Our first week

It has been a very positive start to the new school year, the children have settled in well and have enjoyed seeing their school friends again. They have been amazing at following all the new rules in school, taking the regular hand washing and socially distanced lining up in their stride.
On a personal note, I would like to thank you for the warm welcome I have received. I have really enjoyed getting to know the children this week, they are friendly, energetic and great fun. I will do my utmost to secure the best education for all of your children.
We have made the most of the sunshine by spending time outside and have eaten our lunch most days on our new picnic tables. Mrs Barnett has worked tirelessly over the summer to create a fantastic outdoor environment for Canute class as you can see from the photos. We have started creating zones on the upstairs playground too. We now have a quiet area for eating and playing (see the photos above) as well as space for the all important ball games. We intend to be as active as we can during the school day and we will start formal PE lessons on Thursday next week so please make sure your child has their kit in school. 

Sport Week 22^ndJune – 26^thJune 2020.

We are all so disappointed that the lovely tradition of a summer sports day can’t take place this year, however we do have a wonderful opportunity for you all to take part in an exciting sports week. 

Next week is the first Cornwall Virtual School Games! All children in school will be taking part across the week and because it is virtual, you can still take part at home! 

Across the 5 days there are activities that you can complete to earn points for yourself and the school.  Demonstration videos have been released on the Virtual School Games page of the Active Cornwall website to help you undrstand what you need to do. (See links in document attached) 

There will be an opening ceremony video at 10am on Monday 22nd June on the Cornwall School Games Facebook page or Active Cornwall YouTube Channel  (see link on document attached) 

Below is a powerpoint document showing you the different activites on each day and how to get involved. On the 3^rdpage of the powerpoint there is a timetable of the activites for each day, there is a link for each day to click so that you can upload your results. It will be up to parents/carers to fill in the results form each day. Each day’s challenges will begin at 10am. Results must be submitted by 9am the following day on the specific day’s link so please don’t forget to fill it! If you have any problems with this, please contact your class teacher.

Bonus points’ can be achieved for any of the following and should be added to your total points and submitted through the results sheet.

a.         1 point for every family member and year group teacher who tries the challenge

b.         1 point for completing it in fancy dress

c.         1 point for a communication (video/email etc..) sent to the school or speaking to a teacher if in school telling them how you have engaged with one of the 5 Ways to Wellbeing: Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning & Give

For more information, check out the Cornwall School Games Facebook Page, the Active Cornwall Website or watch the following video on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTCzGbKj1BM&feature=youtu.be

Good Luck! 

Many of us are online a lot more at the moment, and while there are many benefits to this method of communication, there are also cautions too. 

Please visit our online safety resources page for tips using various games/platforms.

Welcome back to the new term and the children starting to return.

It is lovely to think that we are gradually beginning to welcome our children back. The school has felt lonely without them all. This gradual process enables us to make sure that we can adhere to the safety guidance and establish our new rules and routines.

The school looks a little bit different and we are expected to act differently, but the heart of the school remains the same. Our children’s well-being is central in all our planning and preparations.

A guide for children in each year has been prepared to share just before your child returns. It will help them to be able to discuss with you what they might expect to see when they return.

I have attached some of the posters they will expect to see around the school.

Through a variety of ways our children will learn to follow these 3 key rules:

Keep yourself safe

Keep each other safe

Keep our environment safe

These rules will be extended with the children so that they understand and learn what it means to keep safe. They will devise posters and have a class display that they will contribute to show they understand and to remind them what safe looks like. The posters around the school help to reinforce the rules. 

We appreciate all of your support during this time. We are constantly learning and adapting to the guidance and we are finding a way that suits our needs.

I have attached an additional poster that supports the return to school.

I have always enjoyed marvelling at the natural world, it's adaptations and dramatic changes. Never, more so than now, have I realised just how vital it is to adapt and change. 

Now, we must all begin to emerge from the cocoon we have protected ourselves in and embark on a way of life that, at the moment, seems far from the one we knew before.

