A week of Pablo Picasso

The children have learned about Picasso this week and used his unique techniques to create their own piece of art based on cubism. They chose to either create a 2-D or 3-D version of a portrait. They had so much fun and laughter doing this activity.

During maths, the children have finally grasped the concept of multiplying numbers using the column method. They will progress to division next week.

The children's magnificent stories are now completed and have been edited to include many features of figurative language: metaphors, passive voice and expanded noun phrases. It was so enjoyable reading the children's stories and seeing huge progress in all of the children's writing techniques. Thank you, Talland Class.

Best wishes, Mrs Swabey, Mr Parry, Mrs Walters, Mrs Payne and Miss Rowlands.

Welcome to The Brunel Bulletin!

This week, we have been raising the awareness of Children's Mental Health Week 2025 and our Art Week has tied in brilliantly with this theme. We hope your children have enjoyed their week with us at Brunel.

We are delighted to bring you the latest edition of The Brunel Bulletin, your go-to source for all the exciting news, updates, and achievements happening within our school community. Whether it’s celebrating pupil successes, sharing upcoming events, or showcasing the incredible work of our staff and pupils, this newsletter keeps you connected and informed. As we end another week filled with learning, growth, and creativity, we invite you to join us in celebrating the vibrant spirit that makes our school truly special. Let’s dive in!

Fun, fitness and beating heart

A wonderful beginning to the week. The children experienced fun and fitness through the attendance of a Parkour group. Parkour is a movement activity that promotes health and fitness whilst teaching young people to master their bodies and minds. The children were all full of smiles and enthusiasm as they practised moving their bodies over equipment and climbing on frames. 


To link to the fitness, the children learned how to create an algorithm for a Micro:bit - a mini computer. They created a small beating heart by including instructions and a repeated pattern. Their understanding of computer programs is amazing.

The children have finally completed their first draft of their own version of Hansel and Gretel. Instead of a witch, they have included a Yeti to link with the Class' theme of life in the Alps. They are really enjoying this piece of work and will re-edit their stories next week to ensure the writing contains all the correct capital letters, full stops and figurative language.

During maths, the children have finally grasped the idea of adding and subtracting simple fractions. The new unit covers multiplying numbers using the grid and column method.





Best wishes, Mrs Swabey, Mr Parry, Mrs Walters, Mrs Payne and Miss Rowlands.

This week, as part of our learning based around our focus story 'Goldilocks and the three bears', we have been learning about '3'.

We have been looking at our activities to see if we can find or make 3; some children  have even drawn the 3 bears from our story. Others have made groups of 3 and have found the number 3.

We have noticed that some of our friends are 3 years old, too.

w/e 31.1.25

We've had a fantastic and busy week in Year 3 and 4, packed with exciting learning experiences and opportunities to develop new skills. Here's a look at what we've been up to:

English
This week, the children have been working hard on writing their own stories set in the past. They have demonstrated a range of writing skills, including: Using fronted adverbials of time and place; accurately punctuating speech; maintaining correct verb tenses; creating rich descriptions and characterisation through 'show not tell'. It has been wonderful to see their creativity shine through in their storytelling!

Maths
We have continued our work on multiplication and division. A strong foundation in times tables significantly supports mathematical learning, so please keep practising key facts at home. Quick recall of these facts makes learning across all areas of maths much easier once they are embedded.

History
In history, we have been exploring the Bronze Age. The children learned about: How bronze was made and where it came from in to Britain; the differences in how people found food during the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and today. This has been a fascinating topic already, and the children have engaged well with historical thinking and discussions.

PSHE
This week in PSHE, we have focused on having a growth mindset. The children tackled various challenges in groups, demonstrating perseverance, resilience, and teamwork. It has been great to see their confidence grow as they approached each challenge with enthusiasm.

Dance
As part of our whole year group dance, we have been adding rain elements to our routines. The children have displayed excellent collaboration and creativity, working together to refine their performances.

Art
Taking inspiration from the Stone Age, we ventured outside to find natural materials to use as paint. The children experimented with making their own paint and recorded their findings in their sketchbooks. This hands-on activity really helped them connect with how early humans created art.

Science
In science, we investigated reflective surfaces. The children explored how different materials reflect light and discussed how this knowledge is useful in everyday life.

