Another packed week at both bases. I was privileged to watch our girl's football team play on Tuesday. They were one player short and put up a fantastic defensive performance against Callington. They didn't let up the whole match and I was super proud to watch them. Thank you once again to Mrs Hannaford for coaching them and parents who transported and supported them. On Thursday Mrs Hannaford and I took 2 teams of 6 Year 5 and Year 6 pupils to a Trust wide handball tournament which was held at Callywith College in Bodmin.All of the children were amazingly sporting and they worked really well as a team. They were brilliant ambassadors for the schools. Thank you Kody, Bettsie, Sam, Elsie, Josh, Eleanor, Lowri, Karena, Isabelle, Mikey, Freddie and Alfie!

We started this half term with lots of Halloween activities. We practised our pencil control by colouring and writing Halloween cards for our friends. We also wrote and made spells and potions. We played a pumpkin throwing game where we could score 1, 2 or 3 points. The children then recorded their own scores. The children practised their scissor skills by cutting out facial features for their pumpkins.

We learnt about Diwali. We listened to the story of Rama and Sita and watched a video showing how Hindus celebrate this festival. We were very lucky to receive a video from one of the children's grandparents showing how they celebrate Diwali. He also brought in special clothes for us to try on and some sweet treats to try. We learnt that people decorate their hands so we worked together to create patterns on large hands and we carefully placed coloured rice to create rangoli patterns.

We learnt about Bonfire night and why we celebrate this. We created fireworks pictures and discussed how to stay safe around bonfires and fireworks.

We’ve also been learning about healthy eating. We identified which foods are healthy and which are not and why it's important to eat healthily. We did a range of activities linked to this. We listened to a story about Supertato and then drew our own vegetable characters. We also created fruit and vegetable characters on the iPad. We had a lot of fun investigating how to free the blueberries from the frozen ice! We looked at a portrait by Giuseppe Arcimboldo and identified the different fruit and vegetables we could see in the picture. We then created our own fruit and vegetable faces by cutting and sticking fruit and vegetables.

In maths we’ve been learning number bonds to 5. We’ve also been practising our counting skills every day. We’ve learnt to compare groups of objects and to say whether there are more, fewer or an equal amount. This week we’ve been learning to name shapes and describe their properties.

A big focus over the last few weeks has been developing our scissor skills. We’ve done lots of exercises to strengthen our fingers. We’ve also taken part in a wide variety of activities to practise holding the scissors correctly in order to cut. Many of the children started by snipping bits of paper which they found very difficult. However, with lots of practise they can now cut various shapes out independently. I’m very impressed with the determination they have shown to enable them to do this! 

The past few weeks have been as busy as ever in school. On Friday 10th November we had lovely assemblies at both bases where we wore poppies and thought about the people and animals who lost their lives in wars over the years. At 11 o'clock we observed a 2 minute silence and all of the children were really thoughtful and respectful. 
This week we have been celebrating anti- bullying week- thinking about how we are all different and how we can celebrate these differences. One of the key messages has been that no-one should be teased or bullied for being different to others- a powerful message to carry through into adulthood.

On Tuesday of this week Mrs Hannaford took our first ever girl's football team to a tournament held at Callington College. Mrs Hannaford reported that they played with determination, spirit and great resilience. Even though they didn't win their matches on this occasion, they grew in confidence throughout the games. Well done girls and a huge thank you to Mrs Hannford for organising and accompanying the team.
On Friday we wore pyjamas/spots and raised money for Children in Need. Thank you for supporting us with your donations.
This week also saw the first signs of Christmas with the arrival of Christmas trees in both bases. Thank you to Mole Valley in Tavistock for donating 3 trees and to Mr Symons for collecting them. The children were extremely excited to see their arrival! Have a lovely weekend.

