Week 4 - Time Travelling Adventure

Year One were very lucky today to have a special visitor - Mrs Hughes travelled all the way from Victorian times to talk to the children about what it was like for Victorians at the seaside. 

She started by asking what the children already knew and they wow-ed here with their knowledge of what the seaside was like in the past - from bathing carriages to long walks on the promenade for good, healthy fresh air! 

Mrs Hughes talked some more about the seaside and explained that she would go swimming fully clothed. She invited all the children to come and feel the dress she was wearing and talked them through the many layers - it must have been very hot for the ladies by the seaside! The children were encouraged to feel how hard the layers of the dress were, which they enjoyed! 

Following this, children sat in groups to be real historians by closely examining some Victorian artefacts - the children were fantastically behaved, they handled the objects carefully and with great respect and Mrs Hughes told them how important this is so as not to damage the items. The children had to work in teams to guess what the items were, what they were made out of and what they were used for. They were puzzled by some of them - especially the glass bottle with a marble in. The items turned out to be a stoneware hot water bottle, a glass ice cream holder for a penny lick (we also examined a Victorian penny), a Cod bottle that was used for putting fizzy drinks in (the marble kept the gases in) and a chamberpot, which the children were not so happy about when they learnt it's real use and that it wasn't a huge teacup!

Their last item was a stereoscope that used 2 of the same photographs and merged them to become 3D - the children (and staff!) were fascinated by it and each got a turn to look through it. 

It was a really interesting session and we all learnt lots about life in Victorian times at the seaside - hopefully the children will tell you all about it! 

It’s been another busy and productive week at WPA. Our theme this week has been collaboration and team work. There has been plenty of that going on in classes and around the school as highlighted in our Shining Stars assembly this afternoon. This week we also welcomed a number of parents to our 'Welcome to Reception' sessions. It was wonderful to meet everyone; we look forward to welcoming your children into Reception.

KS1 History Day
Year 2 have been time travellers today! We have been very lucky to have the time travelling lady to speak to us about Cornwall in the past. She taught us about life of Cornish miners and what was invented to help them with their work. Did you know there was a special safety lamp to help detect dangerous gases in the mine? We heard some more about famous inventors like Richard Trevithick and Humphry Davey and how their inventions are linked to Cornish tin mines. Then we had to use our prediction skills to guess what the use of some objects from the past were. This included, a wooden darn to mend socks, a chill which was a portable light and a chamber pot that was used as a toilet during the night! (This of course got many laughs as one prediction was a giant soup bowl). We are very proud of how engaged an respectful the children were throughout.
From Year 2

As I’m writing this blog, Year 1 are being transported back in time to a Victorian Seaside Adventure – Take a look at Year 1’s class page later today to see what happened.


The Place – Playground Tour
Next Monday, children in Year 2-Year 5 will be treated to two lively dance shows in our playground: Olive Branch... Playground Edition by Vanhulle Dance Theatre and Mughal Miniatures: The Elephant and the Drummer by Sonia Sabri Company. We can’t wait to watch the performances.

‘Come Dine with Me’
The Year 5 children have made a fantastic start to their 'Come Dine with Me' Design and Technology experience this week. After spending the morning planning and preparing their dishes they were joined by a wonderful group of staff for lunch. The staff praised the children for their attention to detail, hospitality and of course the incredible food they had on offer. A firm favourite so far being the cookie dough cake! We look forward to seeing what other delicious creations the children will cook up in the following weeks.

District Sports Competition
Well done to everyone who took part in the annual District Sports Competition earlier in the week. Overall, Wadebridge Primary Academy came 4th. A special mention to our relay teams, winning 3 silver medals and Dexter in Year 6 who broke the 100m event record sprinting in at 13.19 seconds!

Mid-Cornwall Parent Workshop for Transition to Secondary School
Do check the poster below for further details on how to book for this online course.

After School Clubs
Please note that teacher-led after school clubs end today. Bridge Kids Wraparound Care continues as normal until the end of term.

