I was right! It was not quite such a hectic week, but it has been incredibly busy! We started off the week with a bang, literally, as two Wadebridge School teachers came into our Monday Assembly to talk about the wonder that is Science. We saw chemical reactions, raisins floating in Lemonade (a very budget friendly alternative to a Lava Lamp!), the production of CO2 which caused a glove to inflate like the Incredible Hulk’s hand and the blending of acid and alkaline in a tube which made a rainbow. It was fantastic! This week is National Science Week this week and we have celebrated with each Year Group preparing and carrying out a wide variety of science workshops and experiments.  Please see below from KS1:

This week, we have been celebrating science week! 

The Key Stage One children took part in a range of exciting experiments on Thursday morning. In Year One the children were busy exploring which materials would best stop an ice cube from melting. The children used their findings to start thinking about the effects of climate change on our world.

In Year Two the children talked about what mini-beasts are, micro habitats and which animals you might see more of in each season. The children then went on a mini-beast hunt in woody corner. The children then shared their findings and thought about why certain animals live in each habitat and the similarities and differences between them. 

The Year One and Two children then switched over so they had a chance to take part in both activities.

Here is link with lots of science experiments that could be explored at home: 

https://www.britishscienceweek.org/app/uploads/2019/02/BSA_EurotunnelTerminal_handout_1118_W1.pdf

Given that it is also Sports Relief this week, we also talked about various ways that we can keep ourselves active in school and Mr O’Dwyer talked us through our new WPA initiative for every child (who is able to) to take at least 5000 steps a day when in school. We trialled using wristband step trackers and every child that wore one managed at least 5000 steps with the top person managing over 9000! We are excited and reckon that all of us can manage at least 5000 on a regular day.

We also had a visit from the ‘big’ Library Van today and it was Year 5’s turn to go and explore! The pupils had the opportunity to go and choose 3 books that interested them and bring them back in to school for us to use until the next time.  I heard that it was an ‘amazing experience’ and ‘really good fun! There were SO many books! And they were in a VAN!’.

Thank you always for your continued help and patience when parking in and around school grounds. Do please remember to be considerate when parking, and if you do feel that you need to double park, which is entirely understandable, ensure that you are as swift as possible dropping off so that you are not blocking anyone in. I have also had a couple of requests for people to take care when driving near the zebra crossing and to not start to drive over the crossing if there is a person still on it.

Next week sees the Year 4 Playlet on Wednesday, and Year 3 going on their long-awaited trip to Delaware as well as Parents Evenings on Monday and Tuesday after School. All parent meetings will take place in the Hall this time, so do please come to the main entrance for your appointments.

I know that there is a huge amount in the news at the moment about the Coronavirus. Whilst we totally understand any and every concern, please be reassured that we are taking every precaution towards keeping the school as clean and healthy as possible. I have to say – our use of soap has trebled over the past few weeks and I am really encouraged by the excellent levels of handwashing and really strong positive behaviour shown by all pupils in terms of keeping themselves clean and contained. As with all other Bridge Schools, we will continue to follow current Government Advice – which at the moment is for us to stay open and carry on doing what we are doing.

As ever, my door is always open. I wish you a restful and enjoyable weekend,

Ms Whitlock

Upcoming Events:  

16&17/3/20: All Year Groups Parents Eves (ALL meetings in the Main Hall)

18-20/3/20: Y3 Residential to Delaware (leave at 0900 on 18/03/20 and return at approx. 1500 on 20/03/20)

18/03/20: Year 4 Performance Playlet to Parents (9.15am and 2.00pm)

21/3/20: Girl’s Football Team to Keynsham for National Final

24/3/20: Y2 Rainforest Café

25/3/20: Year 5 Space Film Viewing

25/3/20: Year R Traditional Tale Celebration

25/3/20: Dress up as your Favourite Book Character Day

26/3/20: Year 3 Play Performances to Parents (9.30am and 1.30pm)

27/3/20: We are Celebrating World Autism Day! Please wear something blue to school

27/3/20: END OF TERM! (EYFS & KS1 1.10pm and KS2 1.30pm) 

Wadebridge Primary Choir, a fun picture!!