Thank you to all of the families who joined us for our Harvest Festival just before half term. I was delighted to be able to drop off several bags of donations for the Callington Foodbank. I hope that you enjoyed out assembly. The children really enjoyed singing all of the Harvest songs, I hope that you enjoyed listening to them. 
Half term went by in the blink of an eye and it has been another packed week since we have returned. It was great fun to see all of the children in their Halloween costumes on Tuesday- we had very excited children all day. We were pleased to be able to stay open during storm Ciaran in Thursday and were pleased that everyone was safe.I hope that you all received an email with a copy of the latest school newsletter- there are also paper copies in the foyer.
Have a good weekend.

October!

Year 6 have had another busy month! In English, we finished our Anglo-Saxon newspaper reports and then used these skills to write another newspaper report about a mysterious dragon that had appeared in our village - some chose for their dragon to be kind and friendly - others, not so much!

In Maths, we finished our unit on Place Value and then stormed on with a unit about the four operations - addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. We are all aiming to have efficient formal written methods for all of these.

In Science, we completed our unit on Light and we also finished our historical enquiry question, 'Why do people invade and settle?' (Based upon the Anglo-Saxon era) I was delighted to see more Anglo-Saxon settlements coming into school - some physically and others designed in all sorts of creative ways - one even using Minecraft! There is plenty of time to bring yours in after half term - they will make an amazing display!

In PE, we developed our orienteering skills and we also welcomed back Katie Thick, who worked with us on the difference between sympathy and empathy and also conflict resolution. For now, we say thank you and farewell to Katie, as she is moving areas, but we look forward to welcoming a new friend after half term. 

The children have worked incredibly hard over the past half term and they have all impressed us with their positive attitude to their learning. It is because of this, that they have filled the pebble jar and have earned themselves a treat after half term! For now, please get plenty of rest, children - the half term leading up to Christmas (yes, I said the word!) is a long and busy one and we look forward to welcoming your fresh faces back after half term - we are so very proud of you all!

As we've been learning about ourselves I asked the children to draw a picture of themselves. We then looked at their pictures and discussed what was missing or what could be improved. We then came up with some success criteria to help us remember what we needed to draw when drawing ourselves. The children then had another go at drawing themselves whilst checking the success criteria. We then compared the pictures and discussed which was better and why.

In maths we've been learning to recognise 2, 3 or 4 objects, pictures or sounds without needing to count them. We’ve also started to learn number bonds for 3 and 4. We’ve been investigating different ways of making these numbers using fingers, beads and objects. In addition to this we’ve also been learning about capacity.

We learnt to retell the Goldilocks and the three bears story. The children really enjoyed using different voices for the different characters. We then made a up our own story about Goldilocks and the three rabbits using the structure of the story.

We’ve been learning about our fives senses. We started by investigating our sense of taste. The children tasted a variety of foods including lemon, salty crisps, celery, very dark chocolate and milk chocolate. We then talked about whether they liked the taste of the various foods. There was a real mixture in terms of whether they liked the taste or not. Some children liked the crunch and the juiciness of the celery while others thought it was disgusting!

Next we explored our sense of hearing in a variety of different ways. We went on a listening walk around the school. We closed our eyes and listened to what we could hear. We listened carefully to a piece of music and then had to decide whether we needed to move slowly or quickly, loudly or quietly. We explored making loud, quite, slow and fast sounds on the musical instruments. We also made our own shakers and had great fun dancing to some music outside with them!

We then focused on our sense of smell. We had fun smelling different covered pots and trying to guess the smells. We then investigated how to make the smelliest socks. We chose things that smelt strongly to put on our socks. We then put them in plastic bags and left them for three days. We then took them out and smelt them again and talked about which ones we thought were the smelliest!

Later in the week we focused on our sense of touch. We had fun putting our hands in the feely bag and describing what we could feel. The children came up with some fantastic adjectives to describe the different textures. These included fluffy, scrunchy, bumpy, lumpy, smooth, rough and scratchy. We then explored our forest area to find smooth, rough, bumpy, hard and squishy things.

This week we’re focusing on sight. We have taken part in a range of activities where the focus has been looking carefully and talking about what we see. We even practised in PE by looking where we were going to avoid others when running around really fast!!

The Rainbow Walking Water Investigation

We set the investigation up and talked about what we thought might happen. We then looked at what had happened later in the day and talked about what we could see. "Wow, it’s a rainbow!" "It's green because the yellow's gone in and the blue's gone in."

