Helicopter, sailing and dodgeball

It has been another fantastic week of learning, experiences and exploration. Despite us heading towards the darker months of the year, the children’s enthusiasm for learning is showing no signs of dampening. Both classes have this week completed an extended piece of writing using their learning from our wider curriculum subjects. It is fantastic to read how the children are able to apply the knowledge learnt in geography, history and science to their writing, it is clear to see the enjoyment of learning in their work.

Awe and wonder were on the agenda Thursday. One of our village residents was arriving back from a trip in a helicopter, challenging to find a flat piece of land in our hilltop village, thankfully we were able to provide just that. We all walked to the field to watch the helicopter land and the pilot kindly shut the engines down so the children could go up close and explore the helicopter. What an experience this was! Huge Thank You to Christine and her husband for letting us be part of this, a memory to be treasured.

Alexis, Tegan, Ailla, Jakson, Toby and Liam represented the school in the Bridge trust Dodgeball tournament on Thursday afternoon at Callywith College in Bodmin. They have had only a few opportunities to practice, however armed with their usual determination, bravery and resilience they played brilliantly and finished 3rd out of all the 14 schools in the trust – what an achievement! We are all super proud of them.

Friday morning, we had a visit from Morwagh Sailing project to deliver assembly workshops for the whole school. It was very interesting to learn about sailing boats and finding out about the weather, currents and the seabed in our locality.

As we head towards December, there are a number of events happening. Our Christmas Nativity and Play is in the Village Hall on Thursday 14th December in the afternoon, singing around the tree on the Wharf is Monday 18th December in the afternoon. For further details and timings, please contact Mrs Hughes in the office.

Achievement Assembly
Writers of the Week
Liam for approaching improvements and editing with a positive attitude which makes the quality of his writing greater.
Emmie for some fantastic sentences for history.
Stars of the Week
Lily-May and Rylie for a successful first week at our school.  
Ava for her curiosity in learning another language - Makaton.

Enjoy the photos

Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Wills

Week 9

Anti-bullying week
We have spent time this week discussing how we might call out incidents of bullying by making a noise. We finished the week with Tregeagle class presenting their ideas and experiences to the whole class in Friday’s assembly.

Children in need
The end to the week had a colourful twist with all the children arriving wearing something spotty and /or brightly coloured. At the start of the day, we talked about how fundraising can benefit communities both financially and socially. Locally, we are now benefiting from the re-launch of our Friends of Polruan Academy (FOPA) thanks to an initiative by Mrs Hughes and supported by parents. It will be great to yet again be able to raise money for those extra things to enhance the learning experiences for all the children at our school.

Achievement Assembly

Reader of the Week
Erin for her enthusiasm about reading and modelling super inference skills to explain her understanding of a text.
Indi for some super sounding out and resilience to keep trying.

Star of Week
Toby for his positive attitude to learning and being a kind, respectful member of our class.
Ronnie for insatiable curiosity and looking for learning and happily sharing with peers any new learning he has come across. 

Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs W

Another busy week full of exciting learning experiences has drawn to a close. This week, Canute class went on a visit to Blisland for a Pop-Up-Play session with a Fire of London theme and they had a fantastic day - "We have been playing all day!" - they proudly announced on their return. 
Year 5/6 children went to Polperro for a poetry workshop with Sally Crabtree and they too returned full of enthusiasm and inspiration to write their own poetry for the Bridge School WW1 project. I will share more details about this in the comin weeks.
Next week is Anti-Bullying week and the children will participate in different activities and assemblies throughout the week to support their understanding. 
Friday is Children in Need and we have sent out a message asking for children to come to school wearing something brightly coloured and/or spotty for a small donation.

Achievement Assembly
Mathematician of the Week
Jakson for a great positive attitude and willingness to explore errors.
Mya for her super efforts and always being ready to learn with a smile on her face.

Stars of the Week:
Tegan for her enthusiasm for learning and sharing this positivity with her peers.
Zeniah-Ro for her insatiable thirst for learning - always listening and looking for new things to absorb.

Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Wills

Welcome to Autumn 2

A full program of learning and related activities have kicked off our final half term of 2023.
Canute class have started their new enquiry learning all about the Fire of London, they already have brilliant geographical knowledge about our capital city and they are looking forward to exploring the historical aspects their new enquiry will introduce them to. They are kicking off the learning with a trip to Blisland, another Bridge Trust School similar in size to Polruan, where Canute class will join the EYFS/KS1 class for a theme day of Pop-Up-Play and exploration.

Tregeagle class completed their prehistory enquiry with a geographical field trip to the ancient Iron Age Hillfort Castle an Dinas. They managed to dodge the showers to explore the topography of the area to make comparisons between land use then and now.

