discovering which materials are magnetic and learning about poles and magnetic forces. They were fascinated to find out how magnets can attract or repel without touching!

History – The Anglo-Saxon Invasion

In History, we’ve been asking: Why did the Anglo-Saxons invade Britain? The class explored reasons such as land, resources, and settlement opportunities. We’ve looked at maps and artefacts to understand how they travelled and where they settled.

PSHE – Setting Boundaries in Relationships

Our PSHE focus this week was on setting boundaries and understanding respectful relationships. The children discussed different types of relationships and practised how to express their feelings and needs in a healthy, confident way.

Computing – Sending Emails

A big moment this week in Computing as the children learned how to compose and send their own emails! They were introduced to email safety and etiquette and practised sending polite, purposeful messages.

PE – Agility, Balance and Coordination with Argyle Trust

We were thrilled to welcome a coach from the Argyle Trust for our first PE session together. The children played fast-paced games focused on improving agility, balance, and coordination—and they absolutely loved it!

RE – The Second Pillar of Islam

In RE, we explored the second pillar of Islam – Salah, the practice of prayer. Children discussed the importance of prayer in Muslim life and how it shows discipline, focus, and connection to faith.

Design & Technology – Designing Strong and Sturdy Castles

This week in DT, we looked at the key features of castles—moats, towers, battlements—and discussed what makes a castle strong and secure. The children then used this knowledge to begin designing their own impressive fortresses!

Reading Assembly – A Cat Called Waverly

In our KS2 reading assembly, we enjoyed the story of A Cat Called Waverly, which beautifully echoed our projected characteristics such as resilience, curiosity, and compassion. It sparked some wonderful discussions afterwards.

Thank you for your continued support. We’re so proud of the enthusiasm and effort the children bring to their learning each day.

This week at nursery we have continued with our planting and growing of seeds. The children have been busy planting sunflower seeds and have been planting grass seed to go with their decorated houses in order to make their own gardens.
They have used different materials such as wool to make flowers and also made some from paper plates.
The children have had lots of opportunity this week to practice thier cutting skills. In the tuft tray, they have been snipping leaves and have been cutting by following a line on their paper plate flowers.

In story time this week we have enjoyed the books "Tilly plants a tree" and have been looking at non fiction books such as "Grow it, eat it".

In phonics the children have been at the cafe and have taken part in cafe bingo. They have been breaking words down into syllables when talking about what they eat for breakfast and have been joining in actions to different songs such as "I'm a little trapot".

In maths, we have been identify numbers from sight and writing/ making marks that represent numbers.

We now have a long weekend ahead of us as it is bank holiday on Monday, so we hope you all have a lovely one and look forward to seeing you all back from Tuesday.

Julie and Sarah

Welcome back Foundation / Year 1! 

We’ve had a lovely first few weeks back in our class. We have started our new big question for this half term which is ‘how does your garden grow?’ We will be exploring this in lots of different ways.

In Science, Year 1 are focusing on plants. We have talked about the parts of a plant and different places we might find them.
We have started our new learning journey in English focusing on the story Mr Gumpy’s Outing. We have learnt the story through actions and have now sequenced the story. Year 1 have written sentences to match the sequenced pictures and Foundation have written initial sounds and key words.
We were also very lucky this week as Bond Dance Company came in to do an animal dance workshop with us. This was to finish off our PE unit from before Easter. We absolutely loved it! We really enjoyed thinking about different animals and how they might move.
We have also really been enjoying the sunshine this week! Foundation have been doing lots of activities outside. Just a gentle reminder that because it is so warm the children do need to have a hat and a water bottle in school and if possible, sun cream on in the morning. We will then top this up at school.

Just some reminders for this half term:

PE days are on a Tuesday and Thursday.

Please remember to order lunches on a Thursday ready for the following week.

Please bring your childrens reading records and books on a Friday for them to be changed.

We have the VE Day Celebration on the 9th May from 2:00 to 3:15. You are more than welcome to join us and bring a picnic along.

Thank you everyone!

Foundation / Year 1 Team

Come and join us if you can! Reception will bring their posies, Year 3 will share their Cornish dancing and Year 5 will proudly parade their mosaic.

What a glorious week of sunshine we have experienced. I have had the privilege of joining the children several times over the past few days at breaktimes and thoroughly enjoyed seeing them having fun on the school field. It is obvious that some children have had sunscreen applied before coming to school and are wearing sunhats but this is good opportunity to remind you all to think about sun safety. Applying sunscreen, bringing a refillable water bottle and sunhat would be sensible. Hopefully, the weather will continue for the May Day celebrations on Monday - good luck to all our Maypole dancers.
We are fortunate to have such fantastic outdoor facilities at Harrowbarrow, including our forest school. Last Saturday, Abi Flashman and a team of PSA and parent volunteers spent the day clearing the brambles and giving this space a makeover. They also developed a new sand play area for Class 1. A huge thank you to Tom Brittan, Sarah Marley, Leanne & Will Francis, Kym Lovejoy, Lily Urbanska, Leanne Chapman and Abi Flashman for giving up their time for the benefit of all children - we are very grateful. The end results are stunning.



