Singing and Planting!

What a fantastic week we've had in Tregantle Class! The children have really immersed themselves in our topic on transport and vehicles. They have been busy creating hot air balloons, cars, and aeroplanes, which are now proudly on display in our classroom. It's wonderful to see their creativity and hard work showcased for everyone to enjoy.

On Monday, we welcomed a specialist music teacher who led the class in fun pulse and rhythm games. The session was full of energy and excitement, and the children especially loved playing the ukulele and joining in with singing. It was a truly enjoyable experience for all.

We have also been getting our hands dirty in the garden by planting seeds. The children learned how to carefully plant and look after them, and we are now eagerly watching and waiting to see them grow! In literacy, the children produced some fantastic "have a go" writing about planting seeds. They showed great confidence using their phonics knowledge and tricky words-well done!

In maths, we have been practising accurate counting of objects up to 20. The children have been working hard to develop their confidence and accuracy.

It has been a very busy, productive, and fun-filled week. We are so proud of everything the children have achieved! 

Thank you for your ongoing support this week. We are so lucky to have such a supportive parent community.

Just a reminder that Mrs Grinsted will be at Victoria Gardens tomorrow morning from 9:40am for the start of the Youth Parade which with symbolise the start of the Saltash May Fair. It would be wonderful for as many Brunel families as possible to join this annual event.

We wish you a wonderful bank holiday weekend and look forward to seeing you all back at school on Tuesday. In the meantime, please enjoy this week's edition of The Brunel Bulletin.

This week in Lantic Class, we have been working incredibly hard across all of our learning!

In Maths, we have been learning all about quarters. We have now finished our fractions unit and completed our assessments - the children have shown great understanding and should feel very proud of themselves.

In English, we have begun planning our pirate persuasive adverts. The children have had lots of fun thinking of exciting ways to persuade people to join our pirate crew - we can't wait to start writing them onto special paper!

In DT, we have been exploring different fruits and vegetables, using our senses to describe them and thinking about what we might like to use in our designs. We have also been working really hard on our handwriting, focusing on forming our letters neatly and carefully.

We are all very excited for our upcoming trip to Porfell Wildlife Park & Sanctuary on 19th May! If you have not yet returned your permission slip, please make sure you do so as soon as possible. Thank you for your continued support.
Please keep reading at home each day with your children as much as possible and continue to access Anton maths where the children love to play games and explore.

Mrs Scott, Miss Sleep and Mrs Quick.

 Storytellers Nursery has been making the most of the warmer days by getting outside and starting work on their vegetable patch. The children enthusiastically dug holes ready for planting potatoes, taking turns with tools and working together as a team. They also carefully filled trays with compost before sowing a variety of vegetable and herb seeds, showing great concentration and care as they completed each step.

 Spending time outdoors and engaging in gardening activities brings so many benefits for young children. It supports their physical development as they dig, carry, and scoop, helping to build strength and coordination. It also encourages teamwork, communication, and confidence as they share ideas and work alongside their friends.

 Gardening is a wonderful hands-on way for children to learn about the world around them. They begin to understand how plants grow, what they need to thrive, and where food comes from. This early connection to nature can help foster a sense of responsibility and care for the environment.

 Being out in the fresh air also supports children's wellbeing, helping them feel calm, happy, and engaged. Activities like these spark curiosity and excitement, creating meaningful learning experiences that the children will remember as they watch their plants grow and flourish over time. 

Huge thanks to everyone who donated seeds and plants. We really appreciate it 

Roars and snores!

What a way to end Spring term! Duckpool students had the opportunity to take part in Dartmoor Zoo's 'Snooze at the Zoo' experience.

On an action-packed first day we had a guided tour of the zoo, educational workshops based upon conservation and endangered species, as well as a 'close encounters' session where we came face-to-face with a giant stick-insect and a bearded dragon.

After completing a tricky zoo trail in teams, we were served a delicious dinner before watching 'We Bought a Zoo': the film adaptation of the story behind the current owner of the zoo. After darkness fell we embarked on an 'after dark' tour and spotted some of the nocturnal creatures.