The following external clubs finish on:
DT Sports – 17th July
Dance – 19th July
Pro20 – Please check your booking confirmation

Important dates coming up:

Monday 1st – Friday 5th July Year 6 Transition Week

Monday 1st – Wednesday 3rd July Year 4 Residential to Porthpean

Monday 1st July The Place – Playground Theatre Tour performance for Years 2-5

Tuesday 2nd July 15:15-16:15 KS1 Open Invitation Cross Country (Wadebridge School)

Wednesday 3rd July
09:30-10:30 Drop in & play session for children new to WPA joining Reception in September
13:00-14:00 Drop in & play session for children currently at WPA Nursery joining Reception in September

Thursday 4th July 09:30-12:30 Taster morning & lunch for all new Reception children starting in September

Wednesday 10th July 09:15-15:00 Our Girls Can event for Year 5 girls at Wadebridge Showground

Thursday 11th July Reports home and class/teacher allocation for September

Friday 12th July Transition session (am) for current Reception – Year 5 children to meet their class teacher for September

Saturday 13th July 10:00-12:00 WPA Lego Show

Monday 15th July Transition session (am) for current Reception – Year 5 children to meet their class teacher for September

Wednesday 17th July 13:00-14:15 Nursery Pirate Party with parents

Thursday 18th July 16:00 Year 6 performance

Friday 19th July Year 6 ‘Slip and Slide’ Trip

Monday 22nd July 18:00-20:00 Year 6 Prom

Tuesday 23rd July Last day of term (early finish, see times below):
12:30 Nursery
12:50 Year 6 Guard of Honour
13:20 Reception, Year 1 and Year 2
13:30 Year 3, Year 4 and Year 5

Wednesday 4th September Autumn term begins – Welcome back everyone in Reception to Year 6

Wednesday 4th – Friday 6th September Nursery Home Visits

Monday 9th September
09:00-10:00 Nursery Stay and Play Sessions
10:30-11:30 Nursery Stay and Play Sessions

Tuesday 10th September Nursery opens


Wishing you a lovely weekend.

Best wishes,

Chris Wathern

Summer 2 - Week 3 and 4 - Being a good sport

We have had an extremely sporty few weeks here in Reception, and the children have really done us proud. We had spent some time practising the sports day events, and the children's 'have a go' attitude on the day and impeccable behaviour throughout really did shine out. We are so proud of them, as we are sure you are too. 

This week, a small group of children attended a multi-skills event up at Wadebridge Leisure Centre where they took part in lots of events. They absolutely loved it  and were full of excitement on their return. The children have been wearing their medals as much as they can this week. 

As well as all the sport, learning has continued in the class with the children embedding their phonics learning, and progressing on to real and nonsense words, as well as impressing us with some fantastic writing when they come into school in the mornings. To make our reading time even more fun, we had Year 6 visitors on Wednesday afternoon. It was so lovely to see them sharing, talking and reading together so beautifully. 

In maths, we have been finding half of amounts up 10, and this week looking at sharing equally into groups. 

Our wider curriculum learning has continued on a sea theme, but focusing on the RNLI  and beach safety. We have talked about the lifeguards, the coastguard and the type of equipment that they use. Over the next few weeks we will be looking at how to keep our beaches clean, so if you have any pictures of your children taking part in a beach clean, please upload them to Tapestry for us to share. 

Reminders - Please can any toys from home not be brought into school. They can get lost and broken, so please have a check of their school bags to ensure nothing is being sneaked in! 

Requests - We would love any boxes, yogurt pots etc for our junk modelling area. Please nothing that has contained nuts or eggs though due to allergies. Thank you. 

Have a wonderful weekend,

The Reception Team 

Sports Week
What a week of sport! Around all the other learning taking place this week, we were all treated to watching children from Nursery to Year 6 take part in their Sports Days. I think a message passed on from one of our parents sums it up nicely:

“Thank you SO much for such an amazing first sports day! I can’t wait to see our child later to hear his version of events. We could tell how much fun he was having! I can’t believe how well behaved and organised they all were – what a gorgeous bunch of souls. Massive well done to all of the organisers.”

Congratulations to our overall winners, Cormorants, stacking up an impressive 1050 points.
2nd Swans - 1000 points
3rd Choughs - 850 points
4th Puffins - 700 points

Well done to all the children!

Year 6 Residential & Enrichment Days
We were expecting to see some tired Y6 children towards the end of the week. Despite being on residential or having a fantastic time taking part in enrichment activities, our Year 6 children certainly ended the week on a high during Friday’s Sports Day. Their Bristol adventure included a trip to a zoo, tree top climbing, bowling and an historical experience finding out about Isambard Kingdom Brunel. For the Year 6 children who remained in Cornwall, they also had fun-filled days making some beautiful bird art, a day with DT sports including zorbing and to finish the experience, a trip to Pentire beach. A huge thank you to the team of staff involved in organising a wonderful couple of days. Many lasting memories made for sure.

Transition
We have now finalised staffing for September. Next week, we will be sharing the staffing overview for September and further details about transition. We will be letting you know your child's class/teacher for September in their report coming home on Thursday 12th July.

