This half term has flown by. We have crammed a lot into six weeks including work around children’s internet safety this week.

Talland Class had an amazing trip to Paignton Zoo yesterday where they saw all the different animals in all of their different ecosystems and habitats. They enjoyed a workshop in front of the lions where they got to hear them roar and learned lots of fun facts. See the class blog for photos and more information.

Alice Bywater, National Trust Ranger, came to speak to Talland and Chaipel Classes this afternoon about the National Trust’s conservation work in our local area. The children listened really well and asked some excellent questions. They will be using what they have learned as part of the science, art and writing project we are running with the Orwell Society, which we will be sharing with Orwell Society members later this year at their annual conference which will be held in Polperro.

Cross Country There were more personal best results at the Fursdon Farm race on Friday. As usual the team ran brilliantly in spite of the freezing conditions.

Fantastic Footballers Congratulations to our football team who played incredibly well again on Tuesday and won 9-2 against Antony School.

Parent/carer consultations – diary date Consultations will be held the week of 3rd March either in person or on TEAMS. Appointments will be available as follows:
Penhallow Class: Monday 3rd March 1-4:00 pm; Wednesday 5th March 3:30 – 5:30pm
Landaviddy Class: Monday 3rd March 1-4:00 pm; Tuesday 4th March 3:30-4:30pm; Wednesday 5th March 3:30 – 5:30pm
Talland Class: Wednesday 5th March 3:30 – 5:30pm; Thursday 6th March 1pm-4:30pm
Chaipel Class: Tuesday 4th March 1pm-4:30pm; Wednesday 5th March 3:30 – 5:30pm
We will email you immediately after half term with information regarding how to book an appointment.

World Book Day Competition This year World Book Day is on Thursday 6th March. Information about this year’s Extreme Reading competition and school World Book Day activities can be found in a separate letter (sent yesterday and attached).

Friends of Polperro School (FOPS) Quiz Please see attached flyer for details of the FOPS  Quiz which we are holding on Friday 28th February to raise funds for the school. We hope to see you there. Tickets are on sale at the main gate or the office.

Half Term Activities (details of all activities are on flyers attached)
• Football Pro-20 are running some Football Courses in the area during the February half term period.
• Hugs Foundation Activity Day Bodmin The Hugs Foundation supports families when a parent/ carer has a terminal illness and they are running some fully funded equine and forest school activities available as an activity day at the hugs foundation during half term week. They ask a £5 booking fee for this as numbers are limited, but can waive this for families who need us too.
• Looe Mini Miler The Looe Mini Miler fun run takes place at 10am on Sunday 2nd March. The race, which is organised by the Looe Pioneers, is suitable for children aged 4 and above. No entries on the day.
• National Trust Tree Planting in Fowey The National Trust is creating a new woodland at Coombe Farm in Fowey on Wednesday 19th February and is inviting families to come and plant trees there with the aim of extending and joining up existing areas of woodland.

Friday is an INSET day and then it is the half term break. We look forward very much to seeing everyone back in school on Monday 24th February.

Have a wonderful half term break.

Mrs Hillman

This week we were fortunate to welcome to school Muhunthiny (Tinni) Sivasothy, a remarkable Hindu woman with an incredible passion for sharing her culture, beliefs, and values with others. During a special whole school assembly, she spoke about the key elements of Hinduism: about its rich history, its colourful festivals, and the deep spiritual traditions that are part of daily life for millions of Hindus around the world. Following the assembly, years 4-6 took part in a workshop designed to give students a deeper understanding of Hinduism. Tinni emailed to say that she had thoroughly enjoyed visiting the school saying ‘all the students focused well, were enthusiastic to learn about Hinduism, were well behaved, and respectful.’ We were delighted to see how the children reflected on what they had learned, asking thoughtful questions and sharing their thoughts on the experience.

