Another busy week has flown by, including a fascinating UK Parliament outreach visit where Years 4, 5 and 6 learned more about the workings of the UK Parliament. Across the school, children have been enthusiastically rehearsing for next week's festival. It has been a real pleasure to hear the sound of singing and music filling the school and to catch snippets of their performances as I have moved around the school.

Polperro Festival School's Day is next Tuesday 16th June from 11am-2:45pm. Please send your child in with a packed lunch, drink, filled water bottle, sun hat and sun cream, and a raincoat because who knows what the weather will be doing! Please note that the timings below are approximate.
11.00 - 11:15 - Welcome and singing (whole school)
11.15 - 11:40 - African Drumming/Ukulele (children from Y4, Y5, Y6)
11.40 - 11:50 - Choir 11:50 - 12.00 - Young musicians/performers
12.00 - 13:00 - Lunch (12.30 - 13.00 Magician Performance for the children)
13:00 - 13:15 - Solo Singers
13.15 - 13.30 - Penhallow Class performance
13.30 - 13.45 - Landaviddy Class performance
13.45 - 14.05 - Talland Class performance
14.05 - 14.25 - Chaipel Class performance
14.25 - 14.45 - Singing finale

Children may be collected from their teacher following the final singing session. Children not collected from Big Green will walk up to Polperro School in time for 3.15 pick-up.

Wear Yellow Day Thank you so much for sending your children in today wearing yellow to help raise awareness and support the work of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. We raised a total of £125 which will go towards supporting the charity's vital work.

Bridge School Games Week The children will all be competing in the 5th annual Bridge Schools Games next week so please ensure that their PE kit is in as they will be taking part in different World Cup Football-themed challenges across the week. Polperro were the champions in 2022 and runners up in 2024 so are looking forward to competing again this year against the other 14 schools in the academy trust.

We look forward to seeing you at the festival next week.

Mrs Hillman

TALLAND'S CLASS BLOG

We're hoping everyone has had a brilliant week and you're all set for the World Cup! We've had a bit of a West End week this week - the children have been fully immersed with rehearsals and singing practice.

Here's a snapshot of what we've been learning:

Maths:
Year 5 have continued their unit on decimals and fractions. This week they have been focusing on 'thousandths' - how you would convert from fractions to decimals and vice versa and writing numbers which represent tenths, hundredths and thousandths on a place value grid.

Year 4 have been fantastic this week. They have all completed their times table check assessments and they all did really well - well done to all of them!

English:
We have continued to rehearse in preparation for the Polperro Festival. We even did a dress rehearsal for Landaviddy which went great!

Art:
We have been very lucky to have Sean, the artist in this week. Talland have begun creating their new masterpiece...

CELEBRATIONS:
Congratulations Isabelle, Nevaeh and Max for earning their next badge in our 99 club challenge! A great effort from Harley and Reuben this week - I've thoroughly enjoyed their enthusiasm for the acting and singing during our rehearsals.

We will be heading into a crazy week next week - Polperro Festival (thank you so much for all the wonderful costumes and props) and the Bridge School Games begin - showbiz and sport incoming...

That's all from Talland Class this week. We hope you have a wonderful weekend and look forward to seeing everyone next week.

Signing off, Mr. Langley and Mr. Bishop.

Another week has flown by and we are in full rehearsal for our performance at the Festival on Tuesday. Everyone is giving their absolute best and it is going to be a great day! 

Our enquiry into Crime and Punishment is in full swing and we have looked at life in both Roman and Anglo Saxon times. We all agree that life was pretty gory back then and are glad that 'Trial by Ordeal' is something that belongs in the past.

In DT, we are designing and creating prototypes for a new school playground. We have designed our equipment, got into groups to share our ideas and create floor plans and then have taken notes on the equipment that we will need in order to bring our designs to life. Watch this space as our projects develop...

On Wednesday, our school was lucky enough to have been visited by a local politician (Tom) who talked to us about what politicians do and what the House of Lords and Commons are about. We were asked to put in a bill to be discussed and a unanimous vote for 'NO SCHOOL FRIDAYS' was put forward! 