Colour Glasses

The children loved making glasses with coloured cellophane. They really enjoyed exploring the environment whilst looking at it in different colours.

Mixing Colours

We investigated this by painting one hand one colour and our other hand a different colour. We then rubbed them together to see which colour they made when they mixed together. We were also challenged to paint rainbows. We had to mix the colours because we only had red, yellow, blue and white paint.

Bubble Painting

We had so much fun blowing bubbles in the paint! We then experimented with printing different patterns. We talked about all the different colours we could see.

On Friday 13th October we took part in Big Me day to support Action Aid. The children dressed up as what they would like to be when they grow up.

September!

Welcome back to a new school year and a big  welcome to Daymer Bay Class! 

Mrs David is the new Year 6 teacher and she has a wonderful team working with her - the amazing Miss Cunningham and Mrs Gates!

Year 6 are adapting well to all the changes and have quickly settled beautifully into new routines and topics. They are clearly a class who are keen to learn and interested in the world around them.

This half term, our big question asks, 'Why do people invade and settle?' and the children have loved absorbing themselves in the life of the Anglo-Saxons, building their own settlements, learning about Anglo-Saxon life and writing newspaper reports about the events surrounding the Battle of Hastings.

In Science, we have been learning about the properties of light, making our own periscopes, investigating the way in which lights travels and shadows are formed and also learning about how light can be split and why and how we see different colours. 

We were also fortunate enough to have a 2nd prize winner in the Honey fair and have democratically welcomed 4 of our class members onto this year's school council. It looks to be an exciting year ahead of us, with lots of hard work as we prepare for our SATs, but also lots of fun along the way! Check back here each month for more updates!

We started the term by learning the school rules and have focused on being kind to each other. We looked at photographs of different people and discussed how we thought they were feeling. We talked about what makes us feel happy, sad or angry. We then thought about how we could help our friends if they were feeling sad or angry. We introduced a class reward system so that the children can add beads to the jar when they are being kind to others and when they are following the school rules. The children are very excited about this as when they fill the jar, they can bring a toy into school.

We’ve been learning about ourselves and how we are all unique. We drew around one of the children and labelled the parts of the body that we knew. We talked about the fact that we have a skeleton inside us and were introduced to 'Mr Bones' a skeleton model. We identified some of the parts e.g. skull, spine and rib cage and talked about why they are important. We then made skeleton pictures by cutting and sticking art straws onto black paper. Our inside role play area has been a doctors surgery. The children have been brilliant at taking on the different roles such as doctor, patient and receptionist.

In phonics we’ve been learning letter sounds and have started to blend the sounds together to read simple words. Fred the frog always joins in with phonics and the children have really enjoyed meeting him. We've also started to learn how to write the letters. Some of the children have been taking part in daily dough gym to help strengthen their fingers to enable them to hold a pencil correctly.

In maths we’ve been learning to recognise 1, 2 and 3 objects without needing to count them. The children are getting very speedy at representing the number of objects using their fingers. We’ve also been practising our counting skills by counting objects using 1:1 correspondence. We’ve learnt to sort and match objects and to identify what is the same and different.

In PE we’ve learnt how to keep safe whilst in the hall. We practised moving around the hall safely without bumping into anyone or anything. We’ve been practising fundamental skills such as running, jumping and moving in different directions.

In music we listened to a variety of different music from classical to pop. We showed how it made us feel using our facial expressions. We then moved in different ways in response to the music. The children were very good at identifying whether the music made them feel happy or sad. We also learnt to sing a song together, gave ideas on how to change the words and used instruments to express different feelings in the song.

During forest school sessions we’ve learnt how to carry sticks and branches safely. As we’ve been learning the Bear Hunt story, we retold the story with actions in our forest area and then found things to go over, under and through. When learning about ourselves we also made clay faces using natural materials.

A great start!

It has been a real pleasure  to see the children return to school and settle into their new classes, getting to know their new teachers, teaching assistants and classrooms.

