Anti Bullying week 11th – 15th November –Change starts with us!

During this week, pupils and staff have been discussing exactly what constitutes bullying, the effects bullying has on everyone and what we can all do to help ensure that it doesn’t happen.

At Brunel we use the acronym S.T.O.P. to describe what bullying is and what we can do to stop it.

Several    Times     On         Purpose

Start        Telling    Other     People

If someone deliberately pushes you over one day on the playground or thumps you one day on the arm that's not bullying because it happened only once. It's unkind and unacceptable behaviour and will be dealt with but it's not bullying. Bullying is where someone is deliberately unkind or hurts you on purpose on several occasions. This is a really useful distinction for children to understand. The second part of the acronym tells you what to do if you or someone you know is being bullied. Speak to someone - start telling other people. The problem cannot be dealt with if nobody knows about it. We tell the children to speak to a teacher, TA, lunchtime supervisor, parent, relative, other child - anyone at all can help and if they can't they'll know who to pass it on to.

This Remembrance Day a group of very proud children had the important task of representing Brunel out in the community. They took part in the two minutes silence held near the war memorial with members of Saltash town council, the Royal British Legion and Saltash citizens.

Year 3 have been using their knowledge of ancient Egypt to write a story with a historical setting. They began by using a WAGOLL to create a toolkit, a list of everything they would need to include for their writing to be successful.

WAGOLL stands for ‘What a Good One Looks Like’ and they are ‘good’ examples of work that teachers give students to look at to provide inspiration for their own work. They help set a certain standard that children should be aiming to achieve in order to meet the lesson objectives. By examining the WAGOLL together pupils can create a list, or Toolkit, of everything they need to include to make their own writing successful.

These children were really proud to read their finished stories to me and each had identified their favourite sentence........

The intelligent guide stopped at each mesmerising display to inform the excited children about the unique artifacts.

Evelyn wasn't looking where she was going so she crashed into a beautiful, tall pyramid with bricks as rough as a rock and a lovely sandy colour that spread across the thick extraordinary pyramid. 

Well done.

Last week our year 6 pupils enjoyed five jam packed days of outdoor activities at Okehampton. Qualified instructors ensured that all the children, whatever their ability, were able to experience a variety of pursuits such as  kayaking, surfing, cycling and team building. 
Everyone, adults included, enjoyed finding out about each other's hidden talents! 

On Tuesday afternoon, a large contingent of Lower Key Stage 2 children and staff descended on Coombe Woods, armed with trowels and suitably dressed, to help plant daffodils.

This is the third year we have been invited by Jon Foster (a former Brunel parent) to take part in this amazing community project and we are already looking forward to visiting in the Spring to see the results of the children’s hard work.

Many thanks to all those who kindly donated bulbs. 

I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who was able to attend our Summer Fayre yesterday. I'm sure you'll agree that it was a lovely family occasion from the moment Gloria Challen (Saltash Town Mayor) cut the ribbon to open the event, right through to the announcement of the very last prize winner.

We are so very lucky to have such a dedicated group of supportive parents who worked really hard to make the day a success. Sarah Elwell and the rest of the BFA committee did an amazing job of attracting stall holders and allocating tasks to the many parents, grandparents and staff who helped.

To all the teachers, TAs, cleaners, kitchen staff and caretaker who came to school for a sixth day this week I would like to say well done and thank you - the holidays are nearly here!

So whether you were an organiser, stall holder, helper, donator of goods or one of the many who brought their children along to spend their money, you all helped to make our Summer Fayre a successful community event that raised an astounding £1,780.

Thank you all very much.

On Saturday 29th June I spent an amazing day on the Hoe in Plymouth where our Field Gun Crew were taking part in the Armed Forces Day celebrations. 

Brunel's Field Gun teams have only been in existence for just over two months and yet were able to hold their own when racing against teams that have been established for many years.

The Crew took part in events from early morning until 4.00 pm and did exceptionally well to keep going on what turned out to be the hottest day of the year so far.

The origins of Royal Navy Field Gun lay in 1899, in the Second Boer War.  The British Army was besieged by Boer fighters in the garrison town of Ladysmith, Natal  when the Royal Navy landed guns from HMS Terrible and HMS Powerful to help in the relief of the siege. Special carriages and mountings for these guns had been improvised before the Naval Brigade manhandled six field guns each weighing nearly half a metric tonne over rough terrain to provide assistance to the British Army.

Brunel's Crews showed immense strength and teamwork. Every single member played their own individual but vital part in ensuring the very heavy gun was moved and reassembled perfectly.

The Crew would like to pass on their thanks to all the parents, friends and staff who turned out to support them. A special mention must go to Mr Knight and Mrs Newman for not only training the Crew but running every event along side them!

On Monday, we had a whole school celebration assembly to recognise the very special achievements of three of our upper KS2 children. As part of the Engineering Leaders Award, tens of thousands of children from both primary and secondary schools entered a competition in which they had to identify a problem and then find an engineering solution.

Maddie designed a set of foldaway steps to help the elderly and infirm gain easy access to the bath.

Jimmy designed a self-cleaning open fireplace.

Mark designed a gutter cleaning machine.

Out of over 30,000 entries, 317 were shortlisted with 214 being deemed good enough to be put on public display.  Maddie and Jimmy were both shortlisted with 'Distinction' whilst Mark was given the additional recognition of 'Judges' Highly Commended'. All three designs are now on public display at the University of the West of England in Bristol. We are sure that you are as proud as we are of their achievements and the excellent way in which they have represented Brunel Primary and Nursery Academy.

For the second year running, all the children in Lower KS2 have been lucky enough to take part in the Archie Project, which links young people with the elderly.

This has resulted in weekly visits to St Anne’s Residential Home, where, along with the residents, the children have taken part in cooking, games, dance and craft, to name just a few.

Today, as part of Dementia Awareness Week, children and staff at Brunel have been invited to wear red and yellow to school; for these are the last colours to be recognised by the ageing eye.

We would like to thank everyone who donated to this worthy cause. Y3/4 pupils have also been writing letters this term to persuade the Anchor Homes group to continue funding this wonderful project for another year.