It was WEAR YELLOW FOR CYSTIC FYBROSIS day on Friday and we all showed our support, wearing yellow and learning about the condition. 

Congratulations to our Person of the Week, Thomas, for demonstrating our school values and being a role model to their peers.

I have attached the Home Work Grid and Knowledge Web for our learning this half term.

That's all from us so enjoy the weekend and see you on Monday.

Miss Randle and Mrs Clary.

Over the past two weeks we have been exploring insects and answering our enquiry question "Are insects helpful?".
The children have been busy exploring our bug themed tuft tray, using the magnifying glasses to explore with and finding the different insects in the book provided.
They have been creating different craft including dragonflies made from pegs, paper plate bumblebees and caterpillars.

At story time we have read a range of insect related books including "The Very Hungry Caterpillar ", "The Bad Tempered Ladybird" and "Bugs big trip".

In phonics this week we have been blending sounds together to create whole words, creating different alien voices in a game of "Voices in Space" and rhyming different words to complete a sentence.

In maths we have been exploring patterns and how many in a set. We have also been finding special objects up to 5 and beyond.

This week on Wednesday the children had a group photo taken, these should be available soon for you to order.

Have a good weekend

Julie and Sarah

Hello everyone,

This week began with bikeability for our Reception children. As you can see, they thoroughly enjoyed it and improved their skills of balance and co-ordination.

We have all been very busy this week, practicing songs for The Polperro Festival. We have all been able to use percussion instruments to accompany our class song that we have been learning, and hope that you will enjoy what you hear very soon.

Our English lessons this week, focussed on Duffy's Lucky Escape, by the local author Ellie Jackson. We read the story and found vocabulary that we could use in our own writing. We also found examples of alliteration and used this to write our own lines of a poem.

We have also been enjoying some art this week, where we have used different objects such as bubble wrap to print sea creatures.

We hope you have a lovely weekend.

From The Penhallow Team

TALLAND'S BLOG 4.6.26

Hoping everyone had fun in the sun last week! It's been a lovely start to Talland's final half term together - I know it will be a great, action packed term!

Here's a snapshot of what we've been learning:

Maths:
Year 5 have begun their unit on decimals and percentages where we have been investigating equivalent fractions and decimals.

Year 4 have been brushing up on their multiplication skills as they have their times tables check tests next week. Lot's of the children have clearly been practicing! Final push over the weekend would be GREAT!

English: 
We have been putting our drama skills to the test in English this week as we embark on preparations for the the Polperro Festival. We're getting excited!

PE:
This term, children will be in the swimming pool with Mrs. Hillman and partake in athletics with me (Mr. Langley).  

CELEBRATIONS:
Congratulations Reuben, Taran and Charlie for earning their next badge in our 99 club challenge! A great effort from Callum this week -fantastic effort with our songs for the Polperro Festival and working hard on his part for the production.

That's all from Talland Class this week. We hope you have a wonderful weekend and look forward to seeing everyone next week.

Signing off, Mr. Langley and Mr. Bishop.

Despite the rather wet start to the week, our Year 6 children took part in their Bikeability sessions, developing their skills and confidence in cycling safely on the road. On Wednesday, our Reception children also enjoyed balance bike lessons, practising their coordination and control.

Across the school, children have been busy rehearsing for their performances in the Polperro Festival, and have enthusiastically begun their new Cornish-focused enquiries as follows: Penhallow: What Makes Cornwall a Special Place?; Landaviddy: What's on our Doorstep?; Talland: Why do we need the Sun?; Chaipel: Did the Punishment always fit the Crime over Time?

Whole School Art Project This half term, each class will be working with local artist Sean Hewitt to create artwork inspired by the work of Peter Lanyon and the Cornish landscape. Every child will have the opportunity to produce an original piece of art which will be showcased in a special exhibition later in the term. We are delighted that this exciting project is being generously funded by the Polperro Arts Foundation. Keep an eye out for further details as the project develops.

Polperro Festival Reminder that the Polperro Festival School's Day is on Tuesday 16th June from 11am- 2:45pm. The day will begin with the children singing and class performances will begin at 1pm after lunch. We will send final details of the programme out next week.