Important dates coming up:
Wednesday 26th June 09:30 & 17:30 Welcome Meeting for New Reception Parents (Hall)

Friday 28th June KS1 History Day – Time Travelling Visitor

Monday 1st – Friday 5th July Year 6 Transition Week

Monday 1st – Wednesday 3rd July Year 4 Residential to Porthpean

Monday 1st July The Place – Playground Theatre Tour performance to school

Tuesday 2nd July 15:15-16:15 KS1 Open Invitation Cross Country (Wadebridge School)

Wednesday 3rd July 09:30-10:30 Drop in & play session for children new to WPA joining Reception in September

Wednesday 3rd June 13:00-14:00 Drop in & play session for children currently at WPA Nursery joining Reception in September

Thursday 4th July 09:30-12:30 Taster morning & lunch for all new Reception children starting in September

Wishing you a lovely weekend.

Best wishes,
Chris Wathern

Summer 2 - Week 2 & 3 - We can't stop and won't stop! 

English

During Week 2, the children planned and completed their ‘Tale of Three Brothers’ poems, they used their toolkits to ensure they had included all of the appropriate success criteria. We had a particular focus on the ability rhyme, using ‘rhymezone’ to help them find words that would fit their poems best. We also took the time to edit, improve and re-draft the poems before writing them up in best. The children wrote them on parchment paper, which then went in their Star Writer books.

During Week 3, keeping in theme, the children moved onto their next learning journey, focusing on the British author J.K Rowling. The children were going to write their own narrative pieces based on the text ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone. To begin the journey, the children used their VIPERS skills to unpick chapters 1 & 2, they looked at the characters within the story and discussed what life was life was like for Harry. Using this knowledge, they planned their own chapter that could follow own. They were all given the same themes, in that it had to include Harry going to work with Uncle Vernon, Uncle Vernon being unkind and as a result something magical took place. The skill within this was to use speech to convey character and advance action.

Finally, to end the week, the children unpicked the four main features of figurative language. They used this to unpick the events that took place at Privet Drive from an outsider’s perspective.

Maths

In Week 2, we completed our negative numbers learning journey. For their final lesson the children looked at finding the difference. They learnt that when working with negative numbers you can add them in order to find the difference. To end the learning journey the children completed their end of unit assessments. We recorded the scores on our class tracker, discussed misconceptions and all children set themselves next steps.

The children then began a new learning journey of converting units. We reminded them of the things to look out for example confusing ‘Kilo’ and ‘Centi’ using the factor of 100 instead of 1,000. In the first few lessons, the children were introduced to kilograms and kilometres, litres and millilitres. We focused on the declarative knowledge e.g. how many grams in a kilogram. The children decorated their Morning Work with this information which they could refer to throughout the learning.

In Week 3, we looked at metric units, imperial units and the ended the week on units of time. Some children expressed in particular that time was tricky, any support with this at home would really help build their confidence!

Wider Curriculum

Across both weeks, it has been all about Science! During Week 2, the children completed an experiment where they explored materials that were soluble in water. The wrote out the materials they would be experimenting with and wrote a prediction using their prior knowledge. For the experiment the children then placed different solutes into the solvent water and times how long it took to dissolve.

In the following lesson, they then looked at changing the variables for example temperature. They had to state whether this would affect the rate in which the solute dissolves. “I predict that the sugar will dissolve quicker in hot water, I think this because when you put sugar in tea it almost dissolves instantly depending on the amount of sugar you put in” – Harry 5B.

In Week 3, the children then explored how mixtures can be separated by filtering, sieving, evaporating and magnets. They first learnt about each of the methods and what they are usually used for. They then made predictions and carried out the experiment e.g. Paper clips in sand, they decided to use magnets as they knew paper clips were magnetic and could be lifted out easily.

In the following lesson, the children had to then recognise and describe reversible and irreversible changes, they were presented with four problems and they had to discuss how they could reverse the change for example chocolates that melted in the sun, they suggested placing it into a mold and putting it into cold temperatures to return it to its natural state.

Important Dates:

·      WC: 8^th July 2024 – Art week

·      Wednesday 10^th July 2024 – Our girls can

·      Thursday 11th July 2024 – Reports will be given

    Have a wonderful weekend,

   Best wishes,

   The Year 5 Team

Sports Day 2024

On Wednesday 19th June Year 3 had their Olympic Themed Sports Day.

The day started with the sprint races followed by the egg and spoon, sack race, relay and the infamous parents race!

Year 3 then took part in a carousel of activities including bowls, shotput and Football a la Francaise.

All the children tried their best, cheered each other on and had a fantastic time!

A huge well done to the Choughs who were the overall Year 3 winners!

