A Fantastic First Autumn Term

What a wonderful start to the year we have had in Nessa Class! The children have worked incredibly hard and enjoyed a range of exciting learning opportunities both in and out of the classroom.

English

In English, we developed our instructional writing skills by creating our own instruction texts inspired by the story of How to Steal a Penguin. The children had great fun writing detailed and imaginative guides explaining exactly how to steal a penguin from Newquay Zoo! They focused on using clear steps, imperative verbs, and technical language to ensure their instructions were easy to follow.

History

This term, our History topic focused on the Vikings. We explored the key enquiry question: "Were the Vikings only raiders and traders?" The children investigated Viking life, culture, exploration, and settlement, discovering that there was much more to the Vikings than their reputation as fierce warriors. We examined the lasting influence they have had on modern Britain, from place names and language to laws and everyday life.

Science

In Science, we studied light and learned about reflection, refraction, and how we see objects. Our learning culminated in an exciting trip to the Discovering 42 Science Museum in Bodmin, where we took part in hands-on investigations and created our own kaleidoscopes. This helped us understand how light reflects from mirrors to create the beautiful patterns we observed. It was a fantastic way to bring our classroom learning to life.

Trips and Experiences

We were fortunate to enjoy several memorable enrichment opportunities this term. A highlight was our trip to the theatre to watch Private Peaceful, Michael Morpurgo's moving story of courage, friendship, and family during the First World War. The performance was both powerful and thought-provoking, and it gave us plenty to discuss back at school. We also attended the Exploding Words writing festival, where we met a variety of talented authors and took part in inspiring workshops. The standout moment for many children was meeting Tom Palmer, author of Resist. Having read Resist together as a class before the event, it was a real privilege to meet him in person. Tom spent nearly thirty minutes answering our questions about his books, writing process, and inspirations. He also signed books for the children, making the experience even more special and memorable.

Looking Back

This term has been filled with exciting learning, memorable visits, and wonderful experiences. We are incredibly proud of the enthusiasm, curiosity, and determination shown by every child in Nessa Class. We can't wait to see what adventures and achievements the next term will bring!

A Busy and Exciting Autumn Term

Our first autumn term has been packed with exciting learning opportunities, special visitors, and lots of fun activities for the children.

One of our highlights was a visit from South West Water, who taught us all about the water cycle and the importance of protecting our environment from water pollution. The children enjoyed learning how water travels through the natural cycle and discussing ways we can all help keep our rivers, seas, and water supplies clean.

We were also delighted to welcome representatives from Guide Dogs, who spoke to the children about the incredible work they do. The children learned about the training that guide dogs receive and how they support people with visual impairments to live independently and confidently. It was fascinating to hear about the strong partnerships between the dogs and their owners, and everyone enjoyed meeting the dogs and asking questions.

To round off the half term, we held an amazing Halloween Party. Children arrived in a fantastic range of costumes and enjoyed an afternoon full of fun activities. They took part in exciting games, created Halloween-themed crafts, and even enjoyed treats made on our very own candy floss machine. The party was a wonderful way to celebrate together and there were plenty of smiles throughout the afternoon.

We are incredibly proud of everything the children have achieved this term. Their enthusiasm, curiosity, and positive attitudes have made it a fantastic start to the school year. We would like to thank all of our visitors for helping to bring learning to life and look forward to many more exciting experiences in the months ahead.

We hope everyone has a restful break and we look forward to welcoming the children back for another busy and successful term.

What a fantastic half term we have had! We have worked hard, learnt lots of new things and, most importantly, had plenty of fun along the way.

In RE, we have been learning about the world that Jesus wanted to create; a world filled with kindness, empathy and respect. We thought carefully about how we can show these qualities in our own lives and discussed how using these values can help make our school, community and the wider world a better place.

In History, we travelled back in time to explore the lives of children during the Tudor and Victorian periods. We discovered that many children had to work hard from a young age and that their daily lives were often much more difficult than ours. We enjoyed comparing their experiences with our own and were grateful for the opportunities we have today.

In Computing, we learned about internet safety and discussed the importance of staying safe online. We explored ways to recognise potential dangers and how to make sensible choices when using technology.

Our Science lessons focused on how scientists classify animals according to their habitats. We investigated different environments and learned how animals are adapted to live successfully in them.

