I hope that you all had a lovely Bank Holiday weekend. What a refreshing change to see the sunshine! I hope that you all managed to make the most of it- long may it continue. 
We were very fortunate last week to have visit from Mr Peter Salisbury, who is an ambulance driver. He brought his ambulance along to both school bases and showed the children the exterior, the interior and even let them see the flashing lights and sirens. Ambulances can be quite a frightening sight for children - they are fast moving and very loud. With their blacked-out windows they can also seen quite mysterious. Children often have a fear of the unknown but this visit has showed them what is behind the windows. Whist I hope that the children will never have to experience travelling in an ambulance, I hope that the visit would make the experience less scary.
Recently, the Reception children, along with some of the Nursery class had a fantastic session of Maypole dancing. It was wonderful to see the absolute joy on their faces they wound the ribbons around the pole. I was impressed by their skill and focus.
Last week some pupils in Year 5 have been taking part in the Bikeability programme. This scheme is run by our sport's partnership provider, Arena, and it teaches pupils how to ride safely on the roads. I presented them with certificates and badges in last week's celebration assembly and they were very proud of their achievements. 
I recently sent out a letter explaining Accelerated Reader levelled books and how we are using them in the school. If you missed it there is a copy uploaded below.
Congratulations to Year 3 who won the attendance award this week with 100%.
I hope that you all enjoy the sunny weekend! 

We are already more than halfway through this half term and it has been as busy as ever here in Perranporth.

Firstly, the children spent 2 weeks completing a bikeability course where the children took to the local roads to improve their cycling skills. The children had an amazing time on their bikes and were definitely tired by the end of each day! At the end of the course, each child received a certificate and a pin to recognise their progress. Hopefully they can complete the next level of the course in year 6.

Secondly we had a visit by an ambulance and the children got the opportunity to explore the kit of an ambulance and try out moving a child patient just like paramedics do. The children loved this, it looked like they were carrying around a mummy!

Inside class the class have been immersing themselves in the Michael Morpurgo classic Kensuke’s Kingdom. We have read the entire story in English and have been exploring the characters and the relationships between them. The children were very keen to finish it as quickly as possible and some were crying with the ending! In English they will be creating a new chapter to go in the story. I am very excited to see what they can do.

In other lessons, the children have looked at statistics and angles in Maths, animals and their life cycles in science, Mexico in Geography, the work of Vincent Van Gogh in Art, and athletics in P.E. This half term is fast paced, but the children are handling it well.

Overall it’s been an amazing start to this half term, and the children are slowly being prepared for transition to year 6 in September and I know the rest of this half term will fly by. Have a lovely rest of the half term! Mr. Sherwood

May!

Whilst continuing to prepare for our KS2 SATs tests, Year 6 have also been having fun in the wider curriculum!

In History, we have been learning about the lives of the people living in Ancient Greece - their lifestyle, beliefs, hobbies, politics and much more!

In RE, we have been learning about the Hindu religion. We now understand why Hindus try to live a good life. Ask us about Samsara, Karma, Dharma and Moksha!

In French, linked to the Ancient Greeks and the fact that this year is an Olympic year, we have been learning about the Olympics and Olympic sports!

In Science, we have been learning all about electricity. We have learned how to make a circuit in both series and parallel; how to spot an error in a circuit; how to investigate which components can change the brightness of a bulb or the volume of a buzzer and how to make a simple set of traffic lights!

In PE, we have been practising our Athletics skills and in PSHE, we have been learning the best ways in which to live healthy, safe lives. Last week, we also welcomed Peter back. He brought his ambulance in and taught us lots about how the ambulance service can help us if and when we need them! 

After SATs, we will be completing a fun Art project, experimenting with paint in the style of Frida Kahlo and we will also be learning how to use the Microbits in Computing.

April

In Year 6, as well as working hard preparing for our SATs tests in May, we have also been learning about a variety of different Art techniques.

First, we sketched feathers using pencil and crayons. Next, we drew pictures of wild British birds. After that, we made a design, based on feathers, which we then transferred to a clay tablet.

Then we used wax pencils to sketch out these designs on fabric, to be dyed in a batik style.