Weeks 1 and 2: Fabulous Fruit Salads

We've been busy learning about eating healthy this week in DT and the children learnt about different food groups. We looked at the Eatwell Plate and learnt about the importance of eating a balanced diet. 

The children designed a fruit salad using three fruits and either apple or orange juice to top it with. Today, the children have been busy making their fruit salads. We discussed how important it is to wash our hands before we touch any foods we are preparing. We learnt how to cut the fruits safely using a bridge hold and used chopping boards and knives to cut the different fruits carefully. Once the fruit was cut, the children were able to select the fruits they wanted according to their designs and arrange them in an appetising way, topping them carefully with apple or orange juice. Some of their designs were beautiful! The children then sat together to enjoy their fruit salads together and we were really proud of them for trying some fruits they were not sure of. Some children said they don't usually have some of the fruits at home but that they had enjoyed them. We talked about what they liked about the look and taste of their salads and what they would do next time to improve their designs. We had some very constructive comments, including: 

"I would use less juice because there's too much!"
"I would use bananas next time. I'm not keen on the strawberries." 
"I would use more watermelon - it's so yummy!" 
"I'd add more of everything!" 

What a lovely treat after all their hard work during their Phonics Screening checks. 

Next week is Sports Week and we will be talking to the children about the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris.

Reminders

We're very excited to have our sports day on Thursday - please send your child into school wearing their PE kits and a coloured t-shirt to match their house team - if you are unsure of what colour they should wear, please do ask! 

Puffins - red
Cormorants - blue
Choughs - yellow
Swans - green. 

Summer 2- Week 1 & 2 - Sharing is Caring

We have spent the last 2 weeks enjoying books with not only a sea theme, but a key message of sharing. The children have been immersed in the story of The Rainbow Fish and Sharing a Shell, and have thoroughly enjoyed discussing the story, explaining how the characters change throughout the book, and thinking about how this applies in our own lives.

Following this sea theme, we talked about  sea creatures. We thought about what we already know, where they live, could we identify and name any other sea creatures, what different animals live in the sea, what are some of their features and what were their favourites. 

This sea theme continued though our provision in the classroom with children writing sea creatures names, writing sentences about what they could see in the sea pictures, and in our creative area drawing and making rainbow fish,  creating underwater scenes using materials and decorating shell pictures. 

Maths - We have spent the last two weeks learning how to double numbers up to 5 and recapping our learning so far in Reception. This week we have focused on subitising up to 5, recognising which picture has more or less, number bonds to 5 and one more and one less of numbers up to 10. 

Requests - If you have any junk modelling resources that we could use to make small boats we would be very grateful. Plastic bottles and fruit packaging would be ideal. 

Sports day - Reception Sports Day is Thursday 20th June from 9:15 - 11:15. Your child has been sent home with a letter with their house team colour on there. Please send your child in in this colour t-shirt for sports day. A letter detailing the event has been emailed out to all parents and guardians this week.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Best Wishes,

The Reception Team 

St Breock Care Home Choir Visit
Our KS2 choir visited St Breock care home on Monday afternoon, where they sang to the residents. The sea shanties they had learned for Songfest 2024 went down a storm. We look forward to forging more links with the local community.


Car Park – Drop off and Collection arrangements
Thank you so much for your co-operation this week. Feedback has been very positive and is helping, in the mornings particularly, for a much calmer and safer start to the day.

A couple of key reminders from what we’ve noticed this week:

• In the mornings, please do not park in the ‘Stop and Drop’ channel.

• To help the flow, please drive on as far as you can in the channel before dropping off. It would be helpful if your child has all their belongings ready to exit the car.

• Please do not drop off your child in any other area of the car park, as this is unsafe and causes congestion for others.

• When walking on the footpath next to the ‘Stop and Drop’ channel, please keep to the school fenced side for your own safety.

• If parking, please supervise your child across the car park.

• Please do not park on the double yellow lines or next to any coned areas.

• Please drive slowly.

Additional Parking - Wadebridge Town FC have kindly offered their car park for parents to use in the mornings and afternoons on a first-come-first-served basis. Please do make use of this facility if you can, especially at the end of the day where you can park, walk down to school and collect your child without worrying about finding a space on the school site.


FOWPA
Non-Uniform Day Donations
A massive thank you to all the parents, carers and children of WPA for the generous amount and quality donations that were collected on Thursday. We cannot thank you enough for your ongoing support and we look forward to making some excellent hampers to raffle off soon. As always, all proceeds go back into the school and benefit the children. If anyone was unable to donate yesterday and still wishes to, there is a box outside the office. Thank you!