To top off a wonderful half term, we all enjoyed the Halloween disco. It was a fantastic evening filled with dancing, laughter and lots of fun. What a brilliant way to end the term!

We hope everyone has a happy, safe and relaxing half-term break, and we look forward to seeing you all next term.

What a fantastic start to Year 3 we have had!
We have been busy exploring our exciting Stone Age topic and developing lots of new skills across the curriculum.
Here is a little look at what we have been learning this half term.

In English, we have been learning how to write non-chronological reports all about the Stone Age.
We have explored how to organise information into paragraphs, use headings and subheadings, and include interesting facts to inform our readers. We have worked hard to make our writing clear, engaging and packed full of information! 

In Maths, we have been developing our understanding of place value.
We have been learning about the value of digits in numbers and exploring hundreds, tens and ones. We have used a range of practical resources and activities to help us represent numbers and explain our mathematical thinking.

Our Stone Age topic has really come to life in Art!
We have explored prehistoric painting techniques, including creating charcoal drawings of animals inspired by ancient cave paintings. We made our own cave walls to paint on and went on a hunt for natural materials that could be used to create different colours. We have loved experimenting with textures, materials and techniques to create our own prehistoric masterpieces!

History, we have travelled back in time to discover what life was like during the Stone Age.
We have sequenced timelines to help us understand when different events happened and explored how people lived in the past. We learnt about the ancient settlement of Skara Brae and investigated how archaeological discoveries can give us clues about the lives of people who lived thousands of years ago. We even had a go at making our own Stone Age homes using natural materials!

We have been getting creative in Computing by exploring Scratch.
We have begun developing our programming skills, learning how to use code blocks to create instructions and make things happen on screen. We have enjoyed experimenting, solving problems and seeing our ideas come to life! 

Science has been full of exciting investigations this half term!
We have been developing our scientific enquiry skills by asking questions, making predictions, carrying out tests and observing what happens. We investigated how to make and test solar ovens, explored ways to clean coins, and even made different types of Stone Age bread. These hands-on activities have helped us think like scientists, make observations and discuss what we discovered.

 What a brilliant half term! We are so proud of how hard everyone has worked during Autumn 1. From becoming Stone Age historians and artists to curious scientists and confident writers, the children have shown fantastic enthusiasm, creativity and perseverance.

Have a wonderful half-term break, everyone! 

We have had a fantastic 1^st Half Term back welcoming several new children who have all settled in well to Nursery life. We began with learning all about Autumn we talked about the changes we may observe outside looking at changes in leaf colour, the sounds leaves make when we walk on them. This then inspired lots of creative activities where we used red, yellow, brown and gold colours to make Autumn trees. We also used crunchy Autumn leaves to create trees. We picked apples and used them in our play to included apple printing, rolling and using them to weigh in our role play farm shop. 

We have investigated pumpkins and looked at the different colours, shapes and sizes they can be. The children did some amazing still life drawings using chalks, crayons and pencils. We also used them for a hammering activity to develop fine motor skills. Our first book of the Half Term was the very popular Gruffalo. We made masks and went on a Gruffalo hunt in our woodland area we also explored a sensory tray of ‘Gruffalo Crumble’ which was very popular with the children as they enjoyed scooping and emptying and filling containers. 

Our second book was The Leaf Theif, we offered the children a cutting and sticking activity with leaves we had collected together.  We collected Conkers and used them for a painting activity as well as using them in a sensory tray for the children to count, roll, hold and explore. We collaged acorns and learnt about Oak Trees. 

We have learnt about Harvest and learnt where our food comes from and how important farms are. We joined the rest of the school at Autumn Assembly to celebrate Harvest. 

We have incorporated Autumn into our Circle Times by learning new songs like ‘Autumn Leaves’ which was very popular and playing different memory games with an Autumn theme. 

Following the children’s keen interest in Number Blocks we have offered the children colouring and number blocks too which they have really enjoyed. 

We have read Room on the Broom in the woods and then made wands using natural materials the children found themselves in the environment. Following the theme of Halloween we have changed our role play area to a witch’s kitchen, we made a sensory tuff tray with lentils, pumpkin and jelly and used fine motor skills to rescue bugs and bats from a web.