Finally, we made our birds into 3-D models, using newspapers, PVA glue and tissue paper. They were definitely full of character, just like Year 6!

We started by talking about where some of our food comes from. We looked at a world map to see where pineapples are grown. We talked about how they would get to the UK and then how they would get to the shops. I explained that lorries, boats and aeroplanes give out a lot of bad gas which goes up into the sky and is very bad for our world. We talked about how it’s really good for our environment to eat locally produced food as this produces less food miles. We talked about how to grow seeds. We discussed what we thought we would need and then watched a short story which explained how to grow a bean. We then planted beans.

We learnt about honey bees and why they’re important. We also learnt about how and why they make honey. As we found out that they need flowers we decided to plant some sunflowers. We also did lots of bee activities including making bee models, bee puppets and painting pictures of bees and flowers. We then used our phonic skills to write sentences about bees.

In PE we've been learning to control balls by dribbling around cones and by aiming at a goal. Over the last few weeks we've had a music teacher leading our music lessons. The children have really enjoyed listening to and exploring different instruments. They also really enjoyed Maypole dancing. 

March 2024 Blog.

Wow, where did that half term go! We have definitely had the shortest but busiest 6 weeks here in Perranporth. Here are some of the highlights.

World book day.

On world book day, all of the children from Gunnislake dressed as their favourite book characters and spent the day at Delaware doing lots of different world book day activities. What made this day special was that the children from across both schools were mixed together in groups, so each group had children from reception all the way to year 6! The whole day was wonderful, the children worked really well with the younger children and took their responsibility of looking after them very seriously. At the end of the day, there was a parade for all the children to show off their fantastic costumes to one another. Each class had a best costume prize awarded and in our class that was won by Ivy S for her beautiful Fiona costume.

Wild tribe day.

On wild tribe day, we had a lovely lady come and spend the day with the class teaching them various survival techniques, this included learning some basic first aid. The children also learnt how to make shelters and make fire using cotton wool, Vaseline and a fire starter survival tool. By the end of the day, the children were able to successfully identify the contents of a first aid kit, put others into the recovery position, and put a sling on another children. The children really enjoyed this day and the large variety of activities that they completed and were very well behaved throughout the entire day, even when they got a bit wet!

Alternative sports day.

Last Thursday, half of the class went to Looe school to compete in an alternative sports day against 11 other schools in the trust. The children competed in frisbee golf, street surfing, fencing and mini-Segwaying. The children received specialist training for each activity and then had friendly competitions to see how their skills have developed. The children enjoyed it immensely and have requested for the school to buy all this equipment in! It was also lovely to hear from various schools and staff about how well behaved, respectful and courteous our children well. The children represented the schools in a fantastic manner. Ultimately, we did not win, however, the team running the day acknowledged how well our children did all day.

And with that, the spring term has come to an end, the children have had a wonderful 12 weeks, and they are all very tired and definitely ready for a break. I hope you all have a lovely Easter holidays, stay safe, and I look forward to seeing everyone for the summer term.

Happy Easter, Mr. Sherwood.

We've been learning all about seasonal changes. We discussed this in relation to to the woodland animals we learnt about previously. We also went on a walk to spot signs of spring. The children took photographs of what they found. We looked at these photos in class and identified the different flowers that we found and talked about what would happen to the buds that we found on the trees.

As part of learning about where we live we learnt about farm animals. We found out about what they eat and what their babies are called. We also found out what the different farm animals produce. When learning about chickens we looked at some eggs. We discussed the fact that they're very fragile. The children investigated which materials they could use to protect the egg when they dropped it. They had great fun making egg protectors, standing on the chair and dropping the egg to see if they saved the egg. Some of the children showed great resilience and perseverance during this activity as when their egg smashed they looked at what the other children had done to protect the eggs that didn't crack and tried again.

