What an exciting week with good weather again. All of our classes have had time in the pool and our brilliant Year 6 children have completed their SATS tests and enjoyed an ice-cream on the beach afterwards to celebrate. Thank you to the Smuggler’s Café for accommodating us. The vegetables are coming on in the garden and greenhouse. A huge thank you to Mr and Mrs Peters for their amazing help with the garden, including the plants at the front of the school, and with our gardening club.

Sun Safety While the weather is hot, please ensure your child comes into school with a named sun hat and sun cream (at least factor 30).

Return of Ice Pop Fridays We will be selling ice pops after school at the main gate every Friday (or Thursday if it is an INSET day) until the end of term to raise extra funds for the school. Please send your child in with £1 or bring £1 along when you pick them up if you would like to buy one.

Children’s nearly new sale Please see attached details of a nearly new sale, in aid of Baby Basics Cornwall, which is being held at Lanreath Village Hall on Sunday 1st June.

Upcoming dates Next Friday is an INSET day. Half term is coming up: 26 th May – 30th May. Class photos are happening on Tuesday 10th June. Sports Day is on 25th June (10am-12) with a reserve date of 27th June. These and other diary dates can be found on the Events Diary page.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Hillman

A huge thank you to all the parents and carers who joined us on the school field for our VE Day Afternoon Tea yesterday. It was wonderful to see so many families coming together in a sea of red, white and blue, to enjoy the sunshine, share cream teas, and take part in traditional games and football. A special thank you to FOPS for their hard work in organising the event, helping to make it such a lovely afternoon! We raised £181.00 for the British Legion.

Online Safety Roblox has launched new parental controls  https://en.help.roblox.com/hc/enus/articles/30428310121620-Parental-Controls-Overview which will help to keep your child safe online. Further information regarding online safety can be found on this website under the Keeping Safe tab.

MHST Parent/Carer Workshops There is still time to sign up for the MHST Parent/Carer Workshops which are set to run from June 2025. These are 5 session online workshops with our Mental Health Practitioners. These are open to everybody; people do not need to have a mental health need to join. You can sign yourselves up using these links: Anxiety and worries - https://forms.office.com/e/0qRnKmCw1i
Behaviour as Communication - Parent Support - https://forms.office.com/e/BvhDpYUcQa 

Penhaligon’s Friends Please find attached information regarding a fundraiser for Penhaligon’s Friends who help make a difference to the lives of bereaved children, young people and families throughout Cornwall.

Have a good weekend.

Mrs Hillman

Thank you for sending your children in with their swimming kits this week. Every class had the chance of a swim in the lovely weather. Please send your child’s swimming kit in every week from now on and we will continue their swimming lessons when the weather is nice enough.

Opening of Big Green It was lovely to see so many of you at the opening of Big Green yesterday to enjoy the children singing and watch our oldest and youngest pupils cutting the ribbon. Well done to Martha and Sienna for doing a brilliant job!

Football Congratulations to our football team who played brilliantly in the semi-final of the Shield Cup against Sir Robert Geffery’s School on Monday. It was a very close match. At full time the score was 2-2, however in the last 40 seconds the other team scored. The team has had a great season so far and is still in contention to win the league. Watch this space to see how they get on.

VE Day, Afternoon Tea Reminder that this Thursday 8th of May 2:30pm - 3:30pm we will be holding an afternoon Tea Party in school to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE day. Please join us on the school field (entry via the field gate) and bring a rug or chairs for you and your children. We will be serving cream teas, cakes, tea, coffee and squash and ice-cream for the children or you are very welcome to bring your own. If you are not able to come, please send a small afternoon snack in for your child to enjoy or some money to purchase an ice-cream (£1). Children, staff and parents/carers are invited to wear red, white and blue on the day.  Year 6 parents please note that there will be no SATS club after school on Thursday 8th May, however there will be a final SATS club session instead at lunchtime on Friday 9th May. There will also be no gardening club on this day.

MHST Parent/Carer Workshops Please see attached details of MHST Parent/Carer Workshops which are set to run from June 2025. These consist of 5 online workshop sessions with our Mental Health Practitioners. These are open to everybody; people do not need to have a mental health need to join. You can sign yourselves up with the links or QR codes within the posters (attached) or using these links:
Anxiety and worries - https://forms.office.com/e/0qRnKmCw1i
Behaviour as Communication - Parent Support - https://forms.office.com/e/BvhDpYUcQa

Attendance Thank you for continuing to ensure that your children attend school as often as possible. Below is a list of term dates and INSET dates for next year which I hope will help you plan ahead and organise holidays out of term time so that we can continue to avoid the requirement to issue penalty notices.

