What a fantastic end to the half term we have had in Tregantle Class!

This week, we have been exploring internet safety through a range of exciting and engaging stories, including #Goldilocks and Old MacDonald Had a Phone. The children thoroughly enjoyed these modern twists on traditional tales and engaged brilliantly in discussions. They have been learning how to stay safe when using different technologies and were able to share some excellent ideas about what to do if something worries them online. We are so proud of how thoughtfully they contributed to our conversations.

In PE, we had great fun in our final lesson of our unit, Best of Balls. The children worked incredibly hard practising their throwing and catching skills using balloons. Their challenge was to keep the balloons off the floor - which led to lots of laughter and smiles! It was wonderful to see them developing their gross motor skills while also working cooperatively and encouraging one another.

It has truly been a fabulous half term, filled with so much learning, progress and growing confidence. We are incredibly proud of everything the children have achieved. We wish you all a restful and enjoyable week off school. We look forward to welcoming everyone back for the second half of the Spring Term, where we will begin our exciting new topic all about animals from around the world! Have a lovely half term break!

w/e 6.6.26

It's been another busy and enjoyable week in Perranporth class, with lots of learning happening across the curriculum.

It has been a brilliant Brunel Week! Please enjoy catching up on all the latest news and events from the past week at our wonderful school. 

A Week Full of Adventure in Tregantle Class!

What an exciting week it has been for Tregantle Class!

Our week began with a wonderful adventure around the school grounds, starting with a visit to see the school chickens and the pond. The children were delighted by our very noisy cockerel, Merlin, whose enthusiastic crowing made everyone laugh. The pond was bursting with life, giving us lots to look at and talk about. On our way back to the classroom, we couldn't resist stopping off at the adventure playground, which added even more fun to our afternoon.

The highlight of the week came on Thursday evening, when the children returned to school for a very special bedtime story event. Dressed in their pyjamas and bringing along their teddies and blankets, the children enjoyed a cosy and snug classroom atmosphere. Mrs Grinsted, Mrs McIntyre and Mrs Orchard shared a selection of new and favourite stories, while everyone relaxed with a hot chocolate and a biscuit.

It was a truly magical evening and a lovely way to support and celebrate our love of reading at Brunel. What a memorable week for Tregantle Class!

Another fantastic week of learning in Year 2 and 3, full of creativity, teamwork and confidence-building moments. The children have impressed us with their focus and enthusiasm across the curriculum.

English

In English, the children have been developing their writing skills further by learning how to use subordinating conjunctions and rhetorical questions to make their writing more engaging and detailed. They have also been busy planning their own recounts through letters, thinking carefully about audience, purpose and structure. We are seeing real growth in both confidence and independence in their writing.

Maths

In Maths, learning looked a little different across the year groups:

• Year 2 have been adding two-digit numbers, using a range of practical and written methods.

• Year 3 have been multiplying and dividing by 3, exploring both sharing and grouping to deepen their understanding.

The children worked hard to explain their thinking and support one another.

History

In History, we learned about the significant figure Amelia Earhart. The children were fascinated by her achievements in flight and enjoyed discussing why she is remembered as an important and inspiring person.

PSHE

Our PSHE lessons focused on thinking about others and challenging ourselves to work collaboratively. The children worked in groups to design a garden for someone with needs different from their own, showing empathy, creativity and excellent teamwork skills.

Design & Technology

DT was a real highlight this week as the children brought their pneumatic toy designs to life. The level of inventiveness, problem-solving and perseverance on display was wonderful to see-every design was unique, and the children were incredibly proud of their finished creations.

PE

In PE, we brought together our whole-class machine dance. The final performance included individual, paired, small-group and whole-class elements, all linked smoothly together. The children showed great coordination, timing and confidence.

Love Yourself Day

On Friday, we celebrated Love Yourself Day. Children and adults were invited to wear things they love, and we spent time talking about self-confidence, kindness and appreciating what makes us all unique. It was a joyful and positive way to end the week.

The Stick House

In our focus story we have been hearing about how each little pig used a different type of material to build their house.

In these pictures the children are exploring the sticks that we found in the garden; they are trying to make a stable building for the pig to live in. We all agreed that it was much harder than it looked.

Lantic Class have had a truly fantastic week full of learning, kindness and creativity!