Both school bases are looking really bright and fresh and the walls are gradually filling up with the children's learning.

Our new Reception class have settled in really well and are having a fantastic time learning all about themselves and their bodies!

Year 1 are looking at where they are in the world and covering lots of geography objectives. 
Year 2 are studying the 'Great Fire of London' and have made some very authentic looking Tudor houses. 
Year 3 are reading 'Stig of the Dump' and using this as a springboard to find out about the Stone Age.
Y4 are learning about the impact of climate change.
At the Gunnislake base Y5 are discovering about life in World War Two.
Y6 are looking at are looking at the Anglo Saxons through the question "Why do people invade and settle?"
Our priorities fro this academic year are to improve spelling across both bases. We are using a scheme called Twinkl spelling to help with this. We also want to get better at our handwriting and times tables. We have also made some changes to our behaviour plan. I will email all parents separately about this. Have a fantastic weekend!.

Please take a look at our class newsletter below.

 know that I probably write the same thing every year at this time, but I truly am astonished at how quickly this year has gone. What a fantastic final week we had with the children. They were tired, that was true, but it was lovely to see them saying goodbye to classmate who are moving to different schools after the holidays. This was especially true of the lovely Year 6 leavers. There was a special gathering on Friday for Tommy from the Arc where his class mates remembered his journey and his achievements- particularly his incredible piano playing. Then it was time for the Year 6 to say goodbye to one another and the Primary School phase of their learning journey. It was, in part a joyful celebration of the individual pupils and their achievements and an emotional farewell to the school bases, teachers and friends. It was made even more poignant by the fact that we said farewell to Mr Jamie Clatworthy and Mrs Becky Marshall. I know that this will not be goodbye for ever and that we will see them again and be updated on their new career paths.
I, myself have enjoyed this year. As ever, there have been challenges but it has been an absolute pleasure to be with your wonderful children and lead a team of incredible, kind, compassionate staff who work so very hard to make Delaware and Gunnislake such a special place to be. I wish you a safe summer filled with happy memories. See you on September 5th!

We've been learning about rainforests. We started by learning about some of the animals that live in the Amazon rainforest. We used various techniques to make some of the animals. We also used our fantastic phonic knowledge to write about them. We also learnt about why rainforests are important and why it's important to save them. We listened to a story about Buddy, an orangutan, who tried to fight off the bulldozer that was destroying his home. 

For our summer trip we had a fantastic day at the donkey park!

We've been learning about life under the sea. We started by talking about the creatures we know that live in the sea. We then looked at some images and named the creatures. We talked about what we already knew about them and learnt some new facts. We then explored using different materials and techniques to create sea creatures. We painted pictures of sea creatures and talked about the facts we had found out about them.

We also explored using different tools on a drawing app to create sea creature pictures. The first thing we did was choose an appropriate background for under the sea. We then chose colours and sizes for the brush according to what we were drawing. We also used different tools such as the glitter brush. We were able to try things out and change our minds by using the undo tool.

We practised our fine motor skills by drawing patterns. We tried to draw our patterns so that the lines were really close together but didn’t touch each other. After we’d practised we were then challenged to draw patterns on a fish. We had to try to draw the lines really close together and we had to try to draw different patterns in each section of the fish. All the children showed an amazing amount of focus during this activity and were very proud of their completed fish.

We've also been practising our writing skills by writing about some of the sea creatures. We learnt about the problems sea creatures are facing due to plastic pollution. We looked at some images of various creatures in trouble due to plastic. We talked about what we could see and how we thought this may have happened. We then focused on what we could do to help. We linked this back to our previous learning about recycling and also talked about the importance of not dropping litter.

We investigated which materials floated and which sank. We then used some of our recycling to make boats to carry some of our animals in the water tray.