Crikey! It has been another busy week and the best is yet to come!

Tuesday saw every year group taking part in their fantastic Pancake Races. I have seen such concentration and verve and there were some real star flippers! Well done to all who took part; I can’t wait to do it all again next year.

Parents Evenings are signing up fast – thank you to all who have booked already; anyone who has not please do book a slot but remember; if you cannot make either day, please do see your child’s teacher as they will be more than happy to see you at another time.

Thank you VERY much too for your support with the Healthy Eating drive. We had a wonderful Assembly (it was not me who delivered it!) on Tuesday with members of the school council coming to the front to tell us about healthy choices in general and what we would love to see in school. Please do keep it up but if you have any excellent ideas about what would be a good choice – things such as cottage cheese; plain yoghurt; hummus to dip your veggie sticks in – please do let us know as we can let the pupils know! Having spoken to a dentist this week, I have been advised that raisins are not so healthy for our teeth as a snack; they are fine with other foods, but not on their own as the sugar sticks to teeth. I am bit gutted as I could eat raisins all week long, but please do put them in the lunchboxes for lunchtimes only where possible.

There are huge amounts of things coming up – please do have a look at the list below and come to all that you can – we would love to see you. We have loved seeing so many family members come to Reception to help with their sewing this week and are keen to involve you as much as possible (without any pressure of course). I will just mention the Trelawny Shout that we would LOVE to see you involved in – the aim is for 20 000 people to be singing the ‘Song of the Western Men’ at the same time. The actual shout is at 9pm, but the organisers have said that they are happy for us to send our recordings (voice only) in to them to be played during the Shout itself as it will then count towards the 20 000 Singers that they need. Even if you are not originally from Cornwall – it is a great opportunity for us to sing together, so please do come. Even if you just sing the Chorus it will count.

Please see below for the list of what is coming up in the next few weeks, and as ever, please do drop me a line or pop in and see me if there is anything that you want to discuss or celebrate. I will expand more on the upcoming events over the next few weeks, but in the meantime, thank you for all of your support; it is hugely appreciated.  

Upcoming Events:

2&3&4/3/20: Invited pupils to the Wadebridge Festival of Music & Speech

2/3/20: 2B Recycling Trip

2/3/20: Y4 Viking Day

4/3/20: Class and Team Photos

5/3/20: St Piran’s Day – please dress in Black, Gold and White

5/3/20: TRELAWNY SHOUT – parents welcome at either or both but we will be singing twice – once at 2.15pm and once at 2.35pm (in the main Hall)

6-11/3/20: Scholastic Book Fair (main hall)

9/3/20: 2W Recycling Trip

16&17/3/20: All Year Groups Parents Eves (booking still open)

18-20/3/20: Y3 Residential to Delaware

18/3/20: Year 4 Performance to Parents (9.15am and 2.00pm)

21/3/20: Girl’s Football Team to Keynsham for National Final

24/3/20: Y2 Rainforest Café

25/3/20: Year 5 Space Film Viewing * Please note change of date

25/3/20: Dress up as your Favourite Book Character Day

26/3/20: Year 3 Play Performances to Parents (9.30am and 1.30pm)

27/3/20: We are Celebrating World Autism Day! Please wear something blue to school

27/3/20: END OF TERM! (EYFS & KS1 1.10pm and KS2 1.30pm) 

We made it! It is Half Term! What a fantastic and vibrant community WPA is and I thank my lucky stars every day that I am able to work here.