As we reach the end of another few weeks at both bases, I wanted to say thank you for supporting the various events which have been taking place during the last couple of weeks. 
It was lovely to see so many of you at our 'fashion parade' during World Book Day. The children looked fantastic in their book character costumes and they spent the day engaging in a range of reading related tasks. I want to than all of the teachers for planning these activities for the children and also Miss Owen for coordinating the event. I have had lots of children tell me how much they enjoyed being on the 'catwalk'!
Mrs Hannaford and the football team have really enjoyed playing in the Callington Arena league. They have had a few wins, but the most admirable thing is that they have played with passion, good humour and determination- well done to all!
Last Friday was Comic Relief. Across the two bases we raised just over £140 which is amazing! I want to particularly thank members of the school council at the Gunnislake base who bravely put themselves forward to be 'gunged' for money. 
Y1 had a fantastic 'Wild Tribe' day on Tuesday where they made magic wands from willow, played games and toasted marshmallows over a camp fire.
We are looking forward to the Easter Bunny Hop next Thursday- thank you for all of your donations for the tombola.

March!

On Friday, we were delighted to raise money for Comic Relief - Red Nose Day. The School Council met with Mrs Cox to come up with some fundraising ideas and it was agreed that we would wear mufti and pay to 'pie the school council'!

During the day, we also used our revision from English, about instructional texts, to create and follow a recipe for baking and decorating cupcakes!

We also carried out a variety of activities linked to Red Nose day, but by far the most enjoyable part of the day came in the afternoon, when the school council were pied! (They had all volunteered, were protected by goggles and had permission from their adults!)

Needless to say, it was very messy and there was lots of laughter - all for a very good cause! The school council were brilliant sports!

February!

Another busy month for Year 6! Our French is linking nicely to our Science, as we are learning how to describe different habitats in French!

In PE, we have moved from football to handball but it has been brilliant to see some of our girls and boys using the football skills they developed during the Autumn, representing the school in some mixed tournaments. They have all made us very proud, showing great team spirit both on and off the pitch!

The week of the 5th-11th February was 'Children's Mental Health Week' and the children took part in a variety of activities, promoting good mental health, including making worry dolls and annotating self-portraits with positive statements about how they feel about each other - it was heart-warming to see the smiles of the children when they got their self-portraits of themselves back and read the lovely thoughts of their classmates!

In RE, we have been tackling the big question of 'Science vs. Religion - Conflicting or Complimentary?' and once again, Year 6 showed what brilliant learners they are, asking deep questions and debating with maturity and consideration.

The weeks have flown by and I know that most of you use Seesaw to be kept up to date on what is happening in school, but I thought that I would give you a broader overview of life lately in both bases,
Thank you to Mrs Trapp in her role as leader of the fundraising club. The recent 'penny war' raised a brilliant £96.48. The 'war' element was won by Year 4 who collected £37.87, second was Year 2 who collected £23.88 and 3rd place was Year 3 who collected £16.87. 
Another massive thanks needs to go to Mrs, Hannaford, who has spent a great deal of time training and organising the school football teams. The teams are going from strength to strength and, even though they don't win every time, they are really developing as a team.
I want to continue to thank the Friends for organising all of the events to raise funds for our schools.Their latest newsletter has been sent via Seesaw and is also available on the website. Last week we had a workshop with local artists where some of our children made a start on the 'giants' for Callington MayFest. This year we are creating a 'Phoenix'.
Last week some of the Year 3/Year 4 represented the schools in the annual 'Songfest' event. 11 amazing children represented both schools brilliantly on stage in Launceston town hall. Huge thanks to Miss Owen for rehearsing the choir and to Mrs Pearce for transporting the pupils to the event. Also to Mrs Trapp who chaperoned the children alongside Miss Owen during the afternoon/evening. Thank you also to parents who attended the event to support their children.
Looking forward too World Book Day next Thursday!

We've been learning about what homes were like in the past. We talked about our kitchens now and the appliances we have in them. We discussed the fact that many of these need electricity in order to work. We then watched a short video about kitchens in the past. We talked about things that were different to our kitchens now. We learnt about how people washed their clothes using a dolly peg, washboard and mangle. We then moved on to talking about bathrooms. We watched another short video about bath time in the past and talked about the fact that most houses didn’t have a bathroom. We then sorted objects into two different sets according to whether they are found in our homes now or were found in them in the past.