FOWPA Easyfundraising
Have you seen our new easyfundraising gate banner? It's all about how you can support our school and your child for free when you shop online with over 8,000 retailers. Everything counts - food shops, holidays, clothes, insurance, electricals and more! All the big names are ready to donate at no extra cost to you. Find out more and sign up to support us today: https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/fowpa

The FOWPA Team

Sports Days
Please check the email sent on Wednesday 12th June about the various Sports Days taking place next week. Without mentioning the car park too much more, please refer to the email for parking arrangements. We are all looking forward to seeing everyone take part throughout the week. Fingers crossed for some drier weather!

Year 6 Residential
Next Monday, many of our Year 6 children will be travelling to Bristol for their residential experience. Please ensure you’ve checked the letter sent out earlier this week with final details. The team will be updating the WPA Facebook page each day; so do take a look. For our Year 6 children not attending, we look forward to three enrichment days of art, sport and a trip.

Transition
As part of transition to secondary, Year 6 were visited by staff and Y7 students from Wadebridge School. This week they also took part in some science lessons taught by secondary staff. We received the following feedback after their visit:

“Thank you for hosting us for our science visit today. I hope your students got an insight into science at secondary and we were able to build some positive relationships. Walking through your school was an absolute joy and the class we visited were bright, keen, kind and attentive. Thank you for having us.”

As mentioned during the coffee mornings, we are wanting to build closer links with Wadebridge School for the benefit of our whole community. I’m looking forward to meeting the new headteacher when he starts in September to plan for closer co-operation between both schools.

Next week, I will share with you our plans for transition for all other classes taking place this half term.

Coffee Mornings
From September, we will be offering regular coffee mornings throughout the year. Some will be themed based on what parents might want to hear about/what the school would like to share; some will just be an opportunity to socialise with other parents and meet staff.

Today, Mr Jonathan Smith, hosted a SEND coffee morning with Ms Wright from Wadebridge School meeting with parents to talk about transition from a SEND perspective.

Sleep Wise Parent/Carer Workshop

Important dates coming up:

Monday 17th – Wednesday 19th June Year 6 Residential to Bristol (Departs 09:15-09:30)

- Year 6 children who are going to arrive between 08:45-09:00 if parents staying to wave off
- If not waving off and/or have younger siblings, please arrive as normal
- Year 6 children not going on residential arrive as normal
- Arrive back on Wednesday 19th June around 18:30


Tuesday 18th June 09:15-10:15 Nursery Sports Day

Tuesday 18th June 14:00-16:15 Year 3/4 Quad Games at Wadebridge School

Wednesday 19th June 09:15-11:15 Year 3/4 Sports Day

Wednesday 19th June Year 6 children not on residential out on trip

Thursday 20th June 09:15-11:15 Year Reception/KS1 Sports Day

Friday 21st June 09:15-11:15 Year 5/6 Sports Day

The children have been creating layered landscapes in a series of art lessons. They have been focusing on the art discipline of textiles. First they created a background ensuring the sky and ground weren't just strips at the top and bottom. Then with much concentration and determination, using a needle and thread to create the next layer. This was through creating stitches (regular or irregular) to add detail. For example blue stiched to create waves in the sea. The final layer was adding fabric or embellishments for extra details. The children were very proud of their finished pieces. 

As we move into the final half term of Year 2, the children are exploring Position and Direction in Maths. We have looked at left, right, up, down, forward, backwards, quarter turn, half turn, three-quarter turn and full turn! Phew. It's been great seeing the children practically explore and articulate where objects are and how they have moved. (See picture: can you look at this question with your child? Can they explain their answer using good mathematical vocabulary?!)

In English we have been looking at books by the same author. We chose to look at Julia Donaldson and have compared two of her books - What the Ladybird Heard on Holiday, and The Snail and the Whale. The children explored similarities and differences between the stories using a Venn diagram. 

We have also been busy in the afternoons with art. We are creating a piece of 'Layered art' by using different materials like paint, pen, fabric and stitching. Results to follow!

Please keep up reading and home, as well as Times Table Rockstars. We will see you all next week.

The Year 2 Team. 

Summer 2 - Week 1 - Just Dance!

On Thursday, we took part in a sponsored Dance-a-thon. The children were dancing from 9am to 3pm; that’s 6 hours of non-stop dancing! Each child had plenty of opportunities for breaks and re-fuelling but there was a minimum of 10 Year 6 children dancing at all times. It was an exhausting but incredible day. Some children showed outstanding endurance; they only stopped dancing when it was absolutely essential. Highlights included singing (and dancing) to: Livin’ On A Prayer, exactly half way through, and The Final Countdown for the last 5 minutes.