What a fantastic week to finish the half term in Tregantle Class!

The children have been absolutely brilliant with their ‘have a go’ writing this week. Inspired by our class story, Aliens Love Underpants, they have been trying really hard to use the sounds they know to write words and share their ideas. We are so proud of their growing confidence and the wonderful effort they are putting into their early writing!

In maths, we have been exploring repeating patterns in lots of creative ways. The children have enjoyed recognising, creating and continuing patterns, using a range of resources to show what they have learned.

Our highlight of the week was undoubtedly our fantastic dance workshop, inspired by Black History Month. Our theme was ‘Carnival’, and the children had a wonderful time learning some exciting carnival dance moves and performing them to music. We finished with a brilliant carnival train, stopping along the way to shake our tambourines and wave our pom-poms! Everyone joined in with such enthusiasm and energy, and it was an absolute joy to watch the children having so much fun together.

We are incredibly proud of all the children and everything they have achieved this half term. They have worked so hard, grown in confidence and continued to develop their friendships. Have a wonderful half-term break, everyone! We look forward to welcoming the children back for another exciting half term full of fun, exploration and learning in Tregantle Class!

Thank you so much to everyone who came to share in our curriculum sharing afternoon. It was lovely to see parents and family members getting stuck into the learning and enjoying being in the classroom with your children. Thank you for supporting this event. Happy half term break!

October

October has been a very busy month for Year 5!

In English, we have finished writing our non-chronological reports about dragons and then we used our new-found skills, to produce a double-page spread to show our answers to our Historical enquiry question: 'Were the Vikings raiders, traders or something else?'.

In Music, we have been continuing to develop our keyboard skills. Some of us have even begun to use both hands to play!

In Maths, we finished out Place Value and Addition & Subtraction units and we are beginning to develop our multiplication skills.

In Science, we have been learning all about Forces by carrying out a range of  practical investigations and in DT, we built our spaghetti truss bridges, testing them for strength and the distance spanned.

In PE, we have been creating our parkour movement piece about dragons and in RE, we answered the question 'What does it mean if Christians believe God is holy and loving? 

In Computing, we have been learning all about search engines and combined these new skills with research about the Vikings in History.

A Spooktacular Day at Storytellers!

What a spooktacular day we have had at Storytellers Nursery! The children looked amazing in their fantastic fancy dress costumes, bringing lots of Halloween magic and fun to our nursery.

We have been busy little witches and wizards, mixing our very own spooky potions, exploring different colours and textures, and watching what happens as we combined our ingredients. There was plenty of excitement as we got stuck into pumpkin smashing, explored the pumpkins, and discovered what was hiding inside!

The children also enjoyed making and decorating ghost biscuits, getting creative with their spooky treats before sitting down together for our special Halloween party lunch.

It has been a wonderful day full of laughter, imagination, messy play and fantastic memories. The children have been developing their communication, creativity, fine motor skills and confidence through all our Halloween activities.

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We have reached half term and what a busy few weeks it has been. The children have described and talked about themselves and their families and created amazing self portraits, discussed their pets and the homes they live in and have explored all things autumn! Lots of amazing learning has taken place.

It is INSET tomorrow and then half term so we hope the children have a lovely week off and we look forward to seeing everyone back from Monday 2nd November.

Julie and Sarah

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Happy Half Term- 22.10.26

WOW!  I cannot believe its half term already, its gone so quick! 

The children have been amazing this half term and have adapted to full-time education, new adults, new routines and learning so well! We are beyond proud of all they have achieved this half term. 

This week we finished learning level 2 in phonics, ff/ll/ss and s saying z. The children have achieved so much in phonics and now we will continue to practice using the phonemes they know to blend them together and read small words. We will also have a big emphasis on writing and letter formation. 

In maths this week we have continued to subitise and also explore MORE. The children have observed lots of amounts and used STEM sentences to explain what they see for instance " Sam has more cars than Pat" 

In English this week we finished our unit of working by going on an adult hunt in our local community. The children explored lots of adults that help in our local area, and we were so lucky as Maya in our local shop gave us some sweets for being so good! 

The children have been creating and exploring every day, and their hard work, exploration and communication is evident in how much they have progressed in just half a term! 

Rame Class are simply the best! 

Happy Half Term.