The weather has given us a bit of an unsettled start to the term. We've gone from snow with later starts to the day and storms forcing us to close early. However in between we've managed to fit in lots of learning. Reception have been trying hard to improve their pencil control through drawing club and have created some lovely pictures linked to our class story 'The storm whale'. Our theme this half term is fairytales so we've started with 'Goldilocks and the three bears'. We've made collage bears and retold the story using props. Year 1 having been looking at different houses in DT and have designed and made a house for either a doll or an animal. 

The children all did an amazing job in the nativity. Here are some photos of them looking fantastic in their costumes. They all remembered their lines and said them so loudly and clearly. 

We all had a lovely day at the Eden project. We went straight down to the skating rink and had a play on the ice. We played on the sledges, cars, bikes and in the house and with the diggers. After we had some lunch whilst we watched Jays ice skating. We finished off the day by warming up by walking around the biomes. Whilst in the biomes we hunted for different colours and we managed to find every colour of the rainbow. We also got to see some geckos. The highlight of our day was climbing all the steps up to the viewing platform in the biome. It was so high and all the people below looked really small. 

We've enjoyed a variety of festive activities over the last couple of months. We've made a variety of crafts such as; robins using recycled baubles, hand print Christmas trees with the help of our families, paper chains, bead baubles for the outdoor Christmas tree and Christmas cards for our families. We enjoyed Christmas dinner with the whole school and had a party in our class. We also all had a turn at delivering the Christmas cards around the school. 

We all enjoyed some time in the snow this week. We explored the snow in different places, built mini snowmen and had a snowball fight. We were a bit chilly after so we warmed up with a nice cup of warm milk. 

This week the children have been having fun with the new resources in the outdoor area. They have we had a cafe on the go with waiters and waitresses and a building site. The builders also took a 5 minute break to go and have tea and biscuits in the cafe. 

IT SNOWED! Naturally, we had to enjoy ourselves.

Christmas Crafts Afternoon

On Tuesday, parents joined us in school for a Christmas craft session. 
Little foresters worked to make hand print trees, whilst Jays and Eagles focused on making bird feed decorations for our trees in the garden. When the children had completed their decoration it was hung outside. It made quite a mess! But, lots of fun was had. Thank you to all the families that joined us, our current parents and some new faces too. It was a fabulous way to kick off December. 

We ended this half term by having a spooky week. The children practised their tweezer skills by catching bugs, made spider cakes and pies in the playdough, made potions in the water area and went digging for bones in the sand. We also filled our star jar so we had a class treat. The children chose a spooky disco so we dressed up, had disco lights, music and played lots of party games and learnt some silly dance routines. 

It all started in summer 2024. We had 10 stick insect eggs. Stick insects take 2-3 months to hatch. Of those 2 survived to adults which is 6 months old. Once they get to 6 months old they start laying eggs. We found out the they can lay up to 100 eggs! Fast forward to summer 2025 and we had 80 baby stick insects. We have learnt a lot along the way and we have had to get a bigger tank for them to live in. They are now thriving and we've lost count of how many we have. See how many you can spot in the pictures. Make sure you have a look next time you are in school. 

This week in Little Foresters we have been focusing on retelling stories and adding actions. Our focus story at the moment is Rapunzel. The children put on their magic storytelling cloaks that gave them magic story voices. The children then thought of actions to match certain words in the story. They all did a fantastic job and were great storytellers. 

Castilly Henge and Life Skills 

We have been very fortunate this half term to be invited out in the local area to support our learning. 

As part of a project with the Cornish Heritage Trust, pupil's visited Castilly Henge to find our about the archaeology work they are carrying out. We were able to visit before the site opened to visitors. After the trip, we had a visit from an artist to create one of the 7 standing stones using a wicker sculpture and printing techniques. This will be displayed at Castilly Henge for their opening. 

We also went to Bodmin Fire Station for life skills. This is a great opportunity to learn important safety information including: first aid, road safety, online safety, electrical safety and railway safety. They get to learn from people who work in these fields. 

It has been a busy start to the term!

The children have been working incredibly hard in their classrooms since the summer holidays. The new reception pupils have settled in to the class and have started their phonics lessons, while the year 1s have been learning about life in the past. Jays have been enjoying their history all about Ancient Egypt  and the human body. Eagles have been focusing on coasts and evolution. 

We have had several trips out and about including: Morwellham Quay, Gunwen Chapel, Porthpean beach, Bodmin fire station and Castilly Henge. All of these activities help pupils develop their understanding using first hand experiences. 

We have lots more planned in the next few weeks including Bikeability and secondary transition days.

On Tuesday 21st October we have an open morning, if you are looking for a school or preschool place, please come along! 

The children had a truly immersive trip to Morwellham Quay. We started the day by dressing up in Victorian clothes and walking through the town. We learnt that manners were important and you had to say 'good day' to anyone you saw, with the girls curtsying and the boys dipping their hats. We then went to look at the cottage of a rich Victorian family and a poor Victorian family. We learnt about how they got water as they didn't have taps or toilets. After lunch we had a lesson in the Victorian school room. We had a go at writing on slates. We also learnt about what happened to children that didn't follow the rules. We finished off by trying some different playground games. All the children had a great day and learnt a lot. 

The reception and year 1 children went to Gunwen chapel to take part in the tradition of crying the neck. This is a Cornish tradition that is about celebrating the harvest. The children joined in with the Cornish chants where they had the opportunity to hold the neck of corn and lead the chant. We then went into the chapel and joined in with some harvest songs and learnt a bit more about how the tradition started. We then finished off in the chapel hall doing some crafts. As a group we made a field of corn out of our hands which we made with paper and a collage owl.