Caterlink - Online Food Allergen & Intolerance Form All parents of pupils with a food allergy or intolerance should complete the online food allergen and intolerance form CTL - Food Allergy & Intolerance Form V2 . The completed form must be supported by appropriate medical evidence. Please refer to the attached leaflet for further information. Pupils with a lifestyle or religious choice (such as halal or vegan) will not need to complete this form. If your child is already receiving a special diet through Caterlink, please complete the form and select 'Already being catered for - no change to allergens'. This will notify Caterlink that no changes are required and that the form does not need to be processed until the next menu cycle update.

Reports We will once again be using our Insight system to send end-of-year reports this year. The system uses the email addresses registered on Arbor and reports will be sent out in July. Please take a moment to check that your email address on Arbor is up to date to ensure you receive your child's report without delay.

Wear Yellow Day, Friday 12th June A reminder that next Friday we will be holding a MUFTI Day. Pupils are invited to wear something yellow to help raise awareness and support the work of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. We kindly ask for a donation, with a suggested minimum contribution of £2. All funds raised will go towards supporting the charity's vital work.

Tomorrow is an INSET day. We look forward to seeing the children back in school on Monday 8th June.

Mrs Hillman

A Warm Welcome Back to Year 3!

We hope everyone had a wonderful and sunny half-term break.

We have dived straight back into learning and have been busy practicing for the Polperro Festival. The children are doing an amazing job, and we are incredibly proud of their enthusiasm and dedication. A huge thank you for all the props that have been brought in-they are helping to bring our performance to life. The children have been working really hard on learning their lines and projecting their voices confidently for the audience.

We will continue rehearsing during our English lessons over the coming weeks as we prepare for the festival. We are looking forward to sharing all of the children's hard work with you soon!

This term, we have launched our new enquiry question: "What's on Our Doorstep?"

To begin our learning journey, we discussed places we have visited and what we already know about the history of Cornwall. The children shared some fantastic ideas and experiences, leading to some thoughtful discussions about our local area. We also talked about what we would like to find out during this topic. The children came up with some wonderful questions, including learning more about Cornwall's population and how farming has changed over the years. We are excited to explore these ideas further and discover more about the history, geography, and communities that make Cornwall such a special place.

This week in Computing, we started our new topic, Data Handling. We explored the concepts of records, fields, and data through a fun activity based on a game similar to Top Trumps, using monster cards. The children examined the different fields on each card, including speed, strength, appetite, and intelligence. They compared the data in each field and discussed how information can be organised and used to make comparisons. It was a fantastic introduction to data handling, and the children enjoyed developing their understanding through this engaging and interactive activity.

A huge congratulations Esme for being awarded Pupil of the Week! Esme has really shown determination in maths this week, she was finding a concept particularly tricky but I was impressed with the way she didn't give up and persevered, well done Esme!

A big congratulations to Evie for achieving your 99 club badge this week - a fantastic effort. Well done everyone!

Miss Bolton 

Hello!

This week, Year 1 and 2 have completed some fantastic examples of instructions. We have written our own instructions for 'Marvellous Medicine Number 4' which has been inspired by 'George's Marvellous Medicine'. The story has been Penhallow's class text for the past 2 weeks. It has been a joy to read parts of this story to the children at the end of every day, and see their obviously enjoyment whilst listening to the story. 

We have continued with our learning about algorithms in computing this week. Yesterday we followed some precise, and not so precise instructions about how to draw monsters, which highlighted the fact that instructions need to be clear and in a specific order.

Our history learning this week, focussed on Ellen MacArthur. We watched a clip of her sailing solo across the Atlantic, which highlighted the challenges that she faced. We talked about the idea of bravery and perseverance and wrote a fact file about her. We also revised our learning about Christopher Columbus by learning a song about the events in his life.

Have a lovely weekend,

From The Penhallow Team

Well, it's been a tough week but we can safely say that the SATS are over for us! Everyone has been amazing and we have really worked together as a team to support each other. It was Nuala's birthday on the Thursday, and we celebrated the end of the SATS by having cake and lots of fun! We tie-dyed our T-shirts in the afternoons and they have turned out AMAZING!! Next week, we will be sewing on appliques and really personalising them.

