What a fantastic final week before the half term break it has been for Mousehole Class! The children have worked incredibly hard and shown such enthusiasm across all areas of their learning.

In History, the class has been busy creating double-page knowledge spreads to answer the question: "How important was Ancient Egypt?" The children explored fascinating themes including the River Nile and how it supported daily life, the afterlife and mummification, hieroglyphics, and a range of artefacts and inventions that tell us so much about this remarkable civilisation. Their work beautifully showcased both their historical understanding and creativity.

In English, the focus has been on writing non-chronological reports. The children have used their research and planning skills brilliantly to produce well-structured and informative pieces of writing. It's been wonderful to see their confidence as writers continue to grow.

On Thursday, we celebrated Black History Day. The children learnt about Rosa Parks and discussed her courage, determination, and the lasting impact she had on the civil rights movement. They also thoroughly enjoyed taking part in an African dance workshop, moving to the rhythms of traditional music and exploring another vibrant aspect of African culture.

Mousehole Class have truly been marvellous this week-their positive attitudes, teamwork, and effort have shone through in everything they've done.

Have a restful and enjoyable half term break, and I look forward to another exciting half term of learning when we return!

It has been another very busy week at Harrowbarrow with lots of exciting events.



Diwali
On Monday, we collapsed our curriculum to focus on the Hindu festival of Diwali. I am sure you have heard all about it from your children, but the day started with an assembly with a journalist from India joining us on a Teams video link. She talked about what was happening there as part of the Diwali celebrations and was dressed in her traditional clothes in preparation for the evening festivities. During the morning, the children rotated around classes to learn about the origins of Diwali and some of the associated traditions. In the photo above, Class 1 children were using a programmable device to make Rangoli patterns.


Art Exhibition
Thank you to all those who joined us for the art exhibition after school on Wednesday. We hope you enjoyed seeing the range of children's art on show. We had lots of lovely feedback, which suggests it went down well. We will be planning more of these events.

PSA Halloween Disco & Bake Sale
Thank you to the PSA who do a brilliant job of providing these school community events. Thank you also to all those who supported both the disco and the bake sale. As ever, the bakes looked incredible and I feel sure we have a few parent carers who could compete on The Great British Bake Off!

Harvest/Autumn Assembly
Apologies for having to cancel this today. As it turned out, the weather wasn't as bad as the forecast and we may have been able to do it. However, we couldn't run the risk of cancelling at the last minute. We have set a new date of 9am on Friday 7th November and are hoping to book the village hall for this. We will confirm after half term but please join us if you can.

Staffing Update
Thank you for all your generous contributions to Elaine Moyle's leaving gifts. Today, we presented Elaine with some flowers, a hotel voucher, a figurine and some fizz to thank her for all she has contributed to the school over the last 36 years. We have recruited Elaine's replacement, who will start on 1st December, once all pre-employment checks have been completed. I will share further details before they start. In the meantime, Lesley Connell will step back into the school office in the afternoons and we will be joined by Sarah Spence and Tracey Snell from the Bridge Central Office team for a couple of mornings each week. I will share office contact details after half term.

Parent Consultations
A reminder that if you haven't already done so, there are still slots available for you to book an appointment with your child's teacher after half term.

I hope you all have a safe and enjoyable half term and look forward to seeing you and your families again on 3rd November.

This last week of Autumn Term 1 we have looked at Diwali, the Hindu celebration of light.  We have had stories to understand more about the celebration and what Hindu families do to celebrate.  We have also made our own Diva paper plate lamps.

We also enjoyed some early Halloween activities this week, with spooky silhouette painting, looking at Pumpkins and why we carve them, Halloween yoga and dancing, then finishing the week with some Halloween dressing up!

I think we are all ready for a little half term rest before we come back in the very exciting second part of autumn term.

We return to Pre-School on Monday 3^rd November and our new enquiry question will be 'Why is Julia Donaldson so fun?'  An exciting topic with so many lovely stories by Julia to enjoy.

We hope everyone has a lovely half term break.

The Pre-School Team.

What a busy final week we have had! We have finally completed our art project - a study into Retro-Futurism - and everyone has done an incredible job using different mediums to create a sense of fore, middle and background. We concluded by using chalk and charcoal to create light and shade before sharing our work with our peers; the positive comments we received were amazing!

In Maths, we began by looking in to prime/square/cube numbers at the beginning of the week before delving into long multiplication on Wednesday, and after a full morning's dedication - we nailed it!

We have written most of our non-chronological report in English, however, we need to continue after half term, uplevelling our sentences and then creating a double-page spread to showcase our best piece.

Wider Curriculum
We have investigated day and night in Science - which concludes our study of the Sun, Earth and Moon - and are confident in our understanding of how these amazing space bodies work together to create life on our planet. We have created our own 'flow' in Yoga and upskilled our Football techniques. 

Congratulations to Frankie and Nuala for being our People of the Week, displaying our school values and being excellent role models.

That's all from us so have a lovely half-term break and see you all back on Monday 3rd November!

Miss Randle and Mrs Clary.
 

Parent Teacher Consultations (PTCs)
We hope everyone found the Parent Teacher Consultations really useful this week. Whilst we don't have our next set of PTCs until 24th and 25th February, please don't hesitate in reaching out to your child's teacher in the meantime should you wish to discuss anything. A big thank you to Caterlink who provided some very tasty treats/snacks - the chicken biryani, apple cake and beetroot burger were particularly popular!

