What I wish my parents or carers knew...

The children's Commission has published a really useful guide 'What I wish my parents or carers knew..': A guide for parents and carers on managing children's digital lives. Written with children's input, it offers practical advice on setting firm, protective boundaries online and supporting children's safety and wellbeing in today's digital world.

Please follow the link: 'What I wish my parents or carers knew..': A guide for parents and carers on managing children's digital lives | Children's Commissioner for England

Happy New year!

I hope you all enjoyed a lovely Christmas holiday and managed plenty of time to rest. We have an action-packed Spring term lined up with learning, socialising and playfulness. Teachers have planned new enquiries for the children to explore, Canute class will be finding out "How our world has evolved" and Tregeagle class will delve into Ancient Egypt to find out "What was importantly to Ancient Egyptians" Both classes will supplement their classroom learning with trips and experiences to enhance understanding and make the learning come to life. As always, you can find out what your child will be learning from the learning map teachers upload to Showbie in your child's portfolio. This map has a brief outline of subjects taught across the half term.

We continue to teach reading through phonics supported by the Twinkl resources in our early years and in KS2 the children read a variety of texts and analyse these using the VIPERS reading skills; vocabulary, inference, prediction, explaining, retrieval and summary. Writing is taught by modelling high quality sentences using selected grammar and vocabulary and supporting the children to experiment in drafting their own. For our youngest children, writing is taught through Drawing Club, where children draw their own images and select words to describe them.

Maths is taught using the Mastery Approach with children recording learning on their iPads alongside opportunities to record using pen and paper. We also teach fluency using Number Sense for KS1 and Mastering Number in KS2. We hope you find the opportunity to follow your child's learning on the Showbie platform useful. If you have any problems logging in or would like to find out more about how we use the platform alongside other recording in the classroom, please speak to your child's teacher.

In Canute class, outdoor learning continues to be taught on Tuesday afternoons with PE on Thursday afternoon. In Tregeagle class, PE is on Monday morning and Friday afternoon. On PE days, please send your child to school wearing their PE kit to allow the entire PE lesson to be active learning. For outdoor learning, your child should come to school wearing their uniform and bring suitable coats/footwear in a bag for outdoors if it is not already at school. We do have waterproof trousers for everyone and some spare wellies we can lend the children if necessary.

After School Clubs start from next week, list of clubs and sign-up sheets will be sent out shortly.
Jane Wills

Christmas Performances

Celebrating Success on Stage

It was wonderful to see the confidence, enjoyment and sheer enthusiasm of our children shining on stage during this year's Christmas productions. What a memorable afternoon with entertaining singing and wholehearted performances, every child gave their very best. Standing on the stage can be intimidating and needs immense bravery, however the children showed no fear and for that we are all incredibly proud of them. Being a small cast means more time on stage, creative adaptations to the story line and several costume changes, none of which dampened enthusiasm and energy and we were treated to a series of inspired and delightful performances. We now all know that it really doesn't matter whether there are three wise men - or just one very wise man!

A huge thank you to the audience for brilliant participation bringing a true Pantomime flavour and fun. Huge thank you to our parent volunteers helping source raffle prices and selling tickets on the day. Finally, huge thank you to the staff for their continued ambition to make Christmas performances memorable experiences for all our pupils.

We are incredibly proud of all our performers and hope they enjoyed every moment of taking their bows, soaking up the applause and storing these experiences away in their treasure chest of happy Polruan Primary school memories.

As always, to protect the children's right to privacy, a full selection of photographs from the day has been uploaded to Showbie for parents to access via their child's portfolio.

We look forward to seeing you all on Thursday 18th December for our Open Afternoon Sing Along with Mrs Butlin. 

Check your emails and the school calendar for the other Christmas events taking place next week.

Have a lovely weekend,
Jane Wills

New resources

This term has brought an exciting wave of new resources into our classrooms-resources that are already transforming the way children learn, explore, and express their ideas.