There is no much more to say except, "Have a well-deserved rest this weekend. Everyone has deserved it!"

Miss Randle and Mrs Clary. 

TALLAND'S BLOG 15.5.26

Hoping everyone has had an excellent week and are looking forward to the weekend! The children have been brilliant this week and so respectful to all of the year 6's during their SATS week! 

Here's a snapshot of what we've been learning:

Maths:
Year 5 have been working their way through converting units. We've investigated metric and imperial measurements and have been using our multiplying and dividing skills to convert.
Year 4 have been enjoying their unit on money where they have been solving problems, converting and delving into real world scenarios.

English:
Talland's persuasive letters were brilliant. They were such a joy to read - they're clearly passionate about the health and safety of our beaches, oceans and aquatic life!

Computing:
We have been creating music on an app called 'Scratch'. Children have been using movie genres to produce a sound track which could fit the theme - noisy, but good fun!

RE:
We've been looking at Jesus and his disciples - why he chose them and what they sacrificed to follow him. Why not ask your child what is meant by 'fishers of men'... 

PE:
In PE, children were trying to have rallies and use a range of shots to return the shuttlecock. They were also thinking about their positioning and tactics when working with a doubles partner.

Celebrations:
Congratulations to Renley and Max for earning their new badge and moving on to their next round of the 99 Club. A great effort from Kayla and Arnie this week - they got noticed for excellent pieces of writing and taking their learning home to practice. 

That's all from Talland Class this week. We hope you have a wonderful weekend and look forward to seeing everyone next week.

Signing off, Mr. Langley and Mr. Bishop.

We have continued with exploring planting and growing this week at nursery.
The children have planted sunflower seeds and are very excited that their flower and broad bean seeds from last week are starting to grow!
They have enjoyed some still life painting of fruit this week. The children have identified different fruits in the bowl, naming them and discussing differences before having a go at painting them with some great results.

At story time this week we have read the book "Supertato" and "Tilly Plants a Tree". The children have been encouraged to identify different parts of plants from the book such as petal, stem and leaves.

In phonics this week we have been channeling our inner superhero's and have been making speech sounds to different superhero moves. The children used instruments to play along to the song "Superhero's in the sky" and have been matching initial sounds to the correct superhero.

In maths we have continued to create our own patterns and recognition of different numbers.

We have four more days until the half term now and just a little reminder that next Friday is an INSET day so we will be closed.

Have a good weekend

Julie and Sarah

Hello Everyone,

We have had great fun this week in our English lessons, using the story of  'George's Marvellous Medicine' as a stimulus to begin to write our own ,marvellous medicine.  We have been learning all about the features of instruction writing, and have identified and used imperative verbs in our own sentences. 

During RE this week, we began to find out about the gospel in Christianity. We discussed the concept of forgiveness, and how we forgive others, as well as how others forgive us.

Our history learning has continued with the theme of explorers. We found out about Christopher Columbus, how he 'accidentally' discovered the Americas and about the different foods that he brought back to Europe. 

In art this week, we have created some amazing art work in the style of Henri Rousseau, using water colours and oil pastels. We used our skills of drawing leaves and blending watercolours to create a background.

In computing this week, we looked at algorithms, and practiced giving precise instructions to Bee-Bots, using the beebot. App, as well as physical beebots and mazes. Brilliant team work Penhallow!

Have a lovely weekend!

From The Penhallow Team

This week, the children have been working hard across the school and have enjoyed taking part in a range of exciting learning activities which you can explore on their class blogs. On Monday, pupils attended a special assembly celebrating the life and work of Sir David Attenborough in recognition of his 100th birthday. The assembly highlighted his inspiring contribution to wildlife and nature conservation and encouraged children to think about the importance of protecting our planet and caring for the environment.

Platinum 99 Club
Congratulations to Harley for getting every question right in the Platinum level of 99 club.  Harley is the first person in Polperro School ever to be awarded a platinum 99 club badge, answering 100 multiplaction and division questions within the time limit of 4 minutes.  Well done Harley, you are the King of Times Tables!

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.