We've also been learning about Chinese New Year. We listened to a story about how the years came to be named after 12 different animals. We watched a short video about how families celebrate Chinese New Year. We found out that this year is the year of the dragon so we made dragon masks and puppets.

In RE we talked about places that are special to us and why they are special. We talked about the fact that churches are special places for Christians. We looked at some photographs of churches and some of the objects found inside them. We also watched a short video showing some of the features of a church. We made stained glass windows.

In maths we've been learning to sort objects into different groups and to talk about how they have been sorted. We've also learnt about how to find out if numbers are odd or even. During some of our lessons we learnt how to compare the weight of objects and how to use balances to identify which is the heaviest and which is the lightest. The children then used cubes to find out how much the objects weighed and recorded what they found out on whiteboards. We also made a post office where the children could write letters and cards to their friends. They then bought envelopes and stamps at the post office before posting them in the post box. They also weighed parcels to send.

The children have been really enjoying the school role play area. They've been brilliant at taking on the role of the teacher. They've been using what they've learnt in handwriting, maths and phonics to teach and help each other.

We've been using our phonics skills to write sentences about woodland animals as we've been learning all about them.

After half term we focused on activities to develop the children's perseverance. I gave the children some challenges to have a go at. These included throwing a ball in the air and catching it with one hand, balancing a ball on a bat and walking across the hall, making a card house and bouncing a ball into a cup. They also had some that involved working together with a partner. These included walking along with a large ball pressed against their backs and keeping a hoop between them as they moved around. Most children found these activities very difficult but they kept on trying. We talked about how they were being determined like a dung beetle. We also talked about how they felt when they managed to achieve what they set out to do.

In Math's, the children have continued to develop their knowledge and understanding of multiplication and division and fractions. A highlight of this was the children's strong reasoning with short division and multiplying a unit fraction by an integer. The children have also been developing their understanding of percentages through their 3-minute challenges, building up to their decimals and percentages unit after half term.

In History, the children have been learning about the Romans and Roman Britain. The children have explored: why the romans invaded Britain, why they left, what daily life was like in the Roman empire, and the Romans in general. A highlight of this was the children conducting their own research on a topic to do with the Romans and then presenting it to the class. They produced beautiful and informed posters and presented them well in front of the whole class. Something that is not easy for adults, let alone children, so they all felt very proud of themselves for this.

The highlight of the month has to be the visit the children received from the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth. The children explored energy generation, climate change and conducted experiments which demonstrated the effects climate change is having on the oceans. The lesson was capped off by a VR experience visiting the National Marine Park in Plymouth sound. The first of its kind in the UK! Seeing Plymouth Sound underwater in VR was an amazing experience for the children. There were many screams when they came up close and personal with a very large crab in VR!

It truly has been a busy but very productive half term here in Perranporth. On a personal note, it has been a pleasure getting to know all the children in the class over the last few weeks. I am enjoying teaching them immensely, and I am looking forward to continue their year 5 journey with them for the rest of the year. They have definitely earned a break. Enjoy the half term. Mr. Sherwood.

January!

We returned to school at the start of January to extremely cold weather, which only got colder!

Year 6 jumped straight back into their learning, with their 'Big Enquiry Question' being, 'Who made my corner of the world special, long ago?' In this unit, we are not only exploring our rich and diverse Cornish history, but we are also honing our Historical study skills, examining different sources in order to decide which are accurate and which may contain some sort of bias - Year 6 are very good History Detectives!

In English, we have been writing our own portal stories and in Maths, we have been learning about Ratio and Proportion and now we are part-way through a unit on Algebra - today we learned how to write formulae!

In Science, we are learning all about 'Living Things and their Habitats'. We understand why there is a need for all living organisms to be classified and we know that the acronym 'MRS GREN' can help us to remember what all living things need in order to be classified as 'Living'. We have also been studying the work of Carl Linnaeus, using Taxonomy to classify all living things according to their shared characteristics. 

In Music, we have begun to learn how to play the Ukulele; in PE, we are learning the skills needed for football; in French we are learning about different habitats and the plants and animals that live in them and in Computing, we are brushing up on our online safety - February 6th will be 'Safer Internet Day'.