New iPads Spark Curiosity and Creativity
Our school has recently received a brand-new replacement set of iPads, part of the investment Bridge School Trust is making to support digital teaching and learning across its schools. At Polruan, we started this digital journey five years ago with the investment in iPads for every child funded by the Barrie Bequest and it's encouraging to have the support of the trust to make this sustainable for future pupils at the school. We are proud to offer a carefully balanced approach of digital and analogue learning to all children to support and enhance our ethos of whole child development.

The new iPads are powerful learning tools and the children are already using them to research topics, create multimedia projects, practise skills, and deepen their independence as learners. Watching them explore new functionalities and share discoveries with one another has been a joy for staff and students alike.

Bringing Science to Life
Alongside the iPads, we have also invested in a range of new science resources. These additions allow children to investigate, experiment, and explore scientific concepts in hands-on, meaningful ways. Instead of reading about ideas, the children can now test whether their hypotheses are viable, observe real-life scientific processes, and learn through rich practical experiences.

Headphones That Empower Independent Learning
We are also extremely grateful for a generous donation from the community, which has allowed us to purchase brand-new headphones for every classroom. These have already had a significant impact. The headphones enable personalised learning-particularly in subjects like maths, where questions can sometimes be lengthy. With text-to-speech features on the new iPads, children can now have questions read aloud to them instantly, without needing to wait for adult support. This small change has made a big difference, giving pupils the freedom to move through learning at their own pace.

Finally, a Thank You to Polruan Sunnysiders Wi for the donation of £420 following their successful fundraising event "Polruan has talent". We are fortunate to be part of a generous and supportive community, working with the school to help provide the very best opportunities for the children in our village.

Have a lovely weekend,
Jane Wills

Celebrating Harvest Festival
It was lovely to see so many of you on Wednesday for our Harvest Festival in Saint Saviour's. As always, the children were the stars, performing their songs and recitals with confidence and enjoyment. The Bean song is now a new favourite song, I did not think Big Red Combine Harvester could be bettered, but it has! For some of our pupils, standing up in front of a big audience can feel a little scary - but they all showed bravery and resilience and we are proud of every single one of them. A huge thank you to everyone who kindly donated food and essentials to support our local food bank. Your generosity will make a real difference to families in need in our community.

Supporting Mental Health Day
Today, we marked Mental Health Day in a simple but meaningful way. Children and staff came to school wearing something comfortable and brought in something to share with peers. In our assembly we spoke about what makes us happy and went off in teams for a scavenger hunt around the school. At break time we shared our food and recognised how it makes us feel to share food together. All children have come home with and activity to complete with someone at home.

We know how important it is for children to be able to express, recognise and understand feelings effectively as this plays a crucial role in strengthening a child's wellbeing. We have sent home a guide with some practical tips for parents to support Emotional literacy.

Have a lovely weekend,
Jane Wills

School council

Already at the end of another busy week. One of the highlights this week, has been the School Council elections, where pupils had the opportunity to vote for their peers to represent them in shaping our school. The speeches from the candidates were clear, passionate, and focused on building trust and working together to make our school an even better place. It was inspiring to hear such thoughtful messages about kindness, inclusion, and teamwork. Congratulations to all the newly elected School Council members; Erin, Lexi, Emma, Zeniah and Betsy-Mae! We look forward to working with you and hearing your ideas on what makes a great school environment for everyone.

Eco Council
In line with our continued commitment to sustainability, we're excited to announce the launch of our brand new Eco Club. Members of the club will form our very own Eco Council, working on a variety of projects aimed at making our school more climate-friendly and sustainable. They already have several exciting initiatives in the works as they set their sights on achieving Eco School Accreditation. From reducing waste to increasing biodiversity in our school grounds, their enthusiasm is great. We'll be sharing more about these projects in the coming weeks, as we'd love to get the entire school and wider community involved in this important work. To kick things off, we were delighted to welcome a team from Biffa to our school to help launch one of our key eco projects - recycling! The children had the opportunity to learn about where our recycled waste goes and how it's transformed into new products. Hopefully this experience will help everyone understand the importance of making sustainable choices.

Finally, as the rainy season continues, please ensure your child comes to school with a waterproof coat and sensible footwear. We value outdoor play in all weather, so being properly dressed means the children can enjoy their time outside comfortably and safely.

Have a lovely weekend,
Jane Wills