Staffing update
It is with great sadness that I share the news Rachel Lane will be leaving Harrowbarrow at the end of term. Rachel has been an integral member of our staffing team for almost two decades but has decided to call time on her work at Harrowbarrow. Countless children have benefitted from Rachel's passion for music, which has become a feature of our unique identity as a school. It is fair to say Rachel is irreplaceable and will be greatly missed. Alongside all the wonderful music opportunities Rachel has provided, she has held many other roles over the years and we know she will miss all her work with the pupils, even throwing herself off the 'Leap of Faith' at Porthpean to the raucous cheers of the children! We wish Rachel the very best for the next phase of her career and thank her for all she has done for so many years. We will, of course, mark Rachel's leaving nearer the end of term with something appropriate.
It is also with sadness that we will also be saying farewell to teaching assistant Jane Carne at the end of this half term. Jane, who has a forest school qualification and is a passionate enthusiast of outdoor learning, is leaving to pursue opportunities elsewhere. We will miss Jane's contributions both in the classroom and outside it in the forest school and wish her all the very best for the future. We will also mark Jane's departure in an appropriate way before half term.

Other activities taking place across the school this week include all junior children starting whole class flute lessons. I had the privilege of joining Class 4 for their lesson but, disappointingly, couldn't get a sound out of my flute mouthpiece! The children were far more successful than me and, over the course of the term, will gradually start to play the flutes. During our art and design technology lessons we have had several classes making things. Infant art lessons have been about creative making, where the children make designs using a stimulus such as 'must fit in the palm of your hand' or 'must be contained in something'. The open ended nature of this has inspired some great creativity. In Class 4 design technology lessons the children are making automaton. This week they were measuring and cutting the parts in preparation for construction.

                                                                                                  

Dates for your diary


12.5.25 - 15.5.25: Year 6 SATs week
21.5.25: Year 6 cricket tournament at Lanhydrock (details to follow for team members)
22.5.25: Year 1/2 multisports event at Callington College (details to follow)
22.5.25: Last pupil day before half term
23.5.25: Staff training day - school closed to pupils
2.6.25: First day for pupils after half term

A Sunny Start to the Summer Term at Blisland Primary School

We’ve had a fantastic first week back at Blisland Primary School following the Easter holidays! The sun has been shining, and pupils have returned full of energy and excitement, ready for a busy and fun-filled summer term.

In Nessa Class, pupils have launched straight into a fascinating new history topic all about the Anglo-Saxons. This term, they will explore who the Anglo-Saxons were, why they came to Britain, and what life was like during this important period in history. Pupils have already begun investigating where the Anglo-Saxons settled and how they shaped the Britain we know today. It's been wonderful to see their curiosity and enthusiasm as they dive into this new learning adventure.

In English, Nessa Class pupils are channelling their creativity into writing an exciting sports narrative set in the magical world of Harry Potter. Using the thrilling sport of Quidditch as inspiration, pupils are developing characters, building tension, and crafting action-packed scenes full of magical twists and turns. We can’t wait to see the finished stories – there are already some brilliant ideas flying around!

Meanwhile, in Kensa Class, the new topic is "How Does Our Garden Grow?" Pupils will be learning all about plants, what they need to survive, and how gardens and natural environments change through the seasons. There is already a real buzz in the classroom as pupils explore seeds, flowers, and the life cycles of plants.

To bring this topic to life, we are hoping to organise an exciting visit to the Eden Project, where pupils will experience the incredible diversity of plant life from around the world. It will be a wonderful opportunity to deepen their understanding and see real-world examples of how gardens and ecosystems thrive. More details about the trip will be shared with parents very soon! It has been a brilliant start to the term, and we are looking forward to all the learning, adventures, and sunshine still to come at Blisland Primary School!

Copper Valley Careers Fair

The Copper Valley Infant site held a careers fair for the whole school. The children learned about a wide variety of careers, having some wonderful experiences and asking lots of thoughtful questions.


Our visitors included a vet who is also a farmer, a  dog groomer, a dog walker, a health and safety manager, marine engineers, an oil tanker driver as well as information about working for the National Trust!

We are so grateful to all of our visitors for giving us their precious time and for showing us some of the many careers out there in our locality.


Hopefully, some of the children will be inspired to pursue some of these careers themselves!