One of the highlights was our lovely visit to St Anne's Care Home. The children were a credit to the school as they enjoyed a snack and drink with the residents and proudly shared their literacy work. They also gave out beautiful painted cards they had made themselves, which brought lots of smiles and kind words. It was so special to see the children chatting, listening and showing such care and confidence.

In Maths, we have been learning all about doubles. The children used counters, ten frames and games to help them spot and remember doubles, and they did a great job explaining their thinking and working together.

In History, we began learning about old teddies and new teddies. The children loved comparing toys from the past with toys from today and talking about how things change over time. There were lots of thoughtful observations and exciting discussions! We also started a new poem in English called Ten Things Found in a Wizard's Pocket. The children have really enjoyed listening to the poem, exploring the magical language and sharing their ideas about what might be hiding in the wizard's pocket. We're looking forward to doing more with this poem next week.

Well done, Lantic Class, for such a brilliant week of learning and for showing such kindness and enthusiasm. We are very proud of you!

Artistic fun!

This week we started our new unit in English based upon our class story 'No Ballet Shoes in Syria' by Catherine Bruton. We have been exploring the character, Aya, and writing different sentences to describe her. We have focused on using parenthesis and experimenting with subordinate and main clauses. 

in maths, we have moved onto our unit 'fractions, decimals and percentages'. We have been finding out equivalence and using this to help convert them. 

In geography, we explored the factors that might affect birth and death rates. This has helped us understand some reasons why population changes and why some people move countries. 

In art, we have been editing photos to design and album cover. We then researched different vinyl designs and had a go at designing our own. We used pastels, watercolours and colouring pencils to see which worked the best. Look at our fabulous sketchbook pages!

Have a fantastic weekend, Miss Burton.

This week we have been exploring the properties of straw!

Some of the older children have found that it was really bendy and not very strong; they weren't sure how the first little pig was able to build a house with it, and they weren't surprised that the wolf was able to blow it down.

Other younger children enjoyed playing with it as a sensory experience; watching as it fell and moved with the air (the big bad wolf blowing!).

It has been a busy week at Brunel full of learning opportunities for our children. Please enjoy browsing through this week's edition of The Brunel Bulletin.

Exciting ice sculptures!

What a brilliant week it has been in Tregantle Class!

We thoroughly enjoyed a special session with our KS2 Reading Pioneers. The children were completely immersed in the stories and listened with such focus and excitement. The older children did a fantastic job with their storytelling - they were wonderful role models and made the experience really memorable for our EYFS learners.

This week also brought some very exciting science learning as we unveiled our ice sculptures from the freezer. The children were absolutely delighted with the results and fascinated as they watched the ice melt. They carefully observed how the sculptures changed in shape and consistency, sharing their ideas and predictions as the ice transformed.

We have also seen some amazing writing this week. Many children have become true authors, using their growing phonics skills to write books of their very own. We are so impressed with their enthusiasm, creativity, and confidence - very impressive work indeed!

In maths, we have had some marvellous mathematicians exploring numbers to 8. The children worked hard to find more and less, showing great understanding through practical activities and discussions.

What a wonderful week of learning, curiosity, and achievement. We are so proud of everything the children have accomplished - well done, Tregantle Class!

w/e 23.1.26

It has been another packed and purposeful week for our Year 4 and Year 5 children, full of creativity, curiosity and important conversations.

In Geography, the children developed their map skills by locating the world's deserts. They used atlases and maps to identify where deserts are found and began exploring what makes these environments so unique. This learning fed beautifully into our work in English, where the children have been building their grammar knowledge in preparation for writing their own desert diaries. The children have worked hard on sentence structure and detail, getting ready to bring their diary writing to life.

Some of our children were lucky enough to attend an art workshop at the local library, where they took part in creative activities and explored different artistic techniques.

In Science, the children investigated electricity through hands-on learning. They explored complete and incomplete circuits, testing what worked and what did not by using lamps, buzzers and motors. This practical work helped them develop a clear understanding of how circuits function and encouraged lots of problem-solving and teamwork.

We also began our new DT unit, where the children will be designing and making a book cover. They have started thinking about purpose and design, and will be choosing a fastening of their choice as part of their final product.

In French, we began an exciting new unit on habitats, learning new vocabulary and listening carefully to spoken French as we explored different environments.