Autumn Term 4th September – 19th December 2025
Wednesday 3rd September INSET day
Autumn Term begins Thursday 4th September 2025
Friday 24th October INSET day
Half Term Holiday 27th October – 31st October 2025
Friday 19th December 13:30 finish
Christmas Holiday 22nd December 2025 – 2nd January 2026

Spring Term 6th January – 2nd April 2026
Monday 5th January INSET day
Spring Term begins Tuesday 6th January 2026
Friday 13th February INSET day
Half Term Holiday 16th February – 20th February 2026
Thursday 2nd April 13:30 finish
Easter Holiday 3rd April – 17th April 2026

Summer Term 20th April – 22nd July 2026
Summer Term begins Monday 20th April 2026
Early May Bank Holiday 4th May 2026
Friday 22nd May INSET day
Half Term Holiday 25th May – 29th May 2026
Friday 5th June INSET day
Wednesday 22nd July 13:30 finish
Thursday 23rd July INSET day

Have a lovely bank holiday weekend. We look forward to seeing the children back in school on Tuesday 6th May.

Mrs Hillman

This half term has raced by. At our end of term assembly this afternoon, we shared our favourite moments from the last six weeks. The children said that they particularly liked their trips including the theatre trip, World Book Day, Funky Friday on the playground, having Nursery children in the dinner hall every day, learning to sew in year 6. Several children said they enjoyed ‘everything’ which is great to hear.

This morning, the children had a visit from the Easter Bunny who delivered Easter eggs to them on the playground. A huge thank you to FOPS for helping to organise this and the Easter discos that the children enjoyed yesterday evening. The discos raised over £250.00 for school.

House Points This term, Chestnut won an amazing 107 House Points which was the most out of all of the houses. Overall Oak are currently in the lead with 368 points followed by Ash (298), Chestnut (271) and Willow (239).

Football Success Well done to our football team who won again on Monday, 5-1 against Fourlanesend. The team played brilliantly and have now won four out of five matches. Harry scored a hat trick and Jamie scored twice.

Alternative Sports Well done to Callum, Isabelle, Flora, Amber, Emma and George who represented our school in the year 3 and year 4 Bridge Schools alternative sports day at Looe Primary where they tried out Segway, fencing, archery, dodgeball, football golf and ultimate frisbee.

Clubs After Easter, Year 6 SATS clubs and wraparound care will restart on Tuesday 22nd April. Other clubs will restart on Monday 28th April. We will notify you about which clubs we will be running when we return after the break.

Uniform If you are looking ahead to buying uniform, please remember that we have a good supply of nearly new uniform in school, including summer dresses and PE items, which is available for a donation (£1 minimum) to the school. Please ask at reception. Easter Activities Please find attached, flyers for Bikeability opportunities over Easter, P20 football and a Liskeard Bowling Club open day for families.

Diary dates Looking ahead to the summer term, three important dates for the diary are: reopening of Big Green in Polperro on the afternoon of Thursday May 1st where the children will be singing as part of a short celebration; Polperro Festival School’s Day which is on 17th June this year; and Sports Day which will be on the morning of Wednesday 25th June with a reserve date of Friday 27th June. Further details of these events will follow nearer the time.

Wishing you a wonderful Easter break.

Mrs Hillman

This has been a busy week full of trips. On Wednesday, our Planet Protectors Club went to the recycling plant in Bodmin to research what happens to all of our recycling and why it is important to recycle. They will be sharing what they found out with the rest of the school in an assembly shortly. Year 5 visited Liskeard Fire Station to learn all about safety on the railways; online; on the roads; on the beach and when using electricity. They also tried their hand at choking prevention and CPR. This morning Penhallow and Landaviddy Classes had a really enjoyable trip to see ‘Little Red Hen’ at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth.

More Cross-Country Success
The Polperro team yet again did brilliantly well in last week’s Landrake Inter Schools Cross Country Race. Congratulations to the children who all completed their races, with or without shoes. Thank you to Mrs Turnbull for her wonderful team support this season and for running alongside the children too, and to parents and carers for transporting our runners to each race come rain or shine. An amazing effort all round from Team Polperro. A huge well done too to Flora who came a magnificent 34th in the Cornwall Cross Country Finals on Tuesday.

Clubs Please note that there are no clubs next week because of the football match, the disco and staff training.

Drop off and pick up Polite reminder when you are picking up and dropping off, please do not park or wait on the zigzag lines outside school. This is likely to result in drivers receiving penalty notices (a £75 fine). Cars are still blocking this area causing problems for children crossing the road.