There has been a lot going on again this week with Year 1 visiting Newquay Zoo on a bitterly cold Tuesday (they loved it and were marvellous advocates for the school – thank you!); Year 5 enjoying an out of this world experience on Wednesday (reports are that it was ‘mega’ and ‘amazing’) and Years R, 1 and 2 coming BACK to school at 3.45pm on Wednesday to take part in our Bedtime Stories event. Hundreds of pupils came back in their very cosy pyjamas and their favourite teddy to listen to stories in the Hall and take part in other activities and had a wonderful time.

Mrs Lee Elkins Writes: 

This week the Reception and Key Stage One children came back to school for a ‘Bedtime Stories’ party in their snuggly PJs and with their very cute teddy bears! The children gathered together in the hall to listen to Mrs Lee-Elkins read her favourite story, The Cat in the Hat. After, the children returned to their classrooms to listen to their teacher’s favourite story books. The children then took part in exciting activities such as making witches potions and going on a character treasure hunt in the playground. They were also very excited to have a small milkshake and biscuit!

Thank you so much for your support with events such as these. Not only was it a great opportunity to celebrate the importance and enjoyment of reading but we also managed to raise over £150 which will go towards new books for the children. Many thanks and keep reading!

Thank you to all of you who have already signed up for slots for Parents Evenings; do log on to Arbor to book your slot if you have not already. If you cannot make either date, do please see your child’s teacher to make an appointment on another day. Healthy Eating kicks off after Half Term – the School Council have written a letter which will be sent out just after Half Term – it asks please for pupils to bring in ONLY healthy snacks for break times. If it is a fruit or veg, then it is very welcome; if it is a crisps, cakes or chocolate then it is not!  We look forward to your support with this moving forward. The School Council are very excited and are happy to advise if needed.  

Parking: please use the drop off lane for dropping off only. Please park in a space if you want to get out of your car. I know that it is incredibly tight, and we very much appreciate your continued patience, but if we are able to keep that ‘lane’ moving then it would help ease some of the congestion. It would also be much appreciated if you could avoid double parking where possible.

Please see below for the (still extensive!) list of what is coming up in the next few weeks, and as ever, please do drop me a line or pop in and see me if there is anything that you want to discuss or celebrate. I hope that you all have a safe and restful Half Term. Thank you for all of your support; it is hugely appreciated. 

Upcoming Events:

24/2/20: INSET DAY – SCHOOL CLOSED TO PUPILS

25/2/20: SHROVE TUESDAY: PANCAKE RACES. All pupils to bring in a pancake and a pancake pan for races and other pancake related fun. PS The race pancakes will NOT be eaten.   

2&3&4/3/20: Invited pupils to the Wadebridge Festival of Music & Speech

2/3/20: Y2 Recycling Trip

2/3/20: Y4 Viking Day

4/3/20: Class and Team Photos

5/3/20: St Piran’s Day – please dress in Black, Gold and White ????

6-11/3/20: Scholastic Book Fair (TBC) (linked to World Book Day which will be confirmed)

16&17/3/20: All Year Groups Parents Eves (booking open)

18-20/3/20: Y3 Residential to Delaware

21/3/20: Girl’s Football Team to Keynsham for National Final

I can hardly believe that it has only been 5 weeks since I started at Wadebridge, but I can say that this week I finally felt as though I knew where to look for almost *all* the things that I need. I still need to learn quite a few names but I am getting there and I appreciate very much the tolerance of everyone in the WPA community. I was asked earlier this week if we could reinstate the weekly news letter and whilst I am not able to roll one out this week, I am going to try and help by putting everything that I know is coming up at the end of this week’s blog (and I will do every week) whilst also encouraging you all to look at each class blog as they are fantastic.

This week again has been very busy with some super displays going up around school showing some of the amazing artistic talent that pupils have. Focusing on KS2 this week; Year 3 have been exploring drawing with sticks and Indian ink for outlines, wax crayons for texture and Brussho inks for colour using Hokusai’s ‘Beyond the Great Wave’ for inspiration linked to their Tsunamis, Earthquakes and Volcanoes topic. Year 4 have made Viking masks and Viking Boats to complement their Viking Topic; Year 5 have completed some amazing galaxy themed artwork related to planets and their Space Topic and Year 6 have created some outstanding versions of the well-known ‘Dia De Los Muertos’. I know that you do not often get an opportunity to walk through school so please find with this blog some pictures of them! I am so impressed with the talent that shines through and this links very closely to our SMSC topic this week of Mental Health and Wellbeing.