Thank you all for your support with the late opening of school Thursday. By delaying opening, we ensured all families and staff were able to travel to school safely. With several staff members relying on the ferry from Fowey for their commute, we are at the mercy of the weather. Thankfully we escaped relatively mildly with damage only to playground sheds, boarding and guttering.

Next week:
Monday 6.11.23:
Mrs Butlin teaching music for both classes
Remembrance Assembly with Richard 2:30pm

Tuesday 7.11.23
Canute Class to Blisland for Fire of London pop up play
Year 5/6 to Polperro for poetry workshop with Sally Crabtree

Thursday 9.11.23:
Well-Being Boxing Tregeagle Class
Final day for Christmas card orders

Writers of the Week:
Nathan for fantastic independent work and great focus.
Toby for a brilliant diary entry using lots of our history learning and vocabulary.

Stars of the week:
Emmy for her positive attitude and kindness towards friends
Ailla for following the rules to keep herself and others safe on both our school trips this week.

Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Wills

Harvest 

We are almost at the end of our very busy first half term. The children have settled well in their new classes and made positive strides in learning. Many fantastic learning journeys have already been completed across the school and we have seen some fantastic pieces of writing already. Canute class wrote letter to the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and completed this by walking to the post office to buy stamps and posting the letters in the post box. Hopefully they will not have to wait too long for a response.

In Tregeagle class, the children are reaching the end of their pre-history journey which they will conclude with a trip to Royal Cornwall Museum in truro on Tuesday. They have been far and wide on this journey exploring changes from hunter/gatherers to farmers settling down and building homes surrounded by Cornish hedges.

It was lovely to see so many of you for our Harvest Festival celebrations in St. Savoir’s on Thursday morning. We are incredibly proud of the children’s performances and hope you enjoyed seeing your child/children perform. A huge THANK YOU to Mrs Butlin for supporting the children’s performance. I think the Bean Harvest Song has now overtaken the Combine Harvester as our favorite Harvest song. Thank you for all your contributions to the food bank collection.

The school attended the Fowey Port User Group round table meeting, aimed at exploring ways in which more local young people could be encouraged to become involved in water based activities on and around our harbour and river. There were lots of very exciting opportunities being discussed and we are currently arranging for Morvargh Sailing Project to come into school to deliver an assembly to the children about sailing and the opportunities this might offer.

Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Wills

Challenge week

While the older children in Year 5/6 went to the Ultimate Adventure Centre for their residential, Year R-Year 4 spent the week back at school leaning new skills. On Monday, they  investigated how to represent each of our values and making short films to add to our stairwell display boards. On Tuesday, we had a Forest School leader teaching outdoor skills and team work. On Wednesday, Shaun Hewitt lead a day of art using collage to make some beautiful pieces for our common space in Tolbenny - see photos below. Thursday and Friday we all spent time using art, design and technology skills to make this year's scarecrow entry with a stone-age theme. The children had some fantastic ideas and their creative thinking will result in our gate looking great again in time for the summer break. 
THANK YOU
A huge thank you goes to the kind parent who has generously donated their Friday afternoon to weeding the bottom path.
NEXT WEEK
This week coming is a quieter week, with both classes working to complete their narrative stories in English, putting the final touches to their enquiries and for Year 5 and year 6, a transition day at Fowey River Academy on Thursday.
ACHIEVEMENT ASSEMBLY
Stars of the week:
Irina for being super resilient, having a go and embracing new learning this week.
Jakson for not giving up on his bridge building even when the bridge collapsed and he had to start over.
Liam for positive attitude, resilience and making new friends on our residential trip.

Ultimate Adventure Centre day 3

We finished off last night with learning circus skills. Due to the rain, the mini Olympics were cancelled but we learnt a whole new set of skills in the circus workshop instead and finished the evening with a show showing these off.
Wednesday morning was go go go - starting off with Mountain boarding - travelling down a hill on a wheeled board. Perfect for challenging bravery and balance. Again, everyone joined in and keen to have a go.
We completed our stay with the Wipe-out Assault course and from the look on the children's faces, this was most likely their favorite activity of the week. Again, everyone joined in, challenged themselves to be brave, supporting their friends with encouragement and big smiles!
Mr Twaite and I would like to thank the children for their superb attitude this week, they have been resilient, brave and very good fun! 
I am sure they will take the memories of this week with them on their travels through life.
Mrs W

Day 2 Ultimate Adventure Centre

This morning, we went kayaking and paddle boarding, lots of smiles as confidence and enjoyment grew and by the end of the morning, everyone was able to stand up and paddle confidently on the boards and in the kayaks the children all developed the skills needed to join in with racing and chasing games.
After lunch, it was time for problem solving. A series of tasks had to be completed in order for the children to earn the components to build an air rocket. They worked really well as a team across the two schools - true teamwork spirit to make the rockets fly high in the air.
Food is great and were looking forward to another lovely dinner shortly.