Dear Parents and Carers,
We made it to Half Term! It seems as though this has been an incredibly long half term, but it also seems to have flown by, which is testament to the immense effort that you have all put in. Seeing so many smiling faces has been a real tonic for us all, and we are so very grateful for all of your support.  However, we wish you a restful half term and cannot wait to welcome you back on Tuesday 3 November.

I am writing a letter, which will follow shortly, so will not write for too long, but if you have three minutes, do please go to the website and watch our ‘Half a term round-up’ video which gives you a small glimpse of what we have been learning in school recently. One of the loveliest responses to this video has been the reaction of the pupils through the school when they have been shown the video in class. It is rare, actually, that the whole school gets to see what the other classes have done without going into the other classes (and they don’t even often do that in ‘normal times’) but as we are not using the corridors, this is actually the perfect way to share and gel as a community. Which we very much are.

We talked about communities in our whole school assembly this week. We talked about how important it is to get on with people, but how, sometimes, even the closest of friends can get cross with one another and have arguments. This led to a practical demonstration of how things can get out of hand and lead to things that no one really wants or expects. I was lucky enough to cajole several members of staff into helping me with this (we socially distanced of course). We talked about how, in the olden days, when people were very angry with each other, they might have challenged the person that they were angry with to a duel.  In our duel, Mrs Lucock challenged Mrs Botten to a duel because Mrs Botten had taken Mrs Lucock’s pen and would not give it back. Mrs Botten claimed that it was hers. Mrs Hill was the referee and swords were the chosen weapon (we had one old sword (possibly made of balsa wood) and one foam sword which was about 6 inches long). The duel was very well acted given that the duellers were 2m apart and fervently contested, but the final ruling was that it ended in a draw.  Which I am not sure Mrs Botten was *entirely* pleased about. Anyway, the point was well made and all of the school realised that most things are definitely not worth falling out for, and that being good and trusted members of our community whilst being kind and being tolerant were the MOST important things to be in life.

Please do have a look at the letter when it arrives; remember not to come to school on Monday 2 November and remember that the first Friday back, Friday 6 November, is our Firework Party Day.
I hope that you all stay safe and well over the next week and one day and we hugely look forward to seeing you on Tuesday 3 November (NOVEMBER?!?!? Already!??!). 

Kindest regards
Ms Whitlock 

Dear Parents and Carers,

Time is racing past and we now only have one week before we break up for Half Term. Please remember that the first day back after Half Term (Monday 2 November) is an INSET day, and no children will be in school on this day.

Kindness
On a really lovely note, I have seen some exceptional acts of kindness this week and it makes me very proud to be a part of such a special and wonderful school.  Examples are pupils who have gone out of their way to help those who are less confident or who need support and those who have stayed in to help their friends before they go out to break. It’s a good job that I am not an emotional sort of person otherwise I might have welled up several times this week…. 

Shining Stars
Our Shining Stars Theme this week was ‘Exceptional Progress’ and every single Shining Star this week was clearly so very well deserved; from those who have progressed in confidence to speak up in class to those who have improved their writing skills to those who are learning how to be more resilient in all areas of the curriculum. We hold our Shining Stars assembly via TEAMS each week, so that the whole school (not EYFS yet) can come together, and it is a joy to be able to celebrate these each week.

Pick ups
Thank you so very much for your continued help with Pick Ups; it is hugely appreciated and seems to be working really well. Everything is crossed as I write that it continues to be thus!

Switching off your engine
If you are waiting in a drop-off or a pick-up lane at any time, please could you ensure that you switch your engine off. 

Harvest Festival
Thank you so very much for all of your wonderful donations. I will let you know how much we have collected when it is weighed by the Food Bank.

Website
The class pages are still going strong on the website. Do please have a look. They give you lots of information about the learning that is happening in class and what we have been up to both in and out of class.

Christmas Cards
There were hundreds of orders for Christmas Cards to be processed in the end – THANK YOU for your support with this. FOWPA are delighted. 

British Values
In our whole school assembly this week, we did not learn any new songs (sadly), but we did talk about ‘British Values’. We talked about Democracy, the Rule of Law, Individual Liberty, Mutual Respect and Tolerance of those of different Faiths and Beliefs.  We talked about how we use these laws in school, and how they help us outside of school.
This actually tied in really quite nicely with the assembly from the week before when we were discussing the right to vote as part of Black History Month.  I visited class 6B during that assembly (wearing a mask) and asked all those with names beginning with the letters A – F to stand up. Those standing were the equivalent of those who had the right to vote and those left sitting down were those who did NOT have the right to vote. One of those A – F pupils was asked to make a suggestion about the length of playtimes for the two now distinct groups of Year 6 pupils.  Between the two groups, they had 15 minutes to use up. The nominated standing up person, without prompting, suggested that those standing had 10 minutes break and those sitting had 1 minute. The rest was for handwashing….  Unsurprisingly, those who had the right to vote passed this and those sitting got a really raw deal. Which they could do NOTHING about. Nothing actually happened to their play time of course, but it was a good example of how unfair things can be if you don’t get a say.
I reminded the school of this during this week’s assembly (they all remembered!). We talked about fairness and why Democracy, for example, is so important and how we are lucky to have it.  