We have begun to accept that change is necessary, and we are beginning to adapt already. School is now preparing to return, and this will bring changes but also lots of familiarity.

As we look forward to the return of our children we are thinking differently about how we protect them and yourselves, we are thinking differently about what we plan to teach them and we are thinking differently about how we will support you all. 

We will learn to build upon our resilience, we will learn to adapt, we will learn to play in new ways and step by step we will rebuild this wonderful school from the inside out. 

So be patient with us as we carefully attempt to get this right, as a steady pace will allow us to learn to adapt safely and wisely.

I will send out further information this week which will provide you with the school’s plans for return and guidance on how we can all stay safe in the process.

Head teacher’s challenge:

Question 6:

What is the scientific word for the process where a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly?

Home learning.

All blog learning continues this week with a break over the half term. Home learning will then be resuming during the week commencing 01.06.20 for those year groups not returning to school.

Please continue to keep in touch with us. As always, I have really enjoyed hearing about the lovely learning and activities taking place at home. 

Reading together and feeling closer.

I'm continuing my reading theme a little bit this week by sharing some photos of the teachers settling down with a good book. We took some time this weekend to relax in the sunshine and enjoy reading. The weather has been so beautiful.
I wonder where you have been reading? 

Keeping updated.

We are sure that like us, you have lots of questions following the Prime Minister's announcement last night.

At the moment, for us in school, there is no change to the guidance, so we will be continuing to operate as we have over the last few weeks. We will continue to provide essential child care for key worker families as well as vulnerable children. 

The message remains that it is safer to stay at home.

We appreciate this is a confusing time. Once we have received further information and reviewed the guidance on how to manage a safe, phased return we will of course keep you informed. 

Please stay safe and take care.

Head teachers challenge:

Question 5

What five letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?

(it’s a riddle so think hard!)

Support.

We recognise that spending this much time at home is not always easy. Below I have added some links to websites where you can support and advice

To keep up to date with support for families, you could follow the children and families social media feeds at: 
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TFFCornwall 
Twitter: www.twitter.com/TFFCornwall 
Instagram: www.instagram.com/tffcornwall 

Family Information Service 
The Family information service offers advice and guidance for children aged 0-25. Tel: 0800 587 8191 or 01872 323535 (these numbers can take messages)

Mental health and well-being government links: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-supporting-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-and-wellbeing

Multi-agency Referral unit (For urgent safeguarding concerns): Telephone 0300 1231 116 E-mail multiagencyreferralunit@cornwall.gov.uk 
Notes: For urgent referrals after 17:15 or at the weekend call the Out of Hours Service on 01208 251 300

A love of reading.

I have always loved reading and as a teacher have used hundreds of books to inspire children’s learning. It’s a passion of mine and has become a bit of a joke between myself and the teachers that I often have book at home that will suit their class topics. I have to say, I’m proud of my book collection. This week I thought I'd challenge you to share photos of yourselves reading, I thought I’d share some from our household too. During times like this, books are a wonderful way of exploring new places and new worlds. They can take you on adventures, inspire you to learn new things and really spark your imagination. I also find reading a story so relaxing and calming. 

So, this week make sure you are setting aside time to read. Share stories with each other or just spend some time alone and cosy with a book.
Your class teachers would love to see your pictures. 
I have filmed myself reading a story for you, I sought permission from the publishers and was ready to go but I've had a slight technical hitch with uploading to the webpage! Our wonderful IT team at BridgeSchools will help us out this week, so keep checking because there might be a little video story for you to watch. 

We’d love to share stories with you and hope you are reading lots too. 

Each week the teachers add some super links to websites where you can access eBooks to read. Without access to libraries and school at the moment it can be difficult to exchange books but there are lots of free ways you can find something to read.