Children’s Mental Health Week
Wellbeing Morning As part of Children’s Mental Health Week, today, staff and children had a wonderful morning outside taking part in the Big Schools’ Birdwatch; toasting marshmallows around the fire in the school garden; practicing yoga and mindfulness and enjoying art activities involving nature. The children have asked that we have a wellbeing session every term which we intend to organize.

In addition to learning about mental health in class, on Tuesday, Rev Richard spoke about mental health in an assembly and how it is important to know yourself and recognise that there are things about yourself that may be different, but these things are an important part of who you are.

Football Success Congratulations to our football team who won 3-1 against Bishop Cornish School on Monday. Coach Langley said they played amazingly as a team, passing really well to each other.

Dodgeball Tournament Our year 3/year 4 team played very well yesterday at Callywith College against other Bridge schools, narrowly missing the final. Well done to all involved.

Upcoming dates
Reminder that Friday 14th February is an INSET day and half term is 17-21 February.

Have a lovely weekend.  

Mrs Hillman

We have been busy organizing many trips and activities for the upcoming terms including Chaipel Class's trip today to the Tamar Bridge  as part of their DT learning.  Why not look at their class blog for more information and the other class blogs to see the learning across the school that has been taking place. 

Children’s Mental Health Week 3-9 February We will be taking part in Children’s Mental Health Week next week. The week’s focus is Know Yourself, Grow Yourself, with the aim to encourage children and young people across the UK to embrace self-awareness and explore what it means to them. As parents and carers, you play an important role in your child’s mental health. There are free resources here which you may wish to look at beforehand. https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/resources/#families

As part of Children’s Mental Health Week, we will be spending next Friday morning outside when staff and pupils will be taking part in the Big Schools’ Birdwatch; toasting marshmallows and listening to stories around the fire in the school garden; practicing yoga and enjoying art activities involving nature. Children should come into school on Friday in warm clothing with a waterproof coat and wellies or old trainers. They should bring their uniform in to change into in the afternoon. If it rains, we will do wellbeing activities inside but will still go outside for the birdwatching.

RNLI MUFTI Day Thank you for sending your children in yesterday in something blue or sea-themed. We raised £74 for the RNLI in recognition of the Oars of Thunder’s success in the World’s Toughest Row.

Family Worker Drop-Ins, Thursday 6th February, 9-11 am Reminder that the Early Help Hub will be holding Family Worker Drop-In Sessions in our school from 9-11 am on 6th February 2025. If you would like to be able to talk in confidence, just pop along, they will be here to help and support you. They will be happy to discuss and advise on issues concerning your family for example, how to better understand your child’s needs & behaviours; positive parenting and how to keep your child safe; how to better understand the importance of routines for your family. To book a 30-minute slot, contact the school on secretary@polperroprimary.co.uk or call on 01503 272249.

Upcoming dates Reminder that Friday 14th February is an INSET day and half term is 17-21 February.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Hillman

In assembly on Tuesday we watched video of the Oars of Thunder completing their 3000 mile row across the Atlantic. In recognition of their success in this amazing challenge, the children would like to have a MUFTI day next Thursday, 30th January to raise money for the team’s chosen charity, the RNLI. The theme for the day, which has been chosen by the School Council, is ‘Wear something blue or to do with the sea’. In return for wearing no uniform, a minimum donation of £1 would be welcome.

Congratulations to our cross-country team who ran brilliantly in last week’s race at Cotehele. Many of them ran a personal best, including Flora who came a fantastic second in her race. The team were all extremely supportive of each other and their behaviour was exemplary. We are very proud of them all.

Well done also to our football team who played their first league football match on Monday against Brunel. Although the final score was 2-0 to Brunel, they played really well as a team and the result didn’t quite reflect how well they played. The next match is at home against Bishop Cornish School on 3rd February.

Our Planet Protectors have been busy improving school’s recycling by arranging for each class to have a blue recycling bin (kindly funded by FOPS). The Planet Protectors meet every Tuesday lunchtime and are encouraging the rest of the school to know what they can and cannot recycle.

