Half Term is Here

It has been a great half term at Polperro Primary and I can’t believe it’s nearly over already. In our assembly today, the children recalled their favourite parts which included ‘Writing about the Mayas and then the chocolate workshop on our trip,’ (thank you Harry); ‘English and the Rainforests’ (thank you Joey); ‘Going to Porfell to see the animals’ (thank you Reuben) and a very enthusiastic ‘Everything!’ (thank you Emma). One of my many favourite moments has been lunchtimes on the Golden Table (see photo). As usual, the class blogs will show you the learning that has taken place in your child’s class. Why not have a look at these with your child.

Cross Country Very well done to our cross-country team who took part in the first race of the year last Friday at Great Trethew and did extremely well.

Flu Nasal Vaccination YR – Y6 This will take place on Monday 30th October. Please see the additional letter sent, from Kernow Health detailing how to give consent for your child to have this vaccination. The deadline for consent, is Thursday 26th October.

FOPS School Disco Full details can be found on flyer attached, tickets can be purchased from the school reception after half term. 

Photographs Individual Photographs will take place on Friday 3rd November. We will arrange for siblings to be photographed together including those in our Nursery.

Attendance I would like to remind you that we do not authorise any holidays within term time. If you require your child to be out of school for an exceptional reason, please fill in the absence request form (copy attached) at least 10 days before the proposed absence. The form can be completed digitally and then emailed to the office.

Places to eat for free or £1 over half term Please find attached for your information a list of places where children eat free or for £1 over this half term.

Tomorrow, 20th October, is an INSET day.

We wish you all a lovely half term break and look forward to seeing everyone back in school on Monday, 30th October.

Mrs Hillman

This half term is racing by and already there is just one week to go.  Please remember that next Friday is an INSET day.

Online Safety
Throughout the school year we will be working with the children to help them develop the life skills and knowledge they need to use the online world safely and with confidence.

The following websites also provide helpful information about staying safe online: https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/ how to let your child make the most of the internet while remaining safe.
https://www.childnet.com/ Childnet International is a non-profit organisation working with others to help make the internet a great and safe place for children. https://www.ceop.police.uk/Safety-Centre/ If you are worried about online abuse or the way someone has been communicating online let CEOP know.

If you have any questions about how to support your child in staying safe online, please don’t hesitate to contact school.

Harvest Donations A reminder that we are collecting donations for the foodbank in Liskeard. Thank you for the many donations we have a ready received. If you would like to donate there is still time. Please send your donation in with your child or bring it to reception where there will be a box. There will also be a collection point in the nursery. We will be taking all donations to the foodbank at half term.

Parent-Led Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Please find below information regarding a free 6-week intervention to help your child overcome their fears and worries. Sessions are in person or online and run by the Mental Health Support Team- Caradon.

School Open Morning Do you know anyone looking for a school for their Reception age child in September 2024? If so, please pass them the flyer (see below) regarding our open morning on 15th November, 9:30 – 11am.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Hillman

It was lovely to see so many of you at our Meet the Teacher sessions on Wednesday. We hope that you found it useful.

School Council Our School Council met for the first time this school year on Wednesday. They had a host of excellent ideas for trips, playtime and lunchtime activities and fundraisers for charity. School Council voted to restart our Golden Ticket Lunches as soon as possible. These lunches are held weekly and one child per class is given a golden ticket by the School Council because of their outstanding playtime and lunchtime behaviour. The ticket entitles them to sit at a special lunch table along with a member of staff.

We have a whole staff training session next Thursday therefore there will be no sports club and no after school club. I am sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

FOPS fundraisers We have raised over £115 on our Ice Pop Fridays this term. Thank you for supporting this fundraiser and many thanks to those who have helped us. Funds raised will go towards school trips for each class this year. Now that the summer is over, every few weeks we are going to have ‘FOPS Fantastic Friday Fruits and treats’ sale. The first one will take place next Friday 6th October at 3:15 by the school reception. FOPS will be selling fruit and Freddo pots for £2 each.

Coats Please ensure your child has a coat in school every day as the weather is rather unpredictable at the moment.