Special Events 
We've had a particularly exciting week with some special events:

~ St Anne's visit for some of our class - it was National Chocolate Cake Day so we made Krispie cakes with the residents! Yum!
~ Arts Lab Parkour Theatre Performance – The children greatly enjoyed watching a performance representing neurodiversity and even had the opportunity to try out some Parkour themselves!
~ Scooter Workshop – On Thursday, the children took part in a scooter workshop, showing fantastic enjoyment, resilience, and skill development.
~ Tree Planting for the King – Three members of our class proudly represented us by planting a tree for the King in Victoria Gardens.
~ Reading Assembly – We explored the book 'It's a No Money Day', which provided a valuable opportunity for the children to see into the lives of others through 'windows and mirrors'.

Looking Ahead to Next Week

We have lots to look forward to, including:
~ Art Week – A celebration of creativity and artistic expression.
~ Children's Mental Health Awareness Week – Encouraging positive discussions and activities around mental well-being.
~ NSPCC Number Day (Friday) – A fun and educational event focused on maths.

Thank you for your continued support. We are excited for another fantastic week of learning ahead!

Let's Get Moving!

We've had a very active week in Tregantle this week! The brighter weather towards the end of the week has meant that we have had lots of time outside. The children have been really helpful around the garden as we have been clearing out and preparing for spring. The highlight of the week was definitely our scooter workshop with Ashlea on Thursday. The children learnt how to scoot safely and completed an obstacle course going in and out of cones and dodging the  volcanoes! What a fun way to stay active and develop gross motor control. 

Where has the month of January gone?
We are delighted to bring you the latest edition of The Brunel Bulletin, your go-to source for all the exciting news, updates, and achievements happening within our school community. Whether it’s celebrating pupil successes, sharing upcoming events, or showcasing the incredible work of our staff and pupils, this newsletter keeps you connected and informed. As we end another week filled with learning, growth, and creativity, we invite you to join us in celebrating the vibrant spirit that makes our school truly special. Let’s dive in!

Back to School for a Bed Time Story!

What an exciting week it's been! The highlight of the week has been our Tregantle bedtime story. On Thursday the EYFS children were invited back to school in the evening all ready for bed! The children and teachers came dressed in their pyjamas and slippers ready to snuggle down for a story. There were many teddies who also came along to hear the stories. Not only did we listen to some great stories, but also were lucky to have a hot chocolate and biscuit treat! This has been another great way to foster a love of reading in our youngest children. 

This week, we have started to write our Hansel and Gretel stories; I have been flabbergasted by the wonderful use of vocabulary and punctuation. We are up to the part where they have been invited into the cheese house by the yeti. Next week will finish writing and we will find out how Hansel and Gretel will escape the yeti's evil clutches. Look at the fantastic handwriting!

In maths, we have been finding out about ratio and scale factors. The children have been learning new vocbaulary, such as, proportion and dimensions.

In PE, the children have been creating partner sequences in gymnastics. They had to include a jump and a roll along with partner balances - some of them in unison and some of them in cannon. I was proud of their wonderful teamwork and collaboration. 

In PSHE, we were thinking about our strengths and weaknesses. We decided that most of our weaknesses could also be positive depending on how you look at them. For example, being a perfectionist shows that you like attention to detail. 

Have a relaxing weekend!

Miss Burton

What a brilliant week it has been at Team Brunel. To keep up to date with the latest news, events and achievements from our incredible school, please enjoy browsing through 'The Brunel Bulletin.'

Talland Class continue improving their sewing skills

Another action packed week for Talland Class. The week has included investigating the countries linked to the Alps by using maps and atlases. The children's map skills are developing and they can now begin to talk about different climates; human and physical features of an environment and know that England and the Alps are both in Europe.

One of the highlights of this week was learning how to use a blanket stitch to facilitate the stitching of the children's stuffed toys. Every child put in 100% effort into this activity. They found it amazing, intriguing and most of all, fun!

We have continued with subtracting fractions this week. This began with simple fractions and then the children were challenged with mixed fractions, for example:




Although a huge challenge for the children, they all persevered and gained a greater understanding of how to subtract fractions.

During the English sessions, the children have continued to develop their version of Hansel and Gretel. Many children are now using the advanced skills of figurative language in their writing. One element, for example, was to write a character scene to show emotions without telling the reader the emotion. For instance, one child used:

Her eyes were puffy, and red-rimmed. Wet streaks ran down her face, leaving tiny rivers running down her cheeks. 

instead of

She was crying.

It's been wonderful reading the beginning of the children's stories.

Have a wonderful, well-deserved weekend. 

Best wishes, Mrs Swabey, Mr Parry, Mrs Walters, Mrs Payne and Miss Rowlands.

It was lovely to be able to visit St Anne's again after the Christmas break.