Finally, we were all delighted to come into school last week, look out of the window and see snow! Naturally, we had to go outside and explore - even in Year 6, the snow is magical - and rare - so we took a little moment to enjoy the sprinkling we were given, even managing to create a couple of snow angels!

Welcome to Perranporth class - 2024! Please see below for the class newsletter- detailing our learning for this year!

I look forward to meeting many of the parents during the course of the term.

Mr Sherwood.

So far this term we've been learning about winter and the changes that occur. We started by looking at the trees and then moved onto talking about the weather with a particular focus on ice. We predicted what we thought would happen when we added cold water, hot water and salt to ice cubes. We then observed what happened and talked about whether our predictions were correct. We were challenged to see if we could pick up the ice cubes using string. We also investigated what happened when we painted the ice. We added salt, paint and food colouring to see what happened. During our forest school session we looked for interesting natural objects to put in our ice art. We worked together to carefully select objects and then froze them overnight. The next day we hung them outside and watched them melt throughout the day.

We then looked at maps. We started off by looking at a map of the United Kingdom. We looked at where England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales were located. We also identified Cornwall and discussed the fact that this is the county that we live in. We then looked at a map of our local area. We identified our school, the roads, fields, houses and woods. We then switched the map view to an aerial photograph and compared the two. Next, we looked at a map of Gunnislake and identified the features that were the same as the area around our school. We also identified where the river was and the bridge that crosses over it. We drew our own maps. We thought carefully about the colours and shapes used on the maps we had looked at to show the different features. Later in the week we compared where we live to Plymouth. We talked about Plymouth and whether the children had been there. We discussed what it was like. Were there any things that were the same as our school area? Were there any differences? We looked at a map of Plymouth city centre and compared it to the map of our local area. We then sorted some of the features found in the two different places.

Next we learnt about people in our community who help us. We looked at a poster showing lots of different people who help us. We identified the people and discussed what they do and how they help us. We then took part in various activities throughout the week which helped us learn more about some of these people. We learnt about some of the people who work in hospitals such as doctors, nurses, surgeons and receptionists. We then made a hospital and took on some of the roles of these people. The children were really caring towards each other. This was also a great opportunity for the children to practise their writing as they made notes about their patients symptoms and treatments. We watched a short video about firefighters and learnt how it's really important that they stay fit and healthy in order to do their job. We talked about the importance of smoke alarms in our houses to warn us if a fire starts and what to do if this happened.

Some of the children showed an interest in the job of scientists. We talked about the fact that there are lots of different types of scientists but they all try to find things out. During our forest school session we pretended to be scientists who could make special potions to help people. The children then collected ingredients to put in their potions and talked about how they would help people. They had some fantastic ideas!

In PE we've been practising finding our own space using the spot markers. We've also practised moving in lots of different ways, such as sidestepping, crawling, jogging and skipping, taking care to avoid bumping into anyone or anything. We've learnt how to make some gymnastic shapes with our bodies. Some of these included the straddle, pike, arch and dish. We've also been practising how to balance on various parts of our body.

In maths we've been learning a lot about the composition of numbers. We've investigated number bonds, doubles and odd and even numbers. We've also ordered numbers. The children have been brilliant at practising these skills independently during continuous provision!

Our phonics learning continues everyday and the children have now moved onto reading and writing short sentences. We're also learning to read and spell words with four sounds.

Please see the newsletter below which gives information about this term.

Welcome back! I hope that you all had a lovely time with your families over the festive period. It was lovely to see all of the children once again this week but I think that I speak for everyone when I say that we were all glad that it was a short week as everyone was a little tired after the holidays.
I want to say a big 'thank you' to pupils from Year 5 who created a lovely animation demonstrating one of the Trust's values of excellence. The animations were then shared this afternoon via a Teams meeting with all of the other Trust schools- what a lovely event.
Today marks the last day before Miss Hambly officially starts her maternity leave. I know that you will join me in wishing her the very best. I thought that you might like to see a picture of her and her leaving gifts (which we shared with her on the last day of term.) Have great weekend - see you all next week. The half termly newsletter will be sent to you next week.