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

Welcome back

I hope you have had a lovely, relaxing summer with lots of opportunities to enjoy our beautiful corner of Cornwall.

Scarecrow Competition
You may have noticed the Number 1 notice on the gate over the summer - we are delighted to have won the village competition again this year! As this was a joint school and community effort this makes it even better and we thank you all for collecting and contributing your recycling, a special thank you to Sophie and Elfwynn for taking time to help build the structure and Mrs Andrew for sourcing, cleaning and bringing the recycled fishing nets and crab pot to school - a smelly affair! We will use this as a launch pad for several sustainability projects over the coming year to involve and inspire the children, raise awareness and work towards making our school environment more climate friendly and sustainable.

Start and End times
We will continue with ALL children entering the school via the top gates which will be opened at 8:40am and the bell will ring at 8:45am for the start of the day. Adults will escort the children to their classrooms, ready for the start of the day. At the end of the day at 3:15pm, all children will leave via the top gate. Children must be collected by a known adult or by making alternative arrangements with the school office. Children in Year 5 and Year 6 can walk home by themselves with parental permission. Please make sure your child is on time in the mornings to support them by having the best possible start to the day. This means they enter the class alongside their friends, have time to chat and a chance to speak to adults about any worries or concerns before the start of the learning day.

Equipment and PE
As we seem to have entered a damp weather period, please could you make sure your child has a raincoat so they can join in with any outdoor play times. They also need a bottle filled with water, a healthy snack for break time and packed lunch if they prefer this rather than a school meal.

Canute class will have outdoor learning on Mondays and PE on Thursday afternoon. Tregeagle Class will have PE on Monday and Thursday afternoons. On the days where your child has PE, please can they attend school in their PE kit, black/blue shorts, white t-shirt and trainers. On chillier days, the children can wear their school jumpers and joggers. This will help save time getting changed and eliminate the search for spare kit so we can make the most of the active time. If you have any questions, please contact your child's teacher.

Attendance
As parents, we all want our children to thrive in school-academically, socially, and emotionally. One of the most important factors in helping them succeed is regular school attendance. Attendance matters because:

• Learning builds day by day. Each lesson connects to the next. Missing even a day or two can make it harder for your child to keep up.
• Good habits start early. Showing up on time and being present teaches responsibility and builds routines that last well beyond school.
• Stronger social connections. When children attend consistently, they form deeper friendships and feel a stronger sense of belonging in their classroom community.
• Higher achievement. Studies consistently show that students with regular attendance perform better in reading, math, and other subjects.

How You Can Support Good Attendance:

• Set routines at home. Regular bedtimes, morning checklists, and preparing school items the night before makes mornings less stressful.
• Communicate with the school. If your child is struggling with health, anxiety, or another challenge that affects attendance, speak to us.
• Celebrate effort. Acknowledge your child's commitment to showing up-even small encouragement goes a long way.

Consistent attendance sends children a clear message: education is a priority. By helping them build the habit of showing up every day, we are giving them the tools they need not only to succeed in school but also to develop the discipline and resilience that will serve them for a lifetime.

Dates for your diaries for this term:

Tuesday 16th September - Tregeagle BIFFA Workshop in school
Monday 22nd September - Learning information for parents
Thursday 24th September - National Fitness Day
Friday 26th September - Non uniform Day
Friday 24th October - Inset day
27th October- 31st October - Half term
Tuesday 4th November - Flu immunisations
Wednesday 10th December - Christmas lunch
Thursday 11th December - Christmas Performance
Tuesday 16th December - School trip to Aladdin at Hall for Cornwall
Wednesday 17th December - Christmas Carols around the Tree
Thursday 18th December - Christmas Gift Room Friday 19th December - Finish at 1:30

Please ensure you have logged onto your ParentPay account to refamiliarise yourselves with the platform and the Parent Portal on Arbor to complete your consents by Friday 12th September.

We have had a lovely positive start to the new academic year and we have enjoyed welcoming back both familiar faces and our newest additions.

On behalf of our fabulous staff,
Jane Wills