Pre-loved uniform We keep a stock of very good condition pre-loved uniform in school (£1 donation per item towards school funds). Please bear this in mind if you need to replace any items for your child. There is a rail of items just inside the reception. Please ask at the office for a range of sizes.

Have a lovely weekend

Mrs Hillman

The children have been amazing in the way they have already thrown themselves into their new routines and learning this week.

Our class enquiries have started. Questions this half term are: ‘What Makes Me Amazing?’ Penhallow Class; ‘Who Rules the Animal Kingdom?’ Landaviddy Class; ‘Why are Rainforests Important?’ Talland Class and ‘Why Should we Remember the Maya?’ Chaipel Class. Please look at the class blogs to see how the children’s learning is going.

Dropping Off Most of our children now go into the playground first thing every morning so from Monday 18th September, children from all classes should be dropped at the main gate. We hope this will make it much easier for those of you who have children in different classes. The gate will be open from 8:30. Please continue to drop your child/children in time for them to line up on the playground at 8:45.

Meet the Teacher: 2:45pm, Wednesday 27th September It is extremely important for us to work together to ensure that every child makes as much progress as possible each year. Each year we hold a Meet the Teacher session at which you will find out about your child’ classroom, the adults working alongside your child, classroom routines and timetable, and most importantly, how you can help your child at home. It is also an opportunity to find out about all of the exciting learning and activities the teachers have planned. Of course, the teachers will also answer any questions and try to eliminate and worries or concerns you may have. We understand if you are unable to make the meeting because of work commitments and will find a mutually convenient time to chat to you about your child’s new school year if this is the case. If you have children in more than one class, please attend one session and we will find another time for you to meet your other child/children’s teacher/s. Our ‘Meet the Teacher’ session will be on Wednesday 27th September starting at 2:45pm. Please come in through the main gate from 2:40 and access your child’s classroom by the external door. We look forward to seeing you then.

FOPS (Friends of Polperro School). Can you help out? We currently re-establishing our FOPS (Friends of Polperro School) fundraising group. If you would like to support our fundraising by helping out at our events, please email the school secretary@polperroprimary.co.uk We are planning several events this year and at each event we would like to hold a raffle. If you would like to donate a prize, please send it in with your child and we will use it at one of our events.

Water Bottles As a Heathy School and a Sugar Smart school we encourage children to drink water throughout their day at school, rather than juice or squash. We would prefer that your child’s water bottle contains water only, to encourage healthy habits. This also helps us when there is a spill as water doesn’t stain! If there is a reason why your child cannot drink water, please let you child’s teacher know. Please note that this applies to their classroom drinks and not to their lunchtime drinks.

Guitar Guitar lessons will start next Wednesday, 20th September.

Clubs Reminder that clubs start next week. Please contact the office to sign your child up.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Hillman

Welcome back to school from all the staff at Polperro Primary Academy and a particularly warm welcome to those joining us for the first time. Thank you for your efforts in ensuring that your children are smart and in full school uniform and arriving at our new earlier opening time. The children have settled extremely well. Please see the Class blogs on our website for a flavour of the week’s learning and for information regarding your child’s class. 

Parent Survey Thank you for the many very positive and helpful comments which we received in our Parent Survey in the summer term. As always we strive to improve and this year we will be organising more trips to enhance our curriculum, alongside valuable local visits. We will also be organising more fundraising events. Please watch this space as we will be asking for your support with this shortly.

We will be continuing our garden project: growing fruit and vegetables in our greenhouse for the school kitchen to prepare for the children.

Achievement Assemblies Every Wednesday in a special assembly, we celebrate the children’s achievements in Reading, Writing or Maths. If your child is to be awarded a certificate, their class teacher will ring to invite you to attend the assembly which will be held at 2:50pm (please arrive at 2:45pm). We look forward to sharing the children’s successes with you.

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.)

Swimming We have used the pool this week and hope to do so again next week while the weather remains warm enough. Please ensure your child’s kit is in every day so we can make the most of the pool being open.