Extensive research shows that people feel their most well when they are active; when they interact with society; when they are continual learners; when they listen and look at the world around them and when they evidently care. Both for themselves others and for the health of the planet. We have thought about what makes us mentally well and it came up quite a lot in discussions with pupils that when they are learning extended art skills, for example, and they create a picture or work that makes them proud, they feel really good. We love making sure that pupils are mentally well so do ask them what they are learning about on a regular basis as you would be amazed at what they achieve!

You will be receiving notifications soon about Parents Evenings, which are taking place next half term, about our push for Healthy Break Time Snacks and news of events and special days coming up. St Piran’s Day is not far away and we will again be wearing Gold, Black and White to celebrate the wonderful Duchy that we live in. It is also Safer Internet Day coming up so please do read everything that we send home so that you are up to date on what’s hot off the press at the moment.   

KS1 have also had a super exciting week as they received the FOWPA donated play equipment for their playground. They are very much enjoying the additional resources so a HUGE thank you to FOWPA for their kind donation. 

Please see below for the (extensive!) list of what is coming up in the next few weeks, and as ever, please do drop me a line or pop in and see me if there is anything that you want to discuss or celebrate. I hope that you all have a safe weekend. Only a week until Half Term. How did that happen?...

Upcoming Events:

11/02/20: Y1 to Newquay Zoo

12/02/20: Y5 ‘Space Odyssey’ Planetarium Visit

12/02/20: 3.45pm – 4.45pm: EYFS and KS1 Bedtime Stories Event

14/2/20: Safer Internet Day

2/3/20: Y2 Recycling Trip

2/3/20: Y4 Viking Day

4/3/20: Class and Team Photos

5/3/20: St Piran’s Day – need to dress in Black, Gold and White please ????

6-11/3/20: Scholastic Book Fair (TBC) (linked to World Book Day which will be confirmed)

16&17/3/20: All Year Groups Parents Eves

18-20/3/20: Y3 Residential to Delaware

21/3/20: Girl’s Football Team to Keynsham for National Final

It is beginning to get lighter – and we are working exceptionally hard both in and out of the classroom. This week we have seen three teams of Years 3-6 pupils represent WPA in sporting events; two indoor athletics teams (one Year 3 & 4 and one Year 5 & 6) went to Launceston on Tuesday and enjoyed themselves hugely. Whilst they did not win, they did very well and were highly praised for their attitude both in the field and towards other competitors. On Wednesday, twelve plucky pupils swam in a local gala. Again, we did really well, but were not the overall winners. This time….

We are very lucky to have such wonderful surroundings and outdoor space – not least because we are able to take the learning outside too. This has recently been the case in Year 3, where they are currently (very much) enjoying learning about Volcanoes, Earthquakes and Tsunamis. One of the homework’s offered was to make a volcano. I have seen many fantastic creations – from the small and beautifully formed; to Lego versions (never seen one of those before!); to larger versions with experiments attached. I was lucky enough to be there when Year 3 watched a home-made volcano erupt in front of them. We love what pupils do and make in response to a topic and our primary aim is to ensure that every child is interested in what they are learning so thank you for all of your support with this; it is very much appreciated.

There are lots of opportunities coming up to enter local festivals too – Fowey Festival entries are coming up (story writing, poetry writing and art work) and I was delighted to learn that WPA has clearly had a great deal of success in this festival in the past – do please look on the website and read the information that the office sends you to find out what you can do to take part. I can’t wait to see what creativity is produced.