Information regarding Fundamentals Dance Classes run by Former Polperro School pupil Hayley Bentley is attached to this blog. Classes are on Mondays, 4:30pm - 5:30pm for young people ages 4-10 at Lanreath Village Hall. A physical & creative outlet for young people to learn new dance techniques and embrace freedom of expression! First class is FREE and then the classes are 'pay as you go' £6 per session. 

Have a great weekend.

Mrs Hillman

Our clubs have been up and running this week and really well attended. There are still spaces in our Tuesday after school club for years 3-6 with Mrs Phillips. We have spoken to the children about what they would like to do in this club. It will now be an Alternative Sports Club which will include, dance, gymnastics, yoga and other activities that the children want to try out. Please email school if your child would like to attend.

Children’s Mental Health Week We will be taking part in Children’s Mental Health Week which is taking place from 3-9 February. The week’s focus is Know Yourself, Grow Yourself, with the aim to encourage children and young people across the UK to embrace self-awareness and explore what it means to them. As parents and carers, you play an important role in your child’s mental health. There are free resources here which you may wish to look at beforehand. https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/resources/#families As part of Children’s Mental Health Week, we will be spending the morning outdoors on Friday 7th February when all staff and pupils will take part in the Big Schools’ Birdwatch and other outdoor wellbeing activities. Further details to follow.

Family Worker Drop-Ins, Thursday 6th February, 9-11 am Reminder that the Early Help Hub will be holding Family Worker Drop-In Sessions in our school from 9-11 am on 6th February 2025. If you would like to be able to talk in confidence, just pop along, they will be here to help and support you. They will be happy to discuss and advise on issues concerning your family for example, how to better understand your child’s needs & behaviours; positive parenting and how to keep your child safe; how to better understand the importance of routines for your family. To book a 30-minute slot, contact the school on secretary@polperroprimary.co.uk or call on 01503 272249.

Online Supporting Autism Course Please find attached details of an online course to guide parents and carers in supporting a family member or friend on the autism spectrum. The course will offer practical advice on topics including communication, behaviour and education, strategies of support, legal rights, how to engage in services and accessing further information.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Hillman

A warm welcome back and Happy New Year to you all.

We have been following in assembly the amazing progress of the Oars of Thunder team who visited our school with their boat in October.  They are currently over three quarters of the way through their 3000 mile row across the Atlantic as part of the World's Toughest Row. They left La Gomera on 11th December and are currently in 1st Place in Mixed Class, 5th in boats of 4 and 7th place overall.

The children have settled into their learning quickly this week and have started their class enquiries as follows: Penhallow Class – Why Aren’t Spaceships Made of Jelly? Landaviddy Class - What is Light? Talland Class - Do all Living Things Need a Home? Chaipel Class - What Natural Resources do I Depend Upon?
 
Clubs will be resuming week next Monday, 13th January as follows:
Monday: After School Football Club (Mr Langley) for years 3, 4,5 and 6
Tuesday: Lunchtime ECO Club (Miss Randle) for years 3 to 6, some places by invitation After school Dance Club (Mrs Phillips) for years 3-6
Wednesday: Lunchtime Mindfulness and Art Club (Mrs Wilkie) for years 2 to 6
Thursday: Lunchtime Music and Singing Club (Mrs Fitzsimmons) for years R, 1 and 2
Friday: After School Running Club (Miss Bowden and Mrs Turnbull) for years 3-6. This club is open to anyone who likes running however it will not run when the Cross-Country League races are on – next races 17th January and 7th February. Pupils do not have to race in these events. Clubs are the same as last half term except for the addition of Dance Club on Tuesday. Please inform us by email or phone call, if there are any changes to the clubs you wish your child to attend, by midday on Monday 13th January. If we do not hear from you, we will assume that your child will be attending the same clubs as last half term. For all clubs, once signed up children will be expected to attend every week unless they have written parental permission not to, or are absent. This applies to both lunchtime and after school clubs.