I hope that you all stay safe and well this weekend. 

Kindest regards

Ms Whitlock 

Dear Parents and Carers, It is not even raining! I’m going to try and waffle less this week and keep it to the point.

Pick ups
Thank you so very much for your help with the amendment to the Pick Ups for the KS2 lane – I think that so far it has worked really well and has really helped the flow. Please note that on Friday, the timings are brought forward as per the pick-up timings. I will open the lane at 12:40, but not before. The same timings will happen next week – we will open the KS2 lane at 14:40 every day from Monday to Thursday. Please do not arrive before this time if you have children in KS2.

Walk to school week
Well, you were brilliant at walking to and from school. LOTS of pupils walked every single day and it was SO lovely to see how proud they were. We may have other active travel schemes in the pipeline, which I know you are very excited about, so I will pass them on as soon as I they are firmed up.

Harvest Festival
THANK YOU. Keep it coming! So far, so excellent.

Website
The class blogs have been spruced up on the website. Do please have a look. The class pages give you lots of information about the learning that is happening in class and what we have been up to.

Wearing masks
You will have noticed that all staff are wearing masks when they are near parents and pupils at pick up and drop off time. I encourage you please, if you are able, to wear a mask too. The wearing of masks, when we are in close proximity, even though we are outside, does create a barrier and helps us all to feel safe. Children do NOT have to wear masks.

P.S. if anyone knows of a mask that prevents glasses fogging, please could you let me know. Sigh.

Christmas Cards
Wow! There have been so many Christmas card orders come in and we are really grateful. I LOVE the designs and I can’t wait to see them in print. Thank you.

Hello Yellow!
We saw some wonderful visions of yellowness today. It really did brighten up our day and it was lovely seeing so much of this bright colour. Thank you for supporting World Mental Health Day and I hope that you enjoyed seeing as much yellow as we did!

It has been a very busy week, but a very enjoyable one. If you would like to be serenaded this weekend with an easy to learn tune, do ask to hear your children sing ‘Big, Red Combine Harvester’. It is, as they say in the business, a ‘banging tune’.

I hope that you all stay safe and well this weekend. Wrap up warm as Autumn is most definitely here to stay.

Kindest regards
Ms Whitlock

Dear Parents and Carers,

It’s October already! I can hardly believe it.

Thank you so very much for your patience and understanding with the weather and pick up over the past few days – it has frankly felt more like we were running a national event rather than just co-ordinating 400 odd cars and people, but we appreciate very much your smiles; please keep them coming!

On that note, however, we are going to trial a slightly amended system FOR PICK UP ONLY from Monday 5 October. Nothing will change timings wise, but we will be coning off the KS2 Pick Up lane until 2.40pm. The first pick up time for KS2 is 2.45pm.
MORNING DROP OFFS REMAIN EXACTLY AS THEY CURRENTLY ARE. They are working well. 
This trial change means that if you are wanting to come and pick up a child who is in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6, you will not be able to drive down the KS2 pick-up lane until 2.40pm. We have put this in place because parents and carers of KS1 and Early Years children were getting stuck for many minutes in the traffic as they could not get past the single lane at the top of the drop off lane. 
From Monday, 5th October, please DO NOT arrive to pick up your children who are in Years 3 – 6 before 2.40pm.
We are really hoping that this frees up the flow and helps with congestion, but if it does not work, I assure you that I will review it quickly.


However, it is also WALK TO SCHOOL WEEK next week (Hurrah! I hear you cry) so do please feel free to walk in to pick your children up, or park and stride a few minutes away from the school, as per my email earlier this week.
There is a lot going on in school next week; not only is it walk to school week but we are also collecting for our Harvest Festival. Boxes will be outside of the school for you to leave donations in if you are able to. All donations will be given to Wadebridge Food Bank.

We are also celebrating World Mental Health Day next week. We are celebrating by all wearing yellow next Friday to school. Please see our Facebook page and our emails home for more details. We will upload pictures onto our website and social media on Friday to show just how yellow and supportive of good and strong mental health we are! We are really looking forward to it.
PS apparently mustard IS counted as yellow. I looked it up and also have it on good advice.

I hope that you all stay safe and well this weekend. Wrap up warm as Autumn is most definitely here.

Kindest regards
Ms Whitlock

Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been a really productive and another very quick week – thank you so much for your continued patience with all of the logistics of Drop Off and Pick Up; we really appreciate it.
We have again seen some wonderful learning this week and the learning journeys (what we cover in a topic in any subject) are coming along very well. One super example is in Year 3, where they were taking full advantage of their Stone Age Topic by linking it to their instructional texts in English by writing out the instructions on how to wash a woolly mammoth! There is lots more information on every year group’s website page so please do head over for a look if you would like to know more about what we are learning. 