So far, we have raised a whopping £956 to go towards covering the cost of entertainment, food and decorations at our Year 6 prom. We wanted to make sure this inclusive event was a memorable, well-deserved celebration and the funds raised will help us to achieve this. A huge thank you to everyone that has sponsored already. If you would like to donate our page is still open: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-make-our-year-6-prom-a-night-to-remember

History
This week, we compared the different time periods of Ancient Greece and discussed which time period we would have liked to live during and why. We then compared two societies within Ancient Greece: the Spartans and the Athenians. 6W took on the role of Spartans and 6B became Athenians. The children were given time to research their given societies. We then paired one Spartan with an Athenian and they interviewed each other. It was brilliant to watch some children fully embody their roles. We saw serious, proud Spartans and chatty, confident Athenians exchange all sort of information about their cultures and way of life.

Reminders
Your child should have brought home a form to fill in for the transition week beginning Monday 1st July. Please could you fill these in and return them back into school by Wednesday 12th June.

We hope you all have a great weekend – perhaps we’ll see you at the Royal Cornwall Show!
Best wishes,
The Year 6 Team

Car Park – Drop off and Collection arrangements
Please check your email today for a letter about important changes to the car park arrangements starting next Monday 10th June.



FOWPA Non-Uniform Day – Thursday 13th June
A reminder that next Thursday 13th June, FOWPA are hosting a Non-School Uniform Day.

Children may come to school dressed in normal, casual clothes of their choice! In return, we would like to ask you for voluntary donations of luxury hamper items to be used as raffle prizes for the FOWPA Quiz Night on 18th October. Suitable items for donation would be a bottle (alcohol or other), chocolates or biscuits, for example, so that we can put hampers together.

FOWPA volunteers will be stood outside the school office at drop off on Thursday 13th June with trolleys to accept your wonderful donations. Please note that alcohol donations MUST be donated by an adult to either an FOWPA volunteer or brought directly into the secretary’s office (where other donations can also be made at any time). All proceeds raised from the raffle go back into supporting the children at WPA.

Congratulations to everyone for raising £123 at the second hand uniform sale and £306.79 at the recent school disco.

Thank you as always for your support.

The FOWPA Team



Year 6 Dance-a-thon
On Thursday, Year 6 took part in a sponsored Dance-a-thon. The children were dancing from 9am to 3pm; that’s 6 hours of non-stop dancing! Each child had plenty of opportunities for breaks and re-fuelling but there was a minimum of 10 Year 6 children dancing at all times. It was an exhausting but incredible day. So far, they have raised an incredible £916 towards covering the cost of entertainment, food and decorations for their Year 6 prom. The Year 6 team want to make sure the prom will be an inclusive, memorable, well-deserved celebration and the funds raised will help us to achieve this. A huge thank you to everyone that has sponsored Year 6 already. If you would like to donate, their page is still open: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-make-our-year-6-prom-a-night-to-remember



Year 5/6 Quad Kids
Well done to nearly 100 of our Year 5 and 6s for taking part in the first Wadebridge area 'Quad Kids' event on Tuesday. The children were split into countries with other schools and competed in 4 events: 75m sprint, 400m, Long Jump and Javelin. They all had a great time! Thank you to Wadebridge Secondary School and their terrific sport leaders for such a well-organised event.

Year 3/4 are taking part in the same event on Tuesday 18th June. Please can we remind Year 3/4 parents to check your emails where you have been sent a link to a form indicating whether or not your child is attending the event.

If you’re attending or exhibiting at the Royal Cornwall Show, we hope you have a fantastic time.

Enjoy the weekend, and we look forward to seeing everyone back on Monday.

Best wishes,

Chris Wathern

Summer Term 2 - Week 1 - Sun, Science and Show!

English

In English this week, we began our poetry learning journey. The poetry unit is based on the ‘Tale of Three Brothers’ from the Harry Potter novel. To begin the journey, the children explored the tale, discussing its themes, characters, language and tone. They discussed with their learning buddies the impact of the animation and the effects it has on the reader/listener. For the first lesson, the children then explored different perspectives, focussing on ‘Deaths’ and then created a story map to match that point of view. The story map will then inform the rest of the journey, where the children will right a narrative poem using dramatic conventions.

Next, the children explored poetic devices and began collating a range of vocabulary ready to create their poems. They thought carefully about each of the brothers and their characteristics, along with the gift they were given by death. Within the lesson, we revisited the definitions of adjectives, similes, metaphors and personification.

In the following lessons, the children will begin to structure and plan their poems, by using their VIPERS skills to unpick a range of narrative poems.

Maths

In Maths this week, the children began their negative numbers learning journey. So far, they have learnt to understand negative numbers, count through zero and count through multiples with negative numbers.