Feedback about School Lunches Caterlink, who provide our school lunches, have put together a very short survey in the hope of getting some feedback from you about the menus and any barriers there may be to taking up a School Meal. Please click on the link to complete the survey Parent Feedback - Fill in form

Free School Meals and Pupil Premium We would like to remind families that children may be eligible for Free School Meals and Pupil Premium funding. All children in Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 automatically receive Universal Infant Free School Meals; however, families who meet the eligibility criteria should still apply for Free School Meals as this allows the school to receive additional Pupil Premium funding. This extra funding helps us provide further support for children's learning, wellbeing, educational resources, school trips, clubs, and enrichment opportunities. Applications are quick, simple and confidential. For more information on eligibility and details on how to apply through the council, please click here https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/schools-and-education/schools-and-colleges/school-meals/apply-for-free-school-meals-and-pupil-premium/  If you need any support with the application process, please contact the school office.

Have a wonderful weekend

Anthea Hillman

What an amazing bunch of people we are in Chaipel!

We have been brushing up on our reasoning skills, learning how to use ratio and proportion and why it is useful AND helping each other out on last-minute SATs queries. Everyone is totally ready for the papers, next week, and are already looking forward to the yummy breakfast on Monday morning!

We have been revisiting our first couple of pieces of work in English (that we did in September/October). It is amazing just how far we have come and recognising how mature our vocabulary and grammatical structures are now. We will now focus on characterising speech, where we will be re-writing a section of our class read 'Rumaysa - a fairytale'.

In other areas of the curriculum, we have been learning how to classify creatures into vertebrates/invertebrates and soft bodied/exoskeleton. We then went up into the field to do an animal observation. Henry and Isaac found a snail with an unusual-coloured shell which made it look like a green humbug!

In PE, Mrs Hillman developed our skills at orienteering, in PSHE Mrs Clary taught Chaipel about the stages of grief and discussed strategies on how to manage them, and we have completed our research into the seven life processes. Next week, we will be creating our tie-dye T-shirts in the afternoon and we are super excited to do that. 

Remember, Breakfast Club is at 8am; the bacon will be sizzling so see you all then!

Miss Randle and Mrs Clary. 

TALLAND'S BLOG 8.5.26

Hoping everyone has had an excellent week and are looking forward to the weekend! The children in Talland class have been brilliant, hardworking and their usual fun selves.

Here's a snapshot of what we've been learning:

Maths:
Year 5 have completed their entire unit of VOLUME and will be moving on to converting units.
Year 4 have begun and completed their unit on STATISTICS - they have worked really hard! They will be moving on to MONEY next week.


English:
Talland have now planned their persuasive letter - they have made some great points and found some really interesting/sad facts about the condition of our beaches and oceans. I can't wait to read these, get them written up in best and send them off to our council.

PE:
In PE, with Mrs. Hillman, Talland were at it again - reading maps, finding objects and have a jolly good time. In badminton, we were back outside (the wind wasn't too bad this time) and we were practicing our overhead shots - great effort!

Celebrations: Congratulations to Harley for being Polperro's FIRST EVER PERSON to complete the final round of 99 Club (platinum - 100 maths questions answered correctly in 2 minutes and 30 seconds). A huge WELL DONE! A great effort from Lowen this week - he was noticed for demonstrating a great work ethic, maturity and demonstrating our school values.

Thank you to Zac and Nevaeh for their show and tells  - it was lovely listening to them and the children asked some great questions.

That's all from Talland Class this week. We hope you have a wonderful weekend and look forward to seeing everyone next week.

Signing off, Mr. Langley and Mr. Bishop.

Landaviddy 

In Maths this week, we have continued our learning about fractions. We have been partitioning wholes, finding unit fractions from a set of objects, and finding non-unit fractions from a set of objects. We found finding unit fractions from a set of objects a little tricky, so we will revisit this learning on Monday to help build our confidence and understanding further.

In English this week, we chose our inspirational people that we will be writing our biographies about. These included Taylor Swift, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Simone Biles and Michael Jackson. We have been thinking carefully about how to write a biography and worked together to create suitable subheadings to organise our information. We will also be including our SPaG focus by using commas and 'and' in a list, as well as speech marks correctly in our writing.