As per my last blog, and indeed the email sent home to parents on Wednesday, please do continue to help the flow of the traffic by not parking on the road into the school at any point. Thank you too for not using the Comp Field and playgrounds as a walk through – the Comp have specified that if there are students using any part of any space, they do not want us using it as it affects their bubbles. I totally understand this, and ask please that you walk around using the pavement. I spoke with a parent this morning who had used the Cormac Car Park and she said that it had taken her a bit longer than 8 minutes – 15 in fact (oops), BUT that she had some very little legs with her. She also said that it felt very safe and there was lots of space on the pavement, which I wanted to pass on to you. 
We have attached two letters from the Government to this blog; one related to what you should do if you or any member of your family have any symptoms of being unwell and one which is a handy factsheet about the new NHS Covid-19 app. 

A last plea (or two)! The weather is most definitely changing and we are, where we can be, an all-weather school. Please ensure that your children have a coat with them in school every day, and please could you ensure that (on a normal day) you do not allow anything other than reading books and diaries, coats, lunchboxes, water bottles and anything medical that they need to come into school. It is vital that we keep our cloakrooms and classrooms as clear as possible and your help is very much needed here. Thank you. 

Take good care; have a wonderful weekend and stay safe.
See you on Monday.


Ms Whitlock

Dear Parents and Carers,
I am in two minds. On the one hand, I cannot believe that it is the end of our first week already, but on the other hand, what a week!

The planning, the preparation and the logistics of getting the school ready to welcome back every pupil this week was gargantuan, but we were SO ready to open the gates on Monday morning to all of Years 1 to 6 pupils.
The pupils came in brilliantly; the parents and grandparents and carers dropped off brilliantly and I saw ever so many smiles. Phew! The came pick up. Not quite so smooth on Monday. So, we changed this for Tuesday and since then, it has worked very much better. So much so that please could I reiterate that we do have set times for pick up and drop off and we would be really grateful if you kept to these times as much as possible. It is much more of an issue at pick up, and we really, really need for you to stick to the timings for your Year Groups please.

If you have more than one child in school, however, please STILL drop off and pick up all of your children at the time of your ELDEST child.

I realise that it is a big pain not being able to park in school, but, if you are deciding whether to park on a nearby road or to drive into school to drop off, there is a great deal of leeway in the drop off and pick up queues at the moment and we would really encourage you to drive into the school grounds and drop off and pick up where possible in order to alleviate the congestion in the nearby roads.

When parking on a local road, do please remember that you need to leave enough space at a junction for a car to easily fit in and see to pull out, and that you must not park on a junction.  I wish that I had a magic wand to make the situation easier, but please do bear with us – we are just trying to keep everyone as safe as possible whilst ensuring that parents and pupils feel safe coming onto school grounds.

Next week’s weather forecast promises to be warm and bright with no rain (I can see your eyebrows being raised as I type) and so I also encourage you to walk to school where possible. We will be playing outside and learning outside as much as we can and if the field is useable, we will be using it! To this end, on the days that your children come in for PE (in their PE Kit of course), please feel free to send in a spare pair of socks (and shoes) if you are able to as no one wants to have wet feet, even if it is not for long (almost all of our PE is in the afternoon). 

I have seen some fantastic learning (and hand washing) and settling (and hand washing) this week and have poked my head around the door of every classroom (often when there is handwashing happening); it is fantastic to have every seat filled and the buzz in the corridors is tremendous (the doors of the classrooms are open so that we all feel connected but the children are not using the corridors as we do not need to and is another thing that ensures that we are kept apart). Long may this continue…  We have also welcomed our Reception children into school; they have settled so very well and I am delighted with their smiles and their fascination with all that the Reception classrooms and outdoor areas have to offer.

To promote a ‘whole school feel’, we have started doing virtual assemblies where I sit in my office and speak to my computer with its black screen whilst every class listens in their classroom. Initially, it was a bit odd (I was very nervous the first time), but it did get easier. We have already held two assemblies as a school and I have spoken to lots of pupils who have told me that they are really enjoying them. I suspect that they are just trying to guess what my background will be…..

Anyway, I will stop now, but my message to you all today is: thank you for all of your support this week; it is hugely appreciated; please stick to drop off and pick up times, please park carefully and considerately and keep safe this weekend. We look forward to seeing you on Monday.

Take good care and stay safe.


Kindest regards

Ms Whitlock

We are very excited to see all pupils from Year 1 to Year 6 on Monday 7 September.  We hope that you have all had a wonderful Summer Break and have enjoyed the weather (apart from those days that saw torrential rain...) and the many beautiful aspects of our wonderful Duchy and beyond. 

As you will know from the communications sent home, we will be operating staggered Drop Offs and Pick Ups. The details are below for your information. PLEASE ensure that you stick to these timings and remember that there is NO PARKING AT SCHOOL AT ALL. There are stop and drop lanes for every Year Group, and the signage will be clear.

Please note that there are no Reception or Nursery children in school on Monday 7th September.  Please see our emails for the details.