We took some of our library books to share with the residents which sparked lots of conversations about favourite stories.

The play dollies also enjoyed having a story read to them!

What a fun and busy week!

This week the children in Lantic class have been so busy!  We have been exploring characters feelings in English lessons, comparing schools from the past with now, understanding that Jesus is 'Good News' for Christian's by being forgiving AND making rabbit sliders in our DT lessons...  We've shared our favourite books and worked really hard on using sentence stems to support our oracy skills in EVERY lesson!  Thank goodness it's the weekend - we need a rest!  Remember to keep reading at home and don't forget to look at your Maths homework on Anton.

I wonder what we'll be doing next week...
  

Ready for Reading!

We've had another amazing week in Tregantle, full of new experiences, learning and fun! 
Our Year 1 children were super scientists at the beginning of the week when they began learning about animals and their habitats. It was so much fun collecting up all of our toy animals and sorting them into the right habitats. We continued the animal theme in P.E where we learnt a dance to the music 'The Pink Panther.' We all had to work hard to move in time to the music and combine fast and slow movements. The whole team have been blown away with Tregantle's maths skills this week. The Year 1 children have been superb at using a number line effectively including adding missing numbers and our EYFS children have been amazing at adding numbers to 5. We got very creative when we made pictures to go with our class story 'The Gruffalo's Child.' The children used different shades of cold colours to create a background and then added black silhouettes of characters from the story. They all look fabulous on our display board! We ended the week with an exciting trip to Saltash Library. This really helped to develop our love of reading as there were so many fantastic books on offer. They children really enjoyed browsing though the books and especially loved picking a book to take home for the week. There was much excitement when it was time to scan our books in the borrowing machine! Enjoy your books Tregantle Class! 

w/e 17.1.25

What a fantastic week it has been in Daymer! The children have been working hard, exploring new ideas, and having lots of fun along the way.

Here’s a little peek into what we’ve been learning this week:

English We’ve been focusing on using adverbials of time and place to make our writing more exciting and clear. The children have impressed us with sentences like “Later that morning, the boy met Om's family” and “Inside the spooky cave...”

We’ve also been developing our skills in characterisation. The class explored how to “show not tell” emotions by describing feelings like joy, anger, and surprise, and thinking about how a character might move, speak, or react in different situations.

Maths Times tables have taken center stage in Year 3 and 4 this week! Plus, the year 4s discovered what a 'perfect number' is - hence the puzzled faces in the photo above!

Art The children tried out some line drawings of animals as they furthered their work on prehistoric art. Don't they look great?

PE In PE, we’ve been continuing with our dance theme inspired by wind. This week, the children explored the technique of canon, where each dancer performs a movement one after the other. Their creativity shone as they worked together to choreograph a beautiful and flowing routine.

Science Our mini water cycles, which we set up in the classroom last week, have been fascinating to observe! Each day, the children have monitored and recorded changes, noticing condensation, evaporation, and precipitation in action. It’s been a great hands-on way to explore the water cycle. We have finished our work on States of Matter and are moving into our new unit, which is 'Light'. 

RE and PSHE In RE, we learned about the Holy Trinity and discussed how Christians understand God as completely Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The children had thoughtful questions and showed a lot of curiosity. In PSHE, we focused on setting personal goals for the term / year. The children thought carefully about what they want to achieve and how they can work towards their goals.

Thank you for your continued support. It’s wonderful to see how enthusiastic the children are about their learning. We can’t wait to see what the next week brings!

The children of Talland Class have had a magnificent introduction to their topic in reference to the Alps. They attended school in warm clothing to assimilate life in the Alps during the Winter. During the week, they learned how to geographically locate the Alps using maps and also identified the Continents of the World together with the countries bordering the mountains: Switzerland, France and Germany, for instance. The highlight for the children was toasting marshmallows to eat during the afternoon session. A quote from one 10 year old, 'It's hot but it's also delicious.'

The maths topic, fractions, has been a pleasant challenge for the children. They have been focusing on finding common denominators to enable the addition of 2 and 3 lots of fractions, for instance:
.

A great deal of perseverance was shown by all of the children during the maths sessions.


During English, the children have been creating their own character and setting in anticipation for writing their own version of Hansel and Gretel. The description many of the children have been using is amazing: eyes like emerald balls; the isolated, lonely mountains are barren rocks on the sea shore eroding away with each crash of a wave; and so on.

Best wishes, Mrs Swabey, Mr Parry, Mrs Walters, Mrs Payne and Miss Rowlands.