FOPS Easter Discos Reminder that Easter Discos for the children on Thursday, 3rd April. Tickets are on sale in the office and cost £3. The disco for Reception, Year 1 and year 2 will be from 3:15-4:15pm. Pupils should bring a change of clothes and will be able to change after school. KS2 (years 3-6) children should go home at the usual time of 3:15pm and then return to school for their disco which will be from 4:30-6:00pm.


The last day of term is next Friday 4th April and school will finish at 1:30pm. On Friday morning we will have a visit from the Easter Bunny. Monday 21st April is a bank holiday, therefore the first day of the Spring term for the children will be Tuesday, 22nd April.

Have a good weekend

Mrs Hillman

Thank you for sending your children in today in MUFTI. We  raised over £130.00 for Comic Relief from your generous donations. We’re so sorry that we didn’t have enough Red Noses for everyone who wanted one this year. We know some children were disappointed, and we completely understand. To make sure this doesn’t happen again, next year we’ll be asking families to pre-order their noses so we can get the right amount. Each box costs the school £60, and we have to be careful not to over-order, but we also want to make sure every child who wants a nose can get one.

FOPS Easter Discos Reminder that Easter Discos for the children on Thursday, 3rd April. We will be holding Easter school discos on Thursday 3rd April. Tickets are on sale in the office and cost £3. The disco for Reception, Year 1 and year 2 will be from 3:15-4:15pm. Pupils should bring a change of clothes and will be able to change after school. KS2 (years 3-6) children should go home at the usual time of 3:15pm and then return to school for their disco which will be from 4:30-6:00pm. Please find attached a poster for this event. For the Cross-Country runners attending the awards ceremony at St Mellion, there is time for children to attend the disco beforehand as the event does not start until 7pm.

Time 2 Move The Time2Move Holiday Programme for Easter 2025 is now live. The programme offers fun physical activities, games and wider activities plus a funded meal for every child. All children are welcome to attend, and it is completely funded for children that are eligible for benefits-related Free School Meals. As a parent or guardian of a child eligible for benefits related free school meals you will need your child’s unique code in order to access the activities for free. You can access your child’s code quickly and easily at: www.cornwall.gov.uk/time2move Once you have this code you can search and book on activities here: www.activecornwall.org/T2MHolidayProgramme


End of Term Reminder that on the last day of term is on Friday 4th April and school will finish at 1:30pm. On the Friday morning we will have a visit from the Easter Bunny. 

Have a great weekend.

Mrs Hillman

Another busy week at Polperro School has flown past. In Monday’s music lessons, the children tried their hand at African drumming, exploring rhythm, teamwork, and cultural diversity through the rich traditions of African music. Later in the week, local artist Sean Hewitt worked with years 4-6 to produce amazing pieces of artwork depicting George Orwell and Polperro as part of the Polperro Orwell Project.

Emergency Lockdown Procedure
We held an emergency lockdown procedure drill today and the children responded very well. Lockdown procedures are important and would be used in response to an internal or external incident which could be a threat to the safety of staff and children in the school such as: 1. A reported incident, disturbance in the local community 2. An intruder on the site 3. A warning being received regarding a local risk of air pollution (smoke plume, gas cloud etc.) 4. A major fire in the vicinity of the school 5. The close proximity of a dangerous dog. We practise this drill yearly and fire drills termly.

FOPS Easter Discos
Easter Discos for the children on Thursday, 3rd April. we will be holding Easter school discos on Thursday 3rd April. Tickets are on sale in the office and cost £3. The disco for Reception, Year 1 and year 2 will be from 3:15-4:15pm. Pupils should bring a change of clothes and will be able to change after school. KS2 (years 3-6) children should go home at the usual time of 3:15pm and then return to school for their disco which will be from 4:30-6:00pm. Please find attached a poster for this event.

Comic Relief
Red Nose Day is next Friday, 21st March. The School Council would like the children to come to school in MUFTI (bright colours/funky clothes!) with a minimum donation of £1 for this MUFTI day. We will be selling Red noses for £2 from Monday.

Have a good weekend.

Mrs Hillman

Thank you so much for sending your children in on World Book Day in their amazing costumes. Entries to our Extreme Reading competition were brilliant – Thank you for sending them in. Rev Richard judged the entries after our St Piran’s Day assembly on Tuesday (there were so many to consider!). Well done to the class winners (Henry, Flora, Nevaeh, Max and Felix) and to Everly, the overall winner. Winners will each receive a book (kindly funded by FOPS). Our book sale raised over £40.00, which school will spend on books for guided reading.

FOPS Quiz FOPS raised over £500 at their quiz night last Friday. Thank you to those who organised an enjoyable evening and to those of you who attended. We have other fundraisers in the pipeline including Easter Discos for the children on Thursday 3rd April. More details to follow.