We have thought a lot about Diversity this week as it has been our SMSC theme too – I was fascinated to learn that we had at least 5 different first languages (not including Cornish!) and many more religions and nationalities. We thought about what makes us different from others and how important it is to NOT all be the same, as otherwise a game of ‘Simon Says’ can be very tedious. As it was, the pupils were still all brilliant and clearly can listen when they want to as I found it very tricky indeed to catch any of them out in Assembly.

Movement in and out of the car park seems to be much better, but please do remember not to park on the exit road as it makes a huge difference to the flow. Clubs starting and lighter mornings help, as will the better weather when it comes so thank you too to all those who walk to school; it really does help.

I’m still keeping a close eye on uniform and presentation – I love seeing so many smart pupils; keep it up! – but I have seen some untied hair creeping in. Please remember that any hair on or below the collar needs tying back please.  

I wish you all a wonderful weekend and look forward to seeing you on Monday.

Ms Whitlock

It has been another busy week – a group of Year 5’s went to St Martin’s Church in Liskeard with pupils from every school in the Bridge Trust. They were brilliant! They had composed their own piece highlighting the very current issue of Climate Change, and they practised and then performed their composition in front of all of the other school representatives. They also joined in singing the choruses of all of the other pieces. I heard from several people how well behaved they were and how beautiful their singing was. We are very proud indeed and they will be performing to the whole school next week in Assembly.

Year 6 also went to ‘The Tide Centre’ to go climbing this week. Both Year 6 teachers said that their teamwork and their encouragement of each other was really gratifying to see and that they worked very hard to challenge themselves outside of their boundaries. Do go and visit if you can – it will be well worth it.

Smartness and uniform has been strong again this week; do please keep this up. Please also remember to wear school shoes and to tie hair that is collar length or longer up. Any questions, do come and see me or let me know via email – I’m always happy to help. The pupils look great and their smartness is also rubbing off into their classwork – long may this last.

Parking and drop off seems to ease when the road that leads to the school is clear – thank you very much for not parking on that road in the morning. Thank you too to all of the walkers – there are many of you and you do a great job of sticking to the field or the path.

Pupils can at times be difficult to see and there have been a couple of incidents this week where cars have not stopped at the crossing; if you drive to school, please do stop where possible as we do not want any accidents. I have seen lots of bright coats, but sometimes they are dark so please keep an eye out and keep them safe!

I wish you all a lovely weekend; It is due to be almost dry and fingers crossed that the rain stays away for a bit longer.

Ms Whitlock

It has been another whirlwind week (literally; thank you, Storm Brendan) but one where I have met many more children and have learned so much.

Thank you so very much for the huge effort that has clearly been made with Uniform – pupils are, on the whole, looking very smart with hair tied back and shirts tucked in. It is much appreciated – please keep it up!

The School Council met this week for the first time in a while. Council Members were extremely prompt and very keen to get projects going and to make positive changes to school life. They had two main themes this week; choosing a charity for the school to support this year and looking at how to help the school eat more healthily at breaktime. The most important thing to remember, the School Council thought, was that if you only eat less healthy things occasionally, then you don’t need to avoid them all of the time. So, we decided to keep birthday treats (phew) but to focus on break time snacks and working towards making sure that lunchboxes are well rounded and nutritious.  We will keep you updated!

I am working on short term measures to hopefully improve the drop off and parking situation, but with immediate effect, please remember that the drop off lane means drop off. Please do not park your car in this lane. We will be monitoring this as much as we can and are also looking to try and ease the congestion caused due to cars parking on the exit road. Please bear with me – I share your frustration and anything that I can do, I will.

Again, please do let me know, either by email, popping in or making an appointment if there is anything on your mind; I want to hear from you.

In the meantime; I hope that you have a lovely weekend. Fingers crossed that it’s a dry one…

A photo of the school council hard at work will follow next week – along with some ideas for healthy snacks suggested by the School Council themselves.

Ms R Whitlock.