The children our confident in their negative numbers and this is due to our morning work. The children have been exposed to negative numbers previously and can now use their tools from their morning work to be successful within the lessons.

In the mornings, children are being active with their next steps, seeking help from teachers to support their misconceptions. This fab to see!

Please continue to access TTRS at home, with negative numbers, counting through multiples, the fluency in times tables is important for this unit.

Wider Curriculum

In wider curriculum the children have been scientists. We have begun by looking at materials and their properties. We carried out an experiment where we looked at a range of materials and investigated whether they were transparent, magnetic or a conductor of electricity. The children made predictions and recorded their findings within a table. To end the lesson, the children selected a material, wrote about its properties and what products it would be best used for. All of this was evidence through the experiment!

In our next lesson, the children honed in on conductors of heat and insulators. The children once again completed an experiment, they were given three cups, filled with warm water and then three materials to wrap around. They had to discover which material would keep their teacher’s tea the warmest for the longest amount of time. With a stop watch, they timed how long it took for the water to cool, checking with a thermometer.

Important dates:

·      WC: 17^th June 2024 – Sports week

·      WC: 8^th July 2024 – Art week

·      Wednesday 10^th July 2024 – Our girls can

·      Friday 12^th July 2024 – Reports will be given

Have a lovely, sunny weekend,

Enjoy the show if you’re going!

Best wishes,

Weeks 5 and 6: Under the Sea! 

Another fantastic fortnight of learning brings our half-term to an end and what a lot we've packed into it! 

This last week saw our fantastic Year 1 children go a visit to Blue Reef Aquarium and there was much dancing at the FOWPA disco. Here are some of the highlights: 

English

We have been looking at poetry and learning about our senses. The children looked at pictures of beaches and worked in groups to make mind maps of what they could see, smell, hear, taste and feel at the seaside. We then used these ideas and added adventurous vocabulary to them to make them more interesting, for example 'seagulls' became 'squawking seagulls' and 'ice cream' became 'scrumptious, sweet ice cream'. The children then used these ideas to create their own seaside senses poems, which they showed confidence in reading out aloud to their classmates. Some really fantastic work! 

Maths

We have been exploring fractions and started with finding a half of an shape and then finding half of a group or a number. The children used concrete objects to work practically and record their answers in their books. We then moved onto finding a quarter of a shape, group and number, again, working practically to solve different problems. We ended the week by looking at position and direction and using our mathematical language of left, right, forwards and backwards to navigate around a picture board and then write instructions for a friend to follow. 

Science

We had a letter delivered from The Singing Mermaid who told us she had unfortunately scraped her tail on a rock and damaged some of her scales. She wrote to Year 1 to ask for their help in finding a material that would be strong, lightweight and waterproof (and beautiful of course!) that she could make some new scales out of. The children set to work learning about different materials and their properties before planning and carrying out 3 experiments to find the best material. They tested if a material was waterproof by dipping it in water to see if it absorbed the water or not, stretched the materials to see which was strongest and felt them to see which was lightest. They recorded their results and found out that plastic was the best material, which children then wrote back to The Singing Mermaid to let her know their findings. 

PE

We have been very lucky to have Pro20 in this half-term teaching the children football skills, which they have loved! They have learnt to dribble and control the ball and have played some very exciting mini games of football! Next half-term, PE goes back to being on a Thursday and we will be doing athletics on the field - running and throwing and jumping - we can't wait! 

Our School Trip 

Wow! What a fantastic time we had at Blue Reef Aquarium - the children were fantastically behaved and showed much interest in what the Blue Reef staff shared with them. We took lots of photos and talked about them after the trip and it was amazing to hear how much information they had remembered! Not only did we have a fantastic time at the Aquarium but the sun shone for us on the beach and we were able to go and play in the sand with our friends! They were amazing on the trip and we really were very proud of them. A big thank you again to all the parents who were able to help us on the trip. 

Reminders

School will reopen on Monday 3rd June and we look forward to seeing you then and hearing all about the children's adventures over half-term.

PE is now on a Thursday so please send your child in full PE kit on Thursdays. 

Library books will continue to be changed on Thursdays too. 

Please do continue to read with your children over half-term and encourage them to complete some of the activities in their phonics packs - they have been very enthusiastic about completing these already, which is great to hear! 

Phonics screening checks will take place on week commencing 10th June. 

Have a wonderful half-term break and we look forward to seeing you on 3rd June. 
The Year 1 Team 

Cornwall Air Ambulance Fundraiser
Congratulations to our Nursery and Reception children who had a great time on their sponsored walk. All the children made masks, flags and banners and took on the challenge of walking or running 4 laps around our school field. We had a special visit from Andy, the pilot from Cornwall Air Ambulance, to say thank you for raising money for them.