Comic Relief This year Red Nose Day is on Friday, 21st March. The School Council would like the children to come to school in MUFTI (bright colours/funky clothes!) with a minimum donation of £1 for this MUFTI day. We will be selling Red noses for £2 during the week commencing 17th March.

Parent/Carer Consultations Thank you for attending this week’s parent/carer consultations. We are so pleased that everyone has arranged an appointment. Your involvement and support play a crucial role in helping your child succeed, and we truly appreciate your partnership in their learning journey at our school.

Orwell Project We had a visit this week from Jay Gates, from Bodmin Airfield who spoke to the children in Talland and Chaipel Classes not only about the planes at the Airfield, but also about the wildflower meadow there which has County Wildlife Status and is home to rare orchids and other wildlife. Later in the year, the school will be working with the airfield to rewild some of the school grounds using seeds from the Bodmin Wildlife Meadow.

Wild Wellbeing Sessions The Mental Health Support Team (MHST), along with Natural England and Cornwall Wildlife Trust, are running several Wild Wellbeing sessions over the Easter break. These are nature-based, creative, practical workshops where pupils learn about the Five Ways to Wellbeing: Give, Connect, Take Notice, Be Active and Keep Learning. Details are included in the attached poster.

 
Have a good weekend.

Mrs Hillman

• This half term has already got off to a good start with our new enquiries launched as follows:

Penhallow Class: Can I Travel by Dinosaur? Landaviddy Class: Can you Always See Things Grow? Talland Class: How did England Change After the Norman Conquest?
Chaipel Class: What was Life Like in Tudor England?
As usual, information about the children’s learning will be on the class blogs.

World Book Day, Thursday 6th March
• There is still time to send in entries for our World Book Day Extreme Reading Competition.   Please email your child’s entry (secretary@polperroprimary.co.uk) or bring in a photo by Monday 3rd March.  We are really looking forward to seeing who in school has such a passion for reading that they have to do it anywhere and everywhere! Staff will be entering too and there will be a prize (for children) for the winning pictures. See below for example photographs.
• Book Sale - On World Book Day, there will be a range of second-hand children’s books for sale at break time for just 20p each. Any profit will go towards buying new books for class libraries. Please send you child in with cash on the day if they would like to buy a book.
• Dress as your Favourite Book Character - On World Book Day your child can come to school dressed as a favourite character from any book.

Orwell Project Dr Alison Smith, Temperate Rainforest Project Manager, Cornwall Wildlife Trust came to speak to Talland and Chaipel Classes this week about the Temperate Rainforest she is managing just 10 minutes away from school. The children learned about the rare species of which can be found there, such as the Floury Dog Lichen (see photo) and how the Cornwall Wildlife Trust will be managing the rainforest over the next 50 years. Poet, Sally Crabtree came in the following day to write poems with the children using the language they had learned. These two workshops are part of the science, art and writing project we are running with the Orwell Society, which we will be sharing with parents/carers and Orwell Society members later this year at their annual conference which will be held in Polperro.

Fantastic Footballers Congratulations again to our wonderful football team who played against St Germans on Tuesday and won 4-3. The team played very well and really deserved their win.

Cross Country Success Congratulations to Flora and Jamie who have been selected to take part at the Cornwall School Games county schools primary cross-country final on 25th March.

Parent Consultations Reminder that parent consultations are taking place next week. Thank you everyone for signing up.

Clubs Clubs will continue on the week commencing 10th March. If your child is already signed up, they should continue to come. Please contact the office if your child would like to attend and they are not already signed up.
Monday: After School Football Club (Mr Langley) for years 3, 4,5 and 6
Tuesday: Lunchtime ECO Club (Miss Randle) for years 3 to 6, some places by invitation; After school Alternative Sports Club (Mrs Hillman) for years 3-6
Wednesday: Lunchtime Mindfulness and Art Club (Mrs Wilkie) for years 2 to 6
Thursday: Lunchtime Music and Singing Club (Mrs Fitzsimmons) for years R, 1 and 2
Friday: After School Running Club (Miss Bowden and Mrs Turnbull) for years 3-6. This club is open to anyone who likes running however it will not run when the Cross-Country League races are on – next races 7th March and 21st March. Pupils do not have to race in these events.

SATS club for Year 6 These drop-in sessions will run on Tuesday mornings from 8am (Miss Randle); Wednesday Lunchtimes (Mrs Hillman) from 12:30; and Thursdays afterschool (Miss Randle) until 4:15pm.

Have a great weekend.

Mrs Hillman