Autumn 2

We have returned to school full of energy, enthusiasm and plans for an exciting run up to Christmas. Soon the building will be full of playscripts, costumes and props alongside song sheets and instruments - what a great time to be in a primary school!

After school Clubs
We have received all the sign up slips for the clubs so we are looking forward to enhancing the curriculum with craft, cooking, STEM building, SATs and hot chocolate and board games thrown in too. All clubs start next week from Monday 11th.

Achievement Assembly
Writer of the Week:
Lexi for working with determination and choosing some great vocabulary for ehr poem.
Irina for including some great vocabulary in her independent writing and always challenging herself to try her best.

Star of the Week:
Nathan for his super attitude to work and trying his best to always follow the rules.
Mia for her kind and generous attitude to her friends and approaching her learning with a smile

Have a lovely weekend
Jane Wills

Thursday 24th October

We have reached the end of a busy Autumn 1 with lots of fantastic learning taking place across the school. One of the benefits of a small school with mixed classes is how well teachers know the pupils which makes the return after the long summer break much easier to tailor accurately to each child. We have seen the impact of this with children able to talk about last year’s learning to build on new learning.

After School and Lunch time Clubs

Thanks to our lovely and dedicated staff, we have some brilliant clubs running again after half term, starting the second week back so from Monday 11th November.

Monday 3:15-4pm: Games Club with Mrs Fernie and Miss Talbot. This is open to Year 1-Year 6
Wednesday 3:15-4pm: Cooking Club with Mrs Andrew. This is open to Year 3 – Year 6
Thursday 3:15 – 4pm: Art and Crafts Club with Mrs Phillips. This is open to Year 1- Year 6.
Friday lunch time: STEM Club with Mr Twaite. Building, engineering and teamwork. This is open to all.  

In addition, Mrs Wills is running Hot Chocolate SATs club for Year 6 Tuesday and Thursday afternoons between 3:15-4pm.  

We will send out signing up sheets after half term and remind everyone that signing up to clubs is a commitment, so we expect you to attend very week.

INSET
Reminder that tomorrow, Friday 25th October is an INSET day and pupils will not be in school.

Achievement Assembly

Reader of the Week:
Robbie for always joining in with our guided reading sessions talking about his reading.
Nya for trying hard with her sounds in phonics to help her reading in school and her reading at home.

Star of the Week:
Tegan, Joyce, Ailla and Toby for being brilliantly resilient and curious about learning this week.
Mya for always showing kindness and friendship towards her peers in class.

Have a lovely half term break. We look forward to seeing all the children back on Monday 4th November,

On behalf of all the staff,
Jane Wills

Cooking and Show Time

Break time on Thursday was showtime. Some of the children in Tregeagle class have been preparing a show complete with ticketing and seating for the rest of the school. Thankfully the weather was perfect for the performance which went without a hitch. Another group of children will be preparing a performance for after half term. Photos attached below. 

Foodbank
We finished off the week with a visit from the Foodbank. The children found out about the work the Foodbank does in helping communities and they had a chance to join in with a cooking demonstration. Thank you to the parents who joined us at the end of the day, we hope this was a useful visit and provided inspiration for cooking together at home.

Online Safety
Throughout the school year we will be working with the children to help them develop the life skills and knowledge they need to use the online world safely and with confidence. The following websites also provide helpful information about staying safe online: https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/ how to let your child make the most of the internet while remaining safe. https://www.childnet.com/ Childnet International is a non-profit organisation working with others to help make the internet a great and safe place for children. https://www.ceop.police.uk/Safety-Centre/ If you are worried about online abuse or the way someone has been communicating online let CEOP know. If you have any questions about how to support your child in staying safe online, please don’t hesitate to contact school.

Achievement Assembly

Mathematician of the Week:
Ailla for taking responsibility or her learning and striving to do her very best – a fantastic attitude!
Kayden for going over and beyond with his learning, completing his own maths and having a go a Year 1 maths too

Star of the Week:
Toby for being kind, considerate and a model for behaviour and empathy at our school.
Leia for being extra helpful on our trip to Nancarrow farm.

We look forward to seeing you all for parent consultations Monday and Tuesday next week.
Have a lovely weekend,
Jane Wills

Personal Development

Personal development is both a subject and a school ethos and we want each child to leave our school feeling confident, unique and proud. Our aim is to teach children how to navigate through life safely, happily and healthily by raising aspirations, inspiring curiosity and promoting understanding and interest to develop sense of place and belonging. To provide this, we have designed a programme of activities/trips and visitors in addition to the classroom teaching and this half term we started by inviting Captain Paul Thomas, Fowey Harbour Master, to talk to the whole school about what has been happening on the water and the importance of the harbour for our local community. When we have visitors, we always take the opportunity to ask visitors about their educational journey to their chosen job so the children are exposed to the many routes and options available to them for future careers.