It has been a busy and engaging week, and we are very proud of the enthusiasm, curiosity and thoughtfulness the children have shown across all areas of learning.

w/e 23.1.26

It has been another packed and purposeful week for our Year 4 and Year 5 children, full of creativity, curiosity and important conversations.

In Geography, the children developed their map skills by locating the world's deserts. They used atlases and maps to identify where deserts are found and began exploring what makes these environments so unique. This learning fed beautifully into our work in English, where the children have been building their grammar knowledge in preparation for writing their own desert diaries. The children have worked hard on sentence structure and detail, getting ready to bring their diary writing to life.

Some of our children were lucky enough to attend an art workshop at the local library, where they took part in creative activities and explored different artistic techniques.

In Science, the children investigated electricity through hands-on learning. They explored complete and incomplete circuits, testing what worked and what did not by using lamps, buzzers and motors. This practical work helped them develop a clear understanding of how circuits function and encouraged lots of problem-solving and teamwork.

We also began our new DT unit, where the children will be designing and making a book cover. They have started thinking about purpose and design, and will be choosing a fastening of their choice as part of their final product.

In RE, the children continued their learning about racism, engaging in thoughtful discussions about fairness, respect and treating others equally. This linked well with our PSHE lessons, where we focused on staying safe and speaking out, supported by guidance from the NSPCC. The children showed maturity and care when discussing how to seek help and support.

Our guided reading sessions linked closely to both our Islands topic and our science learning about electricity. A real highlight was watching a short clip from Billy Elliot, where Billy describes dancing as feeling like electricity through your body. The children particularly enjoyed making connections between this powerful description and their scientific understanding of electrical energy.

In French, we began an exciting new unit on habitats, learning new vocabulary and listening carefully to spoken French as we explored different environments.

It has been a busy and engaging week, and we are very proud of the enthusiasm, curiosity and thoughtfulness the children have shown across all areas of learning.

Can you guess what these are?
They were taken by year 6 in art this afternoon. Answers to follow next week. 


Answers:
fidget toy
shreddie
weetabix
hair

Ballet Dancing Fun

This week has been wet and windy but full of fun. 

In English, we finished our Jack and the Beanstalk stories, they are all fantastic. Most of the children said it is the longest and most detailed piece of writing they have ever done. We were all very proud of our work and achievement. 

We have continued reading our class story 'No Ballet Shoes in Syria' by Catherine Bruton. The story is getting interesting now and we immersed ourselves into the story by taking part in a ballet workshop. In the story, the character uses ballet as a way of coping with her emotions after fleeing her country and becoming a war refugee. The children found that trying ballet for themselves has helped them to understand the character more deeply. 

In art, we have learned about macro photography. The children then had a go using the magnifier app on the IPad to get some photos for themselves. Keep posted to see if any appear on the blog. 

Have a restful weekend, 

Miss Burton

This week we started our new unit of science based on light. We explored how light travels in straight lines by using torches and toilet rolls. Next week, we are going to find out more about reflection. 

In maths, we have moved onto out new topic of decimals and we have been reminding ourselves of place value when rounding, multiplying and dividing. This will lead us nicely into percentages in a few weeks. 

In RE, we started our new topic about what life is like for Muslims in Britain. We recapped some basic knowledge of Islam and then found out more about Mosques. We compared how many Mosques there in London to Cornwall and thought about how that might impact on Muslims living in this area. 

In PSHE, we considered all the different parts of ourselves. We drew pictures to show the different characteristics and chose colours to represent each one. 

Have a fantastic weekend 

Miss Burton

Welcome back

This week we have started our new topic: How Does Population Change? We will be finding out about the populations of different countries and how they have changed over time. We will look at data regarding births and deaths and why people might move to different countries. We launched the topic by having an afternoon of playing games to help us understand including snakes and ladders and top trumps. We then invented our own countries and used blocks to explore the difference between sparsely and densely populated countries. 

In English, we have continued out Jack and the Beanstalk stories. 

In maths, we have been exploring co-ordinates and using our knowledge to solve problems. 

Please see the knowledge web below for the outline of the new topic.

What a wonderful week of learning opportunities we have had at Brunel this week. Please catch up with all our latest news in this week's edition of The Brunel Bulletin!