On day 2, after filling ourselves up with a range of lovely fruit, pastries and cereals we were ready to explore the zoo ourselves privately, before it was open to the public! We visited the reptile house, played on the play equipment and went back to say our farewells to our favourite animals. We had a picnic lunch in the glorious sunshine in the 'calm garden' before heading back to Brunel.

The children behaved impeccably and were an utter joy to take. Members of the public also commented upon how well they conducted themselves. What an incredible couple of days of learning, fun and excitement!

Check out lots more photos in the document below...

Our first week back after Easter break has seen us enjoy some beautiful but windy weather!

The children all came back excited to share what fun they had shared with their families over easter, and how many easter egg hunts they had all been to!

The children settled back into pre-school quickly and they enjoyed our garden center role play area, planting seeds and selling plants.

We talked about our new enquiry question for this half term, 'What can we plant and see in a garden?'  The children talked about what they know can grow in a garden, plants, fruits and vegetables.  We looked at different types of seeds and how we plant and look after the seeds to make them grow. We also enjoyed stories such as Sam Plants a Sunflower and Jaspers Beanstalk.

Next week we will be getting our big tractor tyre flower beds weeded in preparation to plant some plants into them.  The children will help to water them daily and look out for signs of them growing.  We will also be starting some seeds off and hoping they grow too!

The children on Thursday are lucky to be joining Lantic and Mrs Edwards for a short forest school session, the first one this week was thoroughly enjoyed.  We know not all of the children are here for a Thursday session, but to reassure you that all the children will be accessing forest school at times over the summer term.  We quite often go exploring over there when the afternoons allow us to.

The Summer Term school lunch menu is in our entrance area, remember all our children can order a school lunch.  If this is something you would like to do, please pop in and see Mrs Thompson if you need a Parent pay account setting up.

The pre-School Team.

Mysterious Musical Instruments!

Mr Jane treated Duckpool to an introduction to the unusual musical instrument called the piano accordian in music this week. He played some familiar tunes to the children, as well as showing them clips of how they work and how they are made.

At the end of the session, the children were extremely lucky to have a go at holding and playing the piano accordian - despite it almost matching some students in size! It was a wonderful opportunity to access a lesser-known instrument: both inspiring and interesting!

Woven Wonders!

Duckpool class have outdone themselves with their 3D sculpture final pieces this week.

We learned about the work and inspiration of the artist El Anatsui, who is known for producing interesting 3D structures from recycled and reused materials.

Our task was to use offcuts of paper to create an interesting 3D design. A variety of weaving techniques, as well as overlapping 'tiles' was combined and thoughtfully attached to a backboard in order to bring energy and movement to materials that are usually 2-dimensional.

Fiddly but fun!

This week, in our 3D sculpture art unit, we were learning about the use of wire to create shape and frames.

We used techniques such as twisting, bending and shaping over the top of a pre-planned sketch.

It took a great deal of patience and resilience in order to get to these fantastic final pieces! We had shells, astronauts, birds, flowers, cars, shoes, and even more... We were very proud of our efforts.

Welcome to the Summer Term!

It has been lovely this week to finally enjoy some outside learning in the sunshine. We have been enjoying our recently purchased trikes and our writing shed has been transformed into an explorers base with a jungle theme. 

Our learning this term, is based on the enquiry question; 'Who are explorers and what do they do?' We have launched the topic by discussing what we already know about explorers, and have researched the equipment that explorers might need in different environments. The children have asked some interesting and thoughtful questions such as; 'Can anyone be an explorer? Are explorers allowed to take home what they discover? and 'What is the furthest anyone has ever explored?' This led us to find out the recent space mission which ventured to the far side of the moon.

'The Tiger who came to Tea' has been the focus of our English learning in Year 1 and Year 2 for this week as well as next week. We have drawn a story map, summarised the story and used interesting verbs in sentences. Reception have been busy using 'Supertato' as their text for English, and have written some lovely wanted posters as well as going on a search for the evil pea. It's so lovely to see the children have so much fun with their learning this week.

What a brilliant start to the term everyone! Well done.

From The Penhallow Team