FOWPA
Many thanks to FOWPA, our staff, children, parents and Regal Cinema for supporting the recent fundraising events at school. We will be able to share after half term how much was raised from these the Uniform Sale and Disco ahead of the next event, the FOWPA Quiz.

FOWPA are hosting a Non-School Uniform Day on Thursday 13th June. Children may come to school dressed in normal, casual clothes of their choice! In return, we would like to ask you for voluntary donations of luxury hamper items to be used as raffle prizes for the FOWPA Quiz Night on Friday 28th June. Suitable items for donation would be a bottle (alcohol or other), chocolates or biscuits, for example, so that we can put hampers together. FOWPA volunteers will be stood outside the school office at drop off on Thursday 13th June with trolleys to accept your wonderful donations. Please note that alcohol donations MUST be donated by an adult to either an FOWPA volunteer or brought directly into the secretary’s office (where other donations can also be made at any time). All proceeds raised from the raffle go back into supporting the children at WPA.

Thank you as always for your support.
The FOWPA Team


Online Safety
Please check the link sent by email today for some useful information and tips about keeping children safe online.


Car Park
When we return after half term, we will let you know about some changes to the car park for drop off and collection. Unfortunately, there is no perfect solution – I’ve heard it has been tweaked many times already! We will need everyone’s support in helping make drop off and collection as smooth and safe as possible. Look out for an email from me in the first week back to update you on the new arrangements.


Summer 2024 Bridge Schools Trust Parent and Carer Questionnaire
A reminder that the school survey closes today, thank you. Please check your parent email for the link.


PE Days
Please note your child's PE day below as some year groups have changed days. This is due to external providers such as Pro20 and DT Coaching having set days to come and deliver quality PE provision to our pupils. The children only have one day of PE (or split days in Year 3) but have 2 lessons during the school day to ensure they receive the required time.

Reception: Monday with Pro20 (please send children to school dressed in their PE kit)
Year 1: Thursday
Year 2: Monday (Pro20 Sports Academy)
Year 3: Monday and Wednesday (DT Coaching). 2 days due to split lessons.
Year 4: Tuesday
Year 5: Friday
Year 6: Thursday


Class Photos
On Wednesday 5th June, the school photographer will be in during the morning to take class photos. Please ensure your child is wearing full school uniform on that day. If they have PE, they will need to bring in their PE kit to change into on that day. Thank you for your co-operation.


Important dates coming up:

Monday 3rd June: Back to school

Tuesday 4th June: 14:00-16:15 Year 5 and Year 6 Quad Games at Wadebridge Secondary School – please complete form recently sent by email

Wednesday 5th June: Class Photos – Children need to wear their full school uniform to school

Thursday 6th June: Year 6 Sponsored Dance-a-thon

Friday 7th June: Community Day for Royal Cornwall Show – School closed for children

Monday 10th – Friday 14th June: Year 1 Phonics Screening Check Week

Monday 10th June: (pm) Choir singing at St Breock Care Home

Tuesday 11th June: Year 4 Multiplication Check

Thursday 13th June: FOWPA Non-Uniform Day

Friday 14th June: 09:00 SEND Coffee Morning

Friday 14th June: (pm) Year 6 Transition – KS3 Team and Year 7 Buddies visit.


Thank you for all your support this half term.
We look forward to an exciting final half term of the year, seeing everyone back on Monday 3rd June.

With very best wishes,

Chris Wathern 

We just wanted to say how proud we are of Year 2. Over the past few weeks we have been doing our KS1 SATS papers. The children have taken these on with such resilience and confidence. They have been amazing!

So to celebrate this and to celebrate (a week earlier than normal) we ended Summer 1 with a scone picnic outside to celebrate National Scone Day! This was a great link to our Wider Curriculum question 'Did the Cornish do a proper job?'. Safe to safe to say there were sticky fingers all round. See you after the half term holiday.
Many thanks,
Year 2. 

Wow, what a wonderful morning. The children were super excited to do their sponsored walk and made the nursery team proud. Morwenna and Andy the Air Ambulance mascot came to cheer us on our way.
Thank you for all of your support.

Year 3 Geography Trip 

On Monday, Year 3 went to Treraven Farm on a geography trip. We took part in different activities including orienteering through the woods using compasses, bug and flower hunts for different types of species and fire lighting. We also walked either to Treraven Farm, or back to the school so that we could map a familiar route. The children had a great time and especially enjoyed the sunny weather and the stop at the park!