Canute class has invited a string of visitors this term to support their learning of people who help us and build on their learning from last year’s visit to the fire station. Our local PCSO came into school last week to talk about how to stay safe, they had a visit from the Guide Dog Association complete with guide dog and the Coast guard this week. Next week they have a visit planned from a nurse to talk to the children about her job.

Tregeagle class had a visit from BIFFA this week to find out about how to carry out shared responsibilities for protecting the environment in school and at home; how everyday choices can affect the environment (e.g. reducing, reusing, recycling; food choices). In the last week of half term, they will attend the Primary Futures event, ‘World of Work’ where the theme will be Aviation and the different careers involved. After half term, they will join Southwest Water for a workshop centered around sewage and plastic pollution to help educate about, care for and look after our local environment.

HARVEST FESTIVAL
Thank you to those of you who attended our Harvest Festival this morning and thank you for the donations to the foodbank. As always, we had a lovely time in the church sharing songs and poems reminding the children of this important event in the farming calendar.

PARENT CONSULTATIONS
In the final week before we break for the half term, we are holding Parent Consultations so please look out for the sign-up email from Mrs Hughes.

Achievement Assembly
Writer of the Week:
Ava for making good use of her lovely ideas to write an entertaining story using lots of our learning.
Kayden for writing his name independently.

Star of the Week:
Antonia for being brave and managing her worries – it was so lovely to see you enjoy the Harvest Festival.
Zeniah for showing courage and enthusiasm in reading our poem at the Harvest Festival.

Have a lovely weekend,
Jane Wills

Positive beginnings

It has been a positive start to the year, with lots of fantastic learning experiences across the school. The classrooms, books and digital learning records are already bulging with the children’s work and it is great to see how enthusiastically they are embracing the learning. This week, I have been particularly impressed with their curiosity and ability to ask questions, such a valuable skill to have.

We have received notice of the Wild Wellbeing sessions the Mental Health Support Team (MHST), along with Natural England, are running over the October half term. These are nature-based, creative, practical workshops where children will be learning about the Five Ways to Wellbeing: Give, Connect, Take Notice, Be Active and Keep Learning outdoors in nature. These sessions are open to all primary school aged children (5-11), each session will be approximately 2 hours long. Sign up can be with the link here https://forms.office.com/e/ZDVNVVwfdPe or follow the details in the letter sent via email this morning. 

On Monday we welcome Fowey Harbour Master, Paul Thomas, for an assembly talking about the work of the harbour. This promises to be an interesting morning and I know the children wil have some great questions lined up. Monday afternoon, we have the school council elections. We are looking to recruit 2 members: one from Year 2 and another from Tregeagle class. The presentations and voting will take place during assembly so you might find yourself being asked to support your child with their speech over the weekend!

Achievement Assembly

Mathematician of the week:
Toby for always having a go at every single maths questions – trying to think of a way to solve problems using the maths he already knows – brilliant mathematical thinking. Leia for working independently using SeeSaw.

Star of the week
Erin for her curiosity, listening and questioning on our trip to Wheal Martyn.
Emmie for always being ready and settling in to learning when she arrives at school.

Have a lovely weekend,
Jane Wills

We have now settled into the routines of school and the children are enjoying their new learning journeys. In Canute class, they are finding our about people who help us and they will be focusing their history lessons on finding out about Florence Nightingale, why she is a historically important person and the legacy she left behind. In Tregeagle class, their journey is looking at how children's lives have changed through history, starting in the Roman times and travelling through the Tudor and Victorian eras to investigate continuity and change in education, work and leisure. They have already discovered, much to their horror, that children as young as 7 went to work and we can see the beginnings of real appreciation for the work done to protect and develop children’s rights so their own lives are much improved.

We look forward to seeing Canute parents on Monday afternoon at 2:45pm for our Early Reading session with Mrs Fernie, where she will explain how we teach phonics, the essential building blocks for successful access to reading, spelling and writing.

Achievement Assembly

Writer of the week
Tegan for a fantastically ambitious start to the year accepting the challenge to reach greater depths within the standard.
Indi for applying her phonics learning to sound out so she can work independently in writing lessons.