Cornwall Parenting Courses and new Podcast Please find attached information from Cornwall Council’s Together for Families about Parenting Courses which are accessible online or in person, and Empowered Parenting Podcasts. New episodes will be released each week, bringing you top tips and guest speakers to discuss a range of topics relating to your parenting journey. Upcoming topics include: Back-to-school, Praise and Encouragement, Routines, Boundaries, SEND Navigators, Brain Development, and many more.

Mental Health in Schools Team - Parent /Carer Workshops Please see attached details of Parent/Carer Workshops which are set to run from January 2025. These are one-off, one hour long, online workshops with Mental Health Practitioners. They are open to everybody; people do not need to have a mental health need to join. If you are interested, please click on the relevant link: Behaviour Workshop - https://forms.office.com/e/1PwGDXSQ40 Sleep Workshop - https://forms.office.com/e/7ac7qHLPhc A Teams link will be emailed to you from MHST for each workshop prior to the workshop taking place.

Cornwall Youth Badminton Children in years 5-8 are invited to try out playing Badminton in a fun event and coaching session on Sunday 12th January. The event is free and will take place at Treviglas Sports Hub, Newquay. It will be run by Cathryn Bick - a Badminton England level 2 coach and Cornwall Youth Badminton chairperson. Please see poster attached for further details.

Have a great weekend.

Mrs Hillman

Christmas in a primary school really is a special time. Last week it was great to see so many of you enjoying the children’s Christmas plays. Landaviddy’s Fleece Force performances were so enjoyable with super singing and acting. Very well done also to Penhallow who delivered two wonderful performances of It’s A Baby, remembering their lines and the songs brilliantly, and also to Talland and Chaipel Classes whose brilliant What Christmas Means to Me made everyone laugh out loud. Look out for photos from the performances on the class blogs.

This week, the children have all enjoyed a busy week rounding off their enquiries as well as enjoying Reverend Richard’s Christmas assembly on Monday, Christmas Art Day on Tuesday, Christmas Lunch on Wednesday and parties today. Our choir visited Atlantis Care Home yesterday and sang Christmas songs and carols beautifully.

FOPS Fundraising We are delighted that our Christmas Fayre raised over £600 which included the sale of snowmen, kindly donated by The Lookout café in Looe. The Wreath making workshop raised over £270 and our Christmas Gift Shop raised £280. A huge thank you to FOPS and everyone who helped to organise these events. We will keep you posted about more fundraising events and how we plan to spend the income to help the children in our school.

RSPCA and Cancer Research Campaign The School Council is delighted to have raised a generous £117 at the Christmas performances from your donations to their chosen charities: Cancer Research and the RSPCA. We also raised £62 for Save the Children on our Christmas Jumper Day.

Online Safety
• Keeping your Child Safe Online.  Attached to this blog is a leaflet which contains many important links to help you keep your child safe online, particularly at this time of year. The leaflet contains important safety points to consider at this time of year if your child is likely to receive a SMART device (TV, Speaker—Alexa, Google); new mobile phone (Android/iPhone); games console; tablet PC or laptop for Christmas.
• Swiped – Channel 4 Many of you will have watched the Emma and Matt Willis programme ‘Swiped’ which is about a school that has banned smartphones. It’s definitely worth a watch to find out more about the impact that smart phones can have on children.

Family Worker Drop-Ins, Thursday 6th February, 9-11 am The Early Help Hub will be holding Family Worker Drop-In Sessions in our school from 9-11 am on 6th February 2025. If you would like to be able to talk in confidence, just pop along, they will be here to help and support you. They will be happy to discuss and advise on issues concerning your family for example, how to better understand your child’s needs & behaviours; positive parenting and how to keep your child safe; how to better understand the importance of routines for your family. To book a 30-minute slot, contact the school on secretary@polperroprimary.co.uk or call on 01503 272249.

Parenting Workshops January Please find attached leaflets about free parenting courses run by Cornwall Council, Together for Families.

Dates The new term starts on Tuesday 7th January. Half term will be from Monday 17th February – Friday 21st February with an INSET Day on Friday 14th February. The last day of the Spring term is Friday 4th April and the Summer Term starts on Tuesday 22nd April.