How the weeks are flying by in this final half term! All of the children spent some time in their September classes, whilst our Year 6's visited their next schools. We had a fantastic sport's day at the Delaware base, despite one very early, heavy shower! The Year 6 pupils showed us their enterprising nature by selling a whole host of food and craft items to the parents who attended sport's day. They made £250 towards their end of year adventure. The following day the Year 6 were put through their paces in the traditional 'Gun Run'. Well done to the winning team who are pictured below.
In the week commencing 10th July over 260 family members enjoyed three fantastic performances of the Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 production of 'Jill and Fred's Outrageous Adventures'. The story saw two children being guided by a range of 'search engines', through many periods of history- all to help them to complete an end of term History project. They get into a few scrapes on the way but all ends well! Audiences were delighted by the story which included some truly amazing singing. A bit thank you to Miss Owen who actually wrote the production and to all staff who helped with rehearsals, costumes, prompts, music etc.- it was a great team effort!
On Thursday 13th the Year 6 spent the day at Tamar Trails. They really supported each other with a range of challenging activities and show great resilience, over coming personal fears to try new experiences. They then spent the night at the Gunnislake base- I don't think that there was too much sleeping involved! Thank you to all staff who supported them and experienced a sleepless night! 
Unfortunately the Year 3/Year 4 beach trip had to be postponed on Friday due to torrential rain- it will be re-scheduled at some point in the future. 
We look forward to a final, busy week before the summer break! 

Another sunny and busy week at Delaware and Gunnislake! The children have been taking part in the Trust Sport's Week. There completed a range of activities and we have just submitted their scores for each event to the Trust. We wait to see who has won!
The reception pupils enjoyed a fantastic trip to the Donkey Sanctuary. They had a wonderful day meeting the residents and playing in the soft play zone!
Last week two  great grandparents of a pupil at the Delaware base, Mrs and Mrs Mears, held a plant sale locally. The proceeds of this and a previous one were generously donated to the school. This has enabled us to replace the ancient- and I do mean ancient!- dining room chairs. Have a look at the photographs below as I am sure that you will agree how wonderful they look. The most common reaction from the children was "Wow', 'these are lovely', 'the dining room looks so bright.'
We are all so grateful to Mr and Mrs Mears and will be inviting them into school, in the near future, to thank them in person.
Finally, this week saw the first whole key stage rehearsal of the upcoming production of 'Jill and Fred's Outrageous Adventures'. It's looking great already and I can't wait to see the finished product!
Enjoy the weekend!

Two weeks into a packed term already!
Year 3 enjoyed a trip to the incinerator just outside Plymouth. This enhanced their learning about recycling. I was fortunate to accompany them and it was fascinating to find out about the further energy that could be created by burning rubbish that would have previously ended up in landfill. The children represented Delaware and Gunnislake fantastically- especially when they were on board the train. Some were happily chatting to members of the public sitting opposite.
All year groups took part in 'Keeping Safe' lessons where they learnt about medicines, electrical safety, sun and beach safety and road safety. Year 5 and 6 had visits from a trainer from Barnardo's who led a workshop on healthy relationships. They  were also visited by representatives from Jay's Aim who showed them the basics of CPR.
The pupils in Year 4 took their multiplication check and Year 1 pupils had their phonics screening check.
Year 2 also took a train trip to Plymouth to visit 'The Box'.
I wrote to all parents to introduce the food boxes via Calstock Parish Council. If, for some reason you didn't receive this then please contact me and I can give you a paper copy of the information.
Let's hope that the sun continues to shine but maybe it would be good to have slightly cooler temperatures as it's feeling a bit warm in school!

We've been learning about minibeasts so we went on a minibeast hunt during forest school and looked closely at what we found. We identified what they were and then asked questions about them. We then watched some short video clips and looked at some non-fiction books to find the answers to the questions we asked. We wrote sentences about them and sorted pictures into sets according to whether they were insects or not. We drew minibeast pictures on the iPads, made clay models and created transient art pictures. We talked about the facts we could remember during all the activities.

We listened to a story which explained why worms are important in the garden as they make tunnels under the ground for water, air and plant roots and because they eat dead plants. During one of our forest school sessions we worked with a partner to create a wormery in a plastic bottle. We filled the bottles with layers of sand and soil before putting some dead leaves on the top for the worms to eat. We then hunted for worms to put in their new homes. We put them in a dark place and then checked on them a few days later to look at the tunnels that they had created.