Clubs After school clubs will start on the week commencing 18th September. You will be emailed a list of clubs and details of how to sign up next week.

ParentPay Thank you for bearing with us as we set up/update Parent Pay accounts this year. We have had a few technical issues this week which hopefully have now been sorted. Please contact the office if you are still having problems. Please check your accounts regularly to ensure lunch and wrap around debts are paid.

Arbor You will have received a communication from the Trust about completing the permissions for photos, trips, medications etc. on Arbor. It is really important that these are completed as soon as possible to allow staff to plan in more detail. Even if nothing has changed since last year, please re-complete the forms so we have the most up to date information. If you are having trouble logging in, please contact the office for help.

Wishing you a lovely weekend.

Mrs Hillman

We are at the end of another wonderful year at Polperro School. The children have worked extremely hard all year and have achieved so much and we are all proud of them as I am sure you are. Thank you so much for all of your support throughout the year.

We have said some emotional goodbyes this week, firstly to our amazing Y6s who we are sure will all go on to do great things. We have also said goodbye to Mrs Fernie, Mrs Counsell and to Mrs Charlesworth. In September we will be joined by Mr Langley in Talland Class and by Mrs Sally Phillips who will bring a wealth of experience to teach in Landaviddy Class on Mondays, while Miss Gibbings returns from maternity leave to teach in Landaviddy Class from Tuesday to Friday. Today we have also said goodbye to Mrs Rusu who is leaving to pursue an opportunity out of term time. We will all miss seeing her smiling face in school and I am sure you will join me in wishing her all the best for the future. We look forward to welcoming Mrs Liberty Turnbull as our administrator who will be joining us on the 4th September.

Wishing you all an amazing summer break.

Mrs Hillman and al of the staff at Polperro Primary Academy.

This week, our year 6 pupils have enjoyed a very active residential trip to the Ultimate Adventure Centre in North Devon where they tackled the high ropes, kayaking, paddle boarding, archery, circus skills and mountain boarding and finally the ultimate assault course to round off their trip. They all tried everything and were amazingly resilient.

Theatre Visit On Friday morning we had a visit from the Squashbox Theatre Company, kindly funded by the Polperro Arts Foundation. The children enjoyed learning about Cornish fairies and piskies and Talland and Chaipel Class enjoyed a puppet workshop afterwards where they tried their hand at using the amazing puppets used in the show.

Summer Reading Challenge On Monday 10th July at 3:15 the Library Service will be at the main school gate with information about this year’s summer reading challenge. Please drop by to find out more.

Transition Morning  On Thursday 13th July years 1-5 will spend time in their new classes. We look forward to seeing Miss GIbbings back in school and to introducing Mr Langley to the children.

Internet Safety - Warning To teach pupils how to use the internet safely we have sometimes used the Google internet safety program Be Internet Legends - A Program to Teach Children Internet Safety (beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com). The linked games which the children enjoy are the online game platform for Interland: Play Interland - Be Internet Awesome . Please note that there is an App on Google Play called Interland which looks very similar to Interland – it has the same characters. However, this App is nothing to do with the Google platform and users may be subjected to unwanted and inappropriate pop up images and videos. Please do not allow your child access to this App.


Have a great weekend.

Mrs Hillman

Circus Skills

On their last evening the Y6s enjoyed another lovely meal followed by circus skills.

Kayaking, Paddle Boarding and a Big Breakfast

After enjoying a fun firepit session last night, year 6 slept well.

This morning after a hearty breakfast the children all took to the lake to try their hand at kayaking and stand up paddle boarding.

Judging by the smiles on the photos and the really positive comments from Miss Randle when we spoke earlier, they are all having a great time.

Scroll down for even more photos.

The children will be taking on the Ultimate Assault Course tomorrow before travelling back to Polperro - ETA 4:30pm.

Mrs Hillman

Day 1

The Y6 residential has got off to a fantastic start with everyone having a go at archery and the high ropes.

The children and staff have thrown themselves into the activities and are having a great time.  Apparently the food is amazing! I can't wait to hear how tonight's firepit activity goes.

Mrs Hillman