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! 

Dear Parents and Carers,

Thank you for suppporting the Brunel Friends Association's 'Shorts and Shades' fundraiser today. Everyone was in a holiday mood and looked as if they belonged on a beach even if the weather wasn't quite playing ball. The money will be put towards new sports kits for when our children are representing Brunel out in the community. Thank you to everyone who has come forward with offers of sponsorship. In addition to kits, we are also looking to purchase more gazebos and team banners so that we can proudly promote Brunel at all events, sporting or otherwise. Mr Knight will be contacting you soon with how you or your business could help.

You will have read in a previous email that we are also looking to change our PE kit from September 2022. In the past children have worn tee-shirts in the colour of their school teams, ready for sports day. As the children are now wearing kit into school on PE days we have decided to change the tee-shirt to a Brunel blue colour. Details of the full kit and stockists will be emailed out shortly.

We all had a fantastic day last weekend on Plymouth Hoe supporting Brunel's Field Gun Crew. The Crew were one of twenty teams competing in the Junior Field Gun competition as psrt of Armed Forces Day. Well done to all the children who worked brilliantly as a team and achieved an amazing second place in the 'least penalties' category, look out for the silver platter on display in reception. Thank you to Mr Knight, Mrs Newman and all the parents, carers and staff who came to cheer them on.

Today, Brunel's Bowling team are competing in the Cornwall Games at St Austell. They have performed incredibly well and are urrently competing in the semi-finals - look out for updates on Facebook and Twitter.

I hope to see you all at the Sports Day and Picnic taking place on the school field on Tiesday 5th July weather permitting. If your child requires a school packed lunch please order as usual via ParentPay.

Below are this week's Achievers, congratulations and well done to all who were chosen.

Have a lovely weekend

We all had a fantastic day on Plymouth Hoe supporting Brunel's Field Gun Crew, who were one of twenty teams competing in the Junior Field Gun competition as part of Plymouth Armed Forces Day. Well done to the crew who worked brilliantly as a team and achieved an amazing second place in the 'least penalties' category. Thank you to Mr Knight, Mrs Newman and all the parents, carers and staff who came to cheer them on.

Lifelong learning at Brunel!

For today's teacher training day we were pleased to welcome the staff of all 14 Bridge Schools to Brunel. 

We attended workshops and update sessions and enjoyed coming to together in person as a whole trust staff for the first time in two years. 

We shared expertise and experience in many curriculum subjects and look forward to trying out some of the ideas in our classrooms.