It's (nearly) Christmas!

It's the 2nd day of December and the school is begining to look very Christmassy in preparation for our Hunt the Issy evening next Tuesday. This is the first time we've been able to go ahead with this popular Christmas event since 2019 so it will be a new experience for many of your children. It is a chance for everyone to admire the Christmas decorations throughout the school, including Issy's Nursery, and visit the stalls and games in the KS2 hall. The children are invited to take part in a competition to find the cartoon 'Issy Brunels' which are hidden amongst the decorations in various classrooms and corridors. All correct entires are put into a draw to win a special Christmas prize. You don't even have to eat before you arrive as Jane, our cook, will be selling food (including chips) and drinks in the canteen. We look forward to seeng you there.

Everyone enjoyed their walk to the Christmas tree festival at St NIcholas and St Faith. There were many beautiful trees to admire, including Brunel's which was decorated by UKS2 in Victorian style. 

Children from Year 1 upwards took part in a Tech We Can assembly yesterday. Tech We Can is a programme of free learning materials, for use by teachers or parents, to inspire children, especially girls, to think and talk about technology and the role it plays in their lives, and maybe consider a future career in technology. The children were also encouraged to enter a competition to design a 'techy toy' for Santa to deliver. Further information can be found on our Facebook page or by following this link Competition time: Help Tex and B-bot to design a techy toy for Christmas! (techshecan.org)

Below are this half term's Achievers, congratulations and well done to all who were chosen. Please remember to visit the class blogs on this website for a round up of the week's other activities.  

Dates until the end of term

Hunt the Issy - Tuesday 6th December 4 - 6pm 

Reception (Portwrinkle) - Christmas Nativity video screening for parents - Tuesday 13th December 9.15am

KS1 (Downderry and Kingsand) - Whoops-a-Daisy Angel - Wednesday 14th December 9.15am and 2pm

KS2 (Mousehole, Whitsand, Talland, Looe, Pendower and Seaton classes) Tuesday 13th December 2pm Wednesday 14th December 6pm and Thursday 15th December 9.15am (tickets are still available).

This week we were delighted to show Councillor Richard Bickford and Mrs Sarah Bickford, the Mayor and Mayoress of Saltash, around Brunel. We visited classrooms from Issy's Nursery to Year 6,  admiring our extensive grounds and playgrounds as we walked.

The Mayor and Mayoress were impressed with the good learning behaviours they saw in every classroom and commented on how calm and friendly they found the children. Pupils enjoyed talking about their work and other activities, for example our longstanding connection with St Anne's Residential home.

The tour concluded with a visit to the Year 6 children, parents and carers taking part in the lantern making workshop. We are looking forward to seeing the decorated Brunel lanterns in the parade on Saturday 3rd December and thank Jill Hudson, the artist, and Helen Holloway-Neville, from Saltash Scrapstore, for their help.

Thank you also to the parents,carers and grandparents who joined in and the Mayor and Mayoress for taking time out of their busy schedule to pay us a visit.

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Brunel Friends Association are a group of parents, carers and teachers who are passionate about supporting Brunel Primary and Nursery Academy. The aim is to raise money and promote the school through a wide range of events, with any resulting funds going towards improving resources and facilities at Brunel.

Everyone is warmly invited to become involved. We are very lucky to have an enthusiastic group of people and always welcome new ideas, energy and skills. It's a great way to make new friends. 

This week the BFA have been extremely excited to share the final total for their Gardening Club funding as a Co-op Community Fund local cause - an amazing £3114!

Thank you if you helped by spreading the word and encouraging family and friends to choose us as their local cause through the Co-op App. 

We are looking forward to planning the redevelopment of the gardening area and seeing the produce that the children grow later in the year. 

If you would like to find out more please come along to any of the BFA events or speak to any member of the school staff who will be pleased to put you in contact

Science  Roadshow 

We were delighted to welcome, for the second time, Nerys and the Royal Institution's Science roadshow to Brunel. The 'We Have The Power' morning show investigated the different ways in which electricity can be made, and created lots of excitement, explosions, bangs and flashes. 

In the afternoon children from across the Bridge Schools Trust joined us to learn how to be rocket scientists. The purpose of the roadshow is to raise the profile of science, ignite interest  and motivate pupils to try simple experiments for themselves.

If you are interested, the Royal Institution have a dedicated You Tube chanel demonstrating all the fun experiments that you can easily do at home using everyday objects and substances. For example:how to make bouncing eggs, rubber band cannons and soap powered boats. Search Ri Experimental and do let us know how you get on.

Each week on a Friday afternoon, one pupilfrom each class is selected to take part in our Achievers assembly. Children are chosen for a variety of reasons; it may be that they have completed a particularly impressive piece of work or that they have made an extra effort. Often children are chosen because of their attitudes towards others or for their approach to learning, for example, for being a good friend or persisting with something that they have found difficult. 

During the Friday assembly the children share these achievements with the whole school and are given a certificate so that you can celebrate and congratulate them at home. Below are the Achievers from the past three weeks. As it is the start of a new school year, the first two are slightly different to the usual format.

Below is our long awaited Ofsted report and I am delighted to be able to finally share the news that Brunel was judged to be a GOOD school with the areas of Personal Development and Early Years provision judged to be OUTSTANDING!

Although short, as is customary these days, it is a pleasure to read, with a lovely sprinkling of words such as 'impressive', excellence' and exemplary'. It is an exceptionally positive report and I feel it captures the true core values of Brunel in that it refers not only to the high expectations, well-structured and sequenced high-quality curriculum, and high standards of work achieved, but also acknowledges the emphasis and importance we place on developing and nurturing the whole child, their character development and mental and physical wellbeing. The foundations for successful academic and personal achievement are built in the Early Years and it is gratifying that the OUTSTANDING start we provide for children in our nursery and reception classes has been recognised.

The report acknowledges the invaluable support we receive from Bridge Schools Trust and I sincerely thank the trust and our own Brunel teachers, TAs and local governing body for their commitment and hard work over the past few years. This is a huge achievement particularly following two years of Covid disruption.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all parents and carers for your continued support of the school. Whether you have been with us for the whole of our journey or joined more recently, your involvement, encouragement and appreciation makes a real difference to your children, our staff and to the success of Brunel.

The final words of praise should definitely go to your wonderful children, the heart of any school, who confidently and articulately showcased all that is best about Brunel.

It's been a real team effort and our entire Brunel community and Bridge Schools trust should feel proud.

Well done everyone and thank you.

HRM Queen Elizabeth ll

This morning we celebrated the life of Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth ll. We thought about significant events during her reign, discussed what it meant 'to serve', remembered our Platinum Jubilee celebrations, re-read our very special letter and finished our assembly by holding a minutes silence. Our thoughts and condolences are with all who loved her.

Well done to these 10 children who received certificates and prizes for being 'Never Late and Never Away' for the whole school year. This is an amazing achievement, particularly at a time when Covid is still very much present in our community. We would really like to find out your secrets for keepng so well and think that you may actually be superhuman!