Star of the week
Ava for always engaging with every single learning activity with positivity and determination to succeed.
Ronnie for being a super role model for learning and behaviour expectations in Canute.

Have a lovely weekend,
Jane Wills

Welcome back

It has been fantastic having the school full of children, happy voices and smiley faces again. It was lovely to great every one of them at the gate on Wednesday morning, all looking smart in their uniform. The children have settled in well and we are incredibly proud of how well our very youngest children have been made to feel welcome by their peers.
PE and CLUB
We will continue with the arrangement of children coming into school wearing their PE kit on days they have PE so we can maximise time spent in lessons. For Autumn 1, Tregeagle class will have PE on Monday and Friday and Canute class have PE on Thursday and Outdoor Learning on Tuesday (you should have received the information regarding this). If you have signed your child up to attend Sports Club on Thursdays, please send them in with their PE kit in a bag ready to change into at the end of the day.
SEESAW
We have set all the children up with their new logins for SeeSaw and you should be able to continue logging in and following your child’s learning. If you experience any problems with this, please contact your child’s teacher.
PARENT SESSIONS
Thank you to those who were able to attend our Meet the Teacher event on Wednesday to find out about your child’s learning, teacher expectations and strategies to support your child at home with their learning. For Canute parents, we have an additional session on Monday 23rd September at 2:45pm with Mrs Fernie where she will explain how we teach phonics, the essential building blocks for successful access to reading, spelling and writing.

Achievement Assembly

Reader of the week
Antonia for supporting her peers in guided reading sessions
Ronnie for being a fantastic reading role model

Star of the week
Robbie, Indi and Ava who have settled well in our class – they have brought their independent learning behaviours with them from Canute class meaning they are well prepared to adapt to the learning in KS2
Nya and Kayden for being brave, determined and really enjoying their fist full week in school

Have a lovely weekend,
Jane Wills 

Scarecrow 

This year's scarecrow is up on the gate, thank you to Mrs Fernie and Mrs Phillips - it is looking fantastic!
All children have contributed with artwork so it is a true collaborative affair. We hope it also proves to be a good fundraising idea, with the QR code providing a direct link to our WISHLIST on Amazon for reading books for both classrooms. 
Photos and the QR code is attached below.

Last week

It has been another good year for our little school. We continue to maintain the 2-class structure with nursery provision, offering extra-curricular after school clubs and a wide variety of trips and visitors to support the curriculum learning. This year, we have again benefitted from the generosity of our local community with funding for water sports, swimming lessons and a fantastic theatre trip to watch Aladdin.

Inside the building, we have had our internet connection updated with connectivity for the Rainbow Room and improved connection in Tolbenny class so we can use all spaces for teaching. We have invested in new books across the school, so our reading materials reflect up-to-date experiences, authors and interests, helped by funding from the English Hub. We have also created a wish list on Amazon for more high-quality books for both classrooms and if you wish to make a donation, the QR code is below here or you can find it on our Reading Super Hero Scarecrow on the gate.

On Friday, we said goodbye to our Year 6 in the Leaver’s Assembly. These occasions are often sad and emotional; however, they are primarily a time for joy and celebration as we reflect on the journey of our pupils while at Polruan school. Our Year 6 has made us laugh aloud with quirky observations of life in the classroom, inspired our thinking and learning but most of all they have made us proud! They have been an outstanding role model for our younger pupils, demonstrating our core values of respect, resilience, tolerance, understanding and responsibility. They have made fantastic academic progress and achieved well above national average in all their SATs and they have shown ambition, determination and a want to succeed and for that they deserve recognition. They are a credit to themselves, their families and our school and I am certain they will continue to flourish and thrive at secondary school.

In September, the children return to school on WEDNESDAY 4th as we have a teacher INSET day on Tuesday 3rd September. We will continue with our current arrangements of all children entering the school via the top gates which will be opened at 8:40. The children will have the opportunity to play with friends until the bell at 8:45am. Class teachers will then escort the children to their classrooms, ready for the start of the day.

It has been another adventurous year for us all with lots of enjoyable learning experiences to share and reflect on over the summer. We are pleased with the close ties between parents and school and thank you all for the strong support you have provided across the year and we look forward to continuing working closely with the very special community Polruan is. We have lots of exciting plans for the next academic year which we will share on our return in September.

I hope you can all enjoy a well-earned break this summer in our lovely corner of Cornwall. On behalf of all the staff, thank you for your continued support.

With the warmest wishes,
Jane Wills