FOWPA Bake Off and Bake Sale
Our wonderful FOWPA group organised the Great WPA Bake Off this week to raise funds for improving our school. The hall was filled with spooky treats, from ghostly cupcakes to pumpkin biscuits, all baked and decorated with amazing creativity and effort. A huge thank you to everyone who baked, bought, and supported the event - your generosity raised an impressive £264. Before being sold, the bakes were judged by Mrs Orme and the Year 6 House Captains. The winners of the Great WPA Bake Off were announced in Wednesday's assembly, each receiving a certificate and special tea towel:
Nursery - Noah
Reception - Ted
Year 1 - Sophia
Year 2 - Phoebe
Year 3 - Bertie
Year 4 - William & Harriet
Year 5 - Tom
Year 6 - Eva

FOWPA Meeting - Thursday 13th November 18:00-19:00
FOWPA would like to invite all parents to their Special General Meeting at The Pearl and Trawl. Everyone welcome!

House Competition - Pumpkin Designs
Also in Wednesday's assembly, our House Captains announced the winners of the recent competition they launched to design a pumpkin. The House Captains had so many entries to judge, eventually choosing the following children.

Reception and KS1 Winners
1st - Marley
2nd - David 
3rd - Archie

KS2 Winners
1st - Imogen
2nd - Zyrah
3rd - Macie

Well done to everyone who entered, earning a point for their House.

Children in Need - Friday 14th November - Non Uniform Day
Friday 14th November is Children in Need Day. Children are welcome to wear non-school uniform or combine non-uniform/dressing up with the Children in Need theme. If you would like to contribute to this fund-raising event, please send your child to school with any voluntary donations in cash which will be collected by the teachers in class. All money received will go to Children in Need.

PE Days after Half Term
Please note your child's PE day after half term:
Monday - Nursery
Tuesday - Year 1
Wednesday - Year 6
Thursday - Year 3 & Year 4
Friday - Reception, Year 2 & Year 5

After School Extra-Curricular Activities (ECAs)
A reminder that after half term, all after school ECAs start again. Teacher-led ECAs will finish on Friday 5th December. External providers (Pro20 and Dance) finish as per sign up.

Poppy Appeal
After half term, our House Captains will be going around the school to sell poppies and other items to support the Poppy Appeal. Please send your child in with some coins if they would like to buy something.

House Points
Congratulations to this week's winners, Chough. Overall, Choughs maintain the lead going into the half term break:
Choughs - 2564
Swans - 2273
Puffins - 2175
Cormorants - 2056

What a fantastic half term it has been. I'm sure that everyone is looking forward to a well-deserved rest. On behalf of everyone at WPA, thank you for all your support and have a wonderful half term break. We look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Monday 3rd November.

Best wishes,
Chris Wathern


Dates coming up

Friday 24th October 
School Closed - INSET Day

25th October - 2nd November
Half term break

Monday 3rd November
Back to school
Year 5B Green Ripple Project (Mon-Weds)
After School Extra-Curricular Activities (ECAs) re-start

Wednesday 5th November
(am) Year 1 Trip to Wadebridge Library and Cricket Club

Friday 7th November
18:00 Year 3 Sleepover and Fireworks - sign-up deadline 03/11/25

Saturday 8th November
09:00 Year 3 Sleepover Collection

Monday 10th November
Anti-Bullying Week
Year 5W Green Ripple Project (Mon-Weds)
(pm) Year 4 Benchball Festival

Tuesday 11th November
Reception - Year 6 Flu Vaccinations
11:00 Reflection/silence

Thursday 13th November
18:00-19:00 FOWPA Meeting (The Pearl and Trawl)

Friday 14th November
Children in Need Dress Up Day

Monday 17th November
Road Safety Week
13:45-15:00 KS2 Cross Country - sign up deadline 10/11/25

Tuesday 18th November
08:45-11:30 Grandparents & Special Family Members Stay and Learn - All grandparents/special family members invited for a special Stay and Learn session.

Wednesday 19th November
(pm) Year 3 Multi-Skills Event

Thursday 20th November
Year 6 Assembly (08:45 for a 09:00 start)

Wednesday 26th November
13:30-14:30 Reception 2026 intake Stay and Play

Friday 28th November
Year 3 Stay and Learn (08:45 for a 09:00 start) 

Tregantle Class Blog - A Fantastic First Half Term!

What a wonderful first half term it has been in Tregantle Class!

This week, we found out all about Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Light. The children loved listening to the story of Rama and Sita and learning how Diwali is celebrated around the world. We had lots of fun making our own diva lamps from clay, retelling the story with puppets, and creating colourful Diwali decorations to brighten up our classroom.

We've also been enjoying lots of autumnal activities. The children worked together to make delicious pumpkin soup - scraping out the pumpkins, adding onion, sweet potato and herbs, and of course, tasting their tasty creation!

During our Forest School session, we became potion-makers! Using natural materials and a sprinkle of sparkly dust, the children created imaginative potions and thought carefully about what their magic spells could do - complete with their own special magic words.

To celebrate Black History Month, we took part in an exciting African dance workshop. The children were amazing at learning the moves and dancing to the lively rhythms.

It's been a busy and brilliant start to the year, full of fun, creativity and learning. We can't wait to see what adventures await us next half term!