Free eBook library for 3-11 year olds

www.oxfordowl.co.uk/ 

Julia Donaldson has been sharing her books and activity ideas via her Gruffalo Facebook page, if you like her stories this is a great resource.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/OfficialGruffalo/videos/?ref=page_internal

Many famous children’s authors, like David Walliams are sharing reading of their books too

https://www.worldofdavidwalliams.com/

https://www.roalddahl.com/things-to-do-indoors

https://wimpykid.com/

It’s worth googling your favourite author to see what their official websites have to share with you. Some are using Facebook and Instagram to share their books.

Looe Library have a Facebook page where they are sharing books and activity ideas. It’s well worth a look if you have children in Reception and KS1.

VE Day

In addition to my focus on reading this week, I want to highlight the fact that we would have been learning about and celebrating VE day in school this week. You will notice that to support our commitment to promoting British Values, we have dedicated our home learning this week to the significance of VE day. 

75 years ago, the fighting across Europe stopped and the celebrations began. Sadly, we can’t celebrate in the way we intended with street parties and getting together. But there may be small things that you can do at home: a poster for your window, bunting to decorate your house or even a mini party for your household. No matter how small, take some time to remember this significant time in history and reflect on how well our country rebuilt itself.

Suitable for KS2 only

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/history-ks2-ve-day/z7xtmfr

Horrible histories clip

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/watch/horrible-histories-songs-ve-day-song

Head Teachers challenge:

Here is question 4:

How many books has Julia Donaldson written?

Have a guess before you search for the answer. I was quite surprised and tried to name all the ones I knew (and possibly owned). See if you can too.
J

Take care and stay safe

Miss Edwards

P.S I have loved seeing some of your photos on the class pages, I am really enjoying hearing about your learning and fun.

The Great Outdoors

Over the last week we have been thrilled to have either spoken to or have been emailing all of you. It has been so wonderful to hear from you and to know how you are getting on. 

There have been so many happy moments and some lovely learning opportunities shared too. I love reading the teachers class blogs so that I can see the photos that they include, seeing you makes me smile.

I was so pleased to see that lots of you have been trying to spend time outdoors. I feel very passionate about the outdoors and nature and it has been a personal mission for my family to make sure we stay connected to nature during this time. We love spending time outside and, even though we can’t quite embark on our usual adventures, we have made sure that we make time every day to get outdoors. We’ve walked lots and observed the nature around us. The sound of the birds first thing and just before dark has been remarkable. It has been so lovely to hear about some of your mini outdoor adventures too, including growing your own mini garden to making nature art, and walks out and about around the village. We are so lucky to live in a beautiful part of the world, with the sea on our doorstep.

You will notice that the teachers have shared with you a National Trust competition. It will be lovely to see some of your entries. ( I have added it to the bottom of the blog too).

Nature is so important during times like this. It has been scientifically proven that spending time in nature can reduce stress levels, support the immune system and give a general feeling of well-being. I know I always feel wonderful after spending some time surrounded by nature. Even watching nature on TV has benefits. 

There are lots of super websites where you can access ideas and activities to support enjoying time outside or connecting with nature. Even virtual zoo tours.

So, take a moment to appreciate, learn from and enjoying spending time in nature. 

 

This week I have included some links to nature-based websites where there are lots of activities that can be enjoyed during this unique time.

 

Head teachers challenge:

This week’s question is linked to nature and will get you to learn a new nature word. I would like you to have a family chat about what you think the answer might be before you google it! J

 

Question 3:

What do you think the word ‘petrichor’means? 

 

I’ll give you a little clue… 

Clue = you may notice it this week.

 

Remember

The blogs don’t disappear. My blogs can be found in the drop-down menu, click news.

Please keep in touch with us, if there is anything we can do to support you we will do our best to do so.

 

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/things-to-do

 

https://www.edenproject.com/learn/for-everyone

https://www.forestryengland.uk/blog/10-ways-keep-the-kids-entertained-through-covid-19

 

There are also lots of blogs where people are sharing nature ideas so get googling for inspiration.