A huge thank you for all of your support so far this academic year – the children have worked incredibly hard and all deserve a wonderful Christmas break.

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas

Anthea Hillman and all of the staff at Polperro Primary Academy

The school is looking and feeling very Christmassy at the moment thanks to the generous donation of a beautiful Christmas tree by React Scaffolding Ltd. The tree, which is in the school hall, has been decorated beautifully by our Breakfast Club pupils.

Performances We are looking forward to seeing you at the Christmas performances next week; the children have been very busy rehearsing. If your child is in the Landaviddy Class play or the Talland and Chaipel Class play, they will be required to come back for the evening performance at 5:30pm in order to be ready for 6pm. All performance times and dates are in the Events Diary on this website. 

Clubs Reminder that for the final 2 weeks of term (9th Dec – 20th Dec) there will be no clubs except for afterschool wraparound club and Breakfast Club which will continue as usual. Clubs will restart in January and we will send a letter out after the Christmas break about which ones will be running.

Book Fair – New Books for School Thanks to your generous support of our recent book fair, we now have £190 to spend on books for the school.

Poppy Appeal Year 6 raised £117.65 for the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal this year; thank you for your donations.

Local Events Attached to this blog is information for events that are happening in the local area over the next few weeks.

Diary Dates Reminder that our Christmas Jumper day is next Friday, one day after National Christmas Jumper Day so that the children can all enjoy wearing their jumpers after the Christmas performances are over. We ask for a £1.00 donation for Save the Children. Children should wear their Christmas jumper instead of their usual school jumper. The last day of term is on Friday 20th December and school will finish at 1:30pm. Monday 6th January is an INSET day, therefore the first day of the Spring term for the children is Tuesday, 7th January.

Have a great weekend.

Mrs Hillman

It has been a fun end to the week with our Christmas MUFTI day - thank you for sending in so many gifts for the Christmas Gift Shop which will take place on Monday 16th December.

Lantern Procession Tomorrow The children have made some beautiful lanterns between them for the procession tomorrow. Children and parents/carers should congregate at the Chapel at 4.15pm ready to leave promptly at 4.30pm. We look forward to seeing you there. If your child carries a lantern, please ensure that they bring the cane back to school on Monday so that it can be reused next year.

Christmas Fayre Friday 6th December 2pm
The Christmas Fayre will be held next Friday, 6th December, and we are looking to accept any teddy tombola donations, raffle prizes as well as good condition toys and books to sell. Please feel free to send these into school with your child. We would also greatly appreciate any cakes/baking donations which we will then be able to sell at our Refreshment Stall. A list of ingredients must be provided for homemade cakes please. If these could be brought into school on or before Friday 6th December, they will be gratefully received.

Clubs Next week clubs will run as usual apart from running club on Friday which is cancelled because of the Christmas Fayre. For the final 2 weeks of term (9 Dec – 20 Dec) there will be no clubs except for afterschool wraparound club and Breakfast Club which will continue as usual. Clubs will restart in January and we will send a letter out after the Christmas break about which ones will be running.

Uniform Reminder If you are replacing your child’s footwear over the Christmas break, please can we remind you that you should send your child in wearing shoes which are black and flat, not boots. Please see https://www.polperroprimary.co.uk/Information/Uniform for uniform requirements. We have collected several sweatshirts this half term which are not named. These will be in the library after school on Monday for you to collect if your child has mislaid one.

Christmas Lunch- Wednesday 18th December The Christmas lunch will be held on Wednesday 18th December this year. Please see the separate attachment for the menu. If your child would like a Christmas dinner, please ensure you have booked their meal by Friday 6th December as this tends to be very popular with the children. Please book their meals on Parentpay, even if you do not need to pay for their lunches. If you have any problems, do not hesitate to contact Mrs Turnbull on secretary@polperroprimary.co.uk.

Have a lovely weekend.