In our music lessons we've been exploring how to use our bodies, our voices and instruments to represent various minibeasts. We've also been learning about rhythm and have used minibeast pictures to copy various sound patterns. We've also been very lucky as we've been part of a music project for the last few months and the teacher has brought in various instruments for us to listen to and explore. We also had great fun maypole dancing in one of our sessions.

Over the last couple of weeks we've been focusing on how to be a good friend. Myself and Mrs Feakins have modelled various scenarios and the children have discussed whether we were being good friends or not. They then came up with ideas of how we could be better friends. They were then given various activities to do with a partner where they had to focus on listening to each other and helping each other. I was very impressed with how they worked together to create minibeast pictures. They were all very kind and worked together brilliantly. There have been many other opportunities for the children to work together during continuous provision. One of the children's favourites has been building dens together to keep cool in the shade.

To celebrate the King's Coronation we dressed up in red, white and blue clothes or wore beautiful dresses or suits. We painted our faces and decorated crowns. We enjoyed a picnic together and played royal themed games which were run by the older children. We then sang some songs, took part in a whole school dance and had a crown parade.

To finish the half term we had a whole school talent show. I was so proud of everyone who had a go during the classroom auditions and was amazed at the confidence of the winners who took part in the final in front of the whole school! It was brilliant! 

This half term has absolutely flown by! The last couple of weeks have seen some exciting trips. Y5 and Y6 visited Morwhellam Quay and were transported back in time to the Victorian era. Y3 and Y4 had an experience at the Delaware base when they found out lots of information about the environment and climate change inside a massive 360 degree 'Dome'. 
This term we have replaced on of the scratch card prizes of 'hot chocolate with the Head' to 'ice lolly with the Head'. This has been very welcomed in the hot weather and I had over 12 children sharing their lollies with me this week!
This afternoon (Friday) the term ended in spectacular fashion with 'Delaware and Gunnislake Got's Talent'. During the last couple of weeks the children have been showcasing their acts to their teachers. The top 3 to 4 acts were put through to this afternoon's final. All of the children who performed were fantastic and fearlessly stood up in front of the whole school to perform. Our panel of esteemed judges- Mrs Hannaford, Mrs Speare and Mr Clatworthy had the unenviable task of selecting the winners.
Results:
KS1:
3rd place- Jessica (singing)
3rd place- Albie (dancing)
2nd place- Violet (gymnastics)
2nd place- Elsie, Aurora, Sophie L, Roxanne, Olivia N and Lexi (dancing)
1st place- Ayla and Saphyire- (singing)
1st place- Ethan H- Taekwondo
Results:
KS2:
3rd place- Edwin and Edward (rapping)
3rd place- Allana, Sally and Georgia (gymnastics)
2nd place- Matthew, Liam and Oli (playing football and telling jokes)
2nd place- Amelia (Ventriloquist)
1st place- Tommy- (playing the piano)
1st place- Veronica and Sophia (dancing)
I will present the medals at the beginning of next half term. 
It only remain for me to thank you for your continued support, and to publicly thank the amazing staff at both bases for their hard work and dedication to learning, safeguarding and care of the children.
The weather forecast is incredible for the next week so please enjoy it with your lovely children.

This week was all about Year 6. They had a very busy week taking their end of year assessments AKA SATs. They started each day with breakfast- my goodness they got through a huge amount of crumpets and pan cakes! All of the children tried their very best and we are all proud of them. Thank you to all staff who helped out last week!
On Friday we were treated to a fantastic live theatre performance of Katie's Black Hole Adventure. Everyone enjoyed it greatly and we were lucky to have the performance for no charge as part of Callington Mayfest.
Saturday proved to be a beautiful sunny Mayfest. It was a pleasure to parade our amazing giant around the town. It was very popular with the crowd. Thank you to everyone who came to support on the day. Particular thanks go to Mr and Mrs Symons for transporting the giant and all parents and children who walked with the giant. Also, thanks to Mrs Trapp and Miss Johnson who finished the giant's exterior.