In PSHE this week, we have been learning about staying safe online. We looked at a range of games and their descriptions to decide whether they were safe and suitable to use. We also discussed important information that should never be shared with strangers on the internet, such as our full names, addresses and phone numbers. The children showed a good understanding of how to stay safe online and talked sensibly about what to do if something makes them feel uncomfortable or worried. We also discussed how some people may pretend to be children when using online games, even though they could be adults. We talked about the importance of speaking to a trusted adult if we ever feel unsafe or unsure while online.

In Geography this week, we have been learning about Antarctica. We reviewed its key features and discussed who lives there. The children were surprised to discover that no one lives in Antarctica permanently because of the severe climate and challenging living conditions. However, we also learnt that scientists and researchers stay there for periods of time to carry out important research. To develop our understanding further, we wrote postcards imagining that we were currently living in Antarctica while completing research work. We thought carefully about how we might feel in such a cold and isolated environment and included these ideas in our writing.

In History this week, we have continued our learning about significant people who are known for exploring. This week, our focus was Matthew Henson, who is famously known for being one of the first people to reach the North Pole. We learnt about his important role as an explorer and discussed the challenges he would have faced during his expeditions. The children enjoyed discovering more about his achievements and why he is remembered as an important historical figure today.

We are all taking part in our Class Mile of the Day and tracking how long it will take us to collectively run the equivalent of a marathon. The children have shown great determination and enthusiasm as they work together towards our goal. On Friday, we completed our class mile alongside Talland Class in a fantastic team effort to colour in more shoes and move closer to achieving our marathon challenge. It was wonderful to see everyone encouraging one another and working together so positively.

A huge congratulations to Theo and April for being awarded Pupil of the Week! As a class, we have been working hard to show kindness and friendship towards one another, and both children have been wonderful role models. April was chosen because she kindly volunteered to move to another table without being asked so that another child could sit with their friends. This was a thoughtful and caring thing to do. Theo was chosen because he is consistently kind to others in the class. He shows excellent friendship values every day and is a real asset to Landaviddy.

Miss Bolton & Miss Colton

This week we have begun to sow seeds as we explore planting and growing and answer our enquiry question "How do plants grow?"
The children have planted runner beans and flowers seeds and discussed what is needed to help them grow including sunlight and water.
We are excited to watch them grow over the next few weeks.
Outside the children have been digging in the soil and helping to plant seeds in the raised flower beds and helping to get the greenhouse ready.

At story time this week we have enjoyed reading and looking at "Ben Plants a Butterfly Garden" and "The Enormous Turnip".

The children have been trying super hard in phonics as we have explored the garden centre. They have been busy describing and talking about the sounds they hear, matching objects to their initial sounds and assigning instruments to different garden objects and comparing them.

In maths we have been making different patterns, copying patterns as well as creating their own. We have been naming numbers including some larger ones.

We hope you all have a good weekend and see you on Monday.

Julie and Sarah

This week, we have been enjoying finding out about different explorers, including Sir Frances Drake. We looked at ships from history, traced Drake's journey on a map and learned about why he is remembered. We also thought about what it might feel like to be an explorer, taking risks and going to 'unknown' places. The children have drawn some fantastic pictures of the Golden Hind, as well as Sir Frances Drake himself, dressed in the fashions of that time.

In music this week, we have enjoyed singing sea shanties, and reception have enjoyed using a range of percussion instruments to accompany songs about the sea.

Our art lessons this week, have focussed again, on Henri Rousseau. This week, we studied several paintings by this artist and focussed on the colours and shapes of the different jungle leaves. We have recreated some of the leaves and foliage that we have observed in the paintings, using both watercolours and oil pastels.

Our English unit based on 'The Tiger Who Came to Tea'  have come to an end this week, and we have produced some fantastic stories. The children have been able to innovate their own stories by changing the characters or the animal in the story, and/or writing an alternative ending.

Reception have been busy learning the story of superworm by Julia Donaldson, and writing character descriptions. They have also been making lists and comparing different characters in the story.

From The Penhallow Team