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.

Cross-Country Success Well done again to our intrepid cross-country running team who did the school proud, running a difficult course at Lanhydrock last Friday. They showed amazing team spirit, cheering each other on and in many cases beating their personal best times.

New - Yellow Head Bump Wristbands If your child comes home wearing a yellow wristband, this is to inform you that they have banged their head at school. It replaces the yellow head bump letter which we issued previously. You will also receive a record of what happened on a tear out form from our accident book.

Christmas Gift Room fundraiser Next Friday, 29th November We are holding a Christmas-themed Mufti day on Friday 29th November. In exchange for wearing Christmas MUFTI, we are asking that your child brings in any new or unused items such as chocolates, toiletries, socks, notebooks or items you’d be happy to receive as a gift. (No alcohol or DVD’s please). Then, on Monday 16th December, during school time, Santa’s workshop will be open for children to choose a special gift or two. Each gift will cost £2 (max 2 gifts per child). The elves will then help to wrap the gifts, which will be brought home at the end of the day to go under your tree.

Just to clarify, next Friday 29th November when pupils wear Christmas MUFTI in exchange for bringing in any items for the gift shop, this is full MUFTI. On 13th December, our Christmas Jumper Day for Save the Children, children should wear uniform with a Christmas jumper instead of their school jumper.

Polperro Christmas Lights and Lantern Procession On Saturday 30th November, the Christmas lights switch on, there will be a lantern procession. Willow lanterns, made by children from Polperro School, will be available for children to carry. Each lantern has been made by groups of the children working together and the materials for the lanterns have kindly been paid for by the Christmas Light Committee. If your child carries a lantern, please ensure that the cane is returned to school so that we can reuse them next year. The children (with parents) should congregate at the Chapel at 4.15pm to collect a lantern, ready to leave promptly at 4.30pm. Please note that although staff from school will be present at the procession, children will remain the responsibility of their parents at all times.

Polperro Christmas Tree Festival The Christmas Tree Festival in the Chapel will open at 9am on Saturday 30th November to coincide with the Christmas light switch on and it will be open during the evening that day as well. A huge thank you to Mrs Peters and Mrs Hood for making decorations with the children to hang on a tree which they are kindly providing on behalf of the school.

Christmas Wreath Making Workshop Please see attached a poster for a Christmas Wreath Making Workshop on Wednesday 11th December at 6:30pm in the Village Hall. This is kindly being hosted by Megan Fletcher on behalf of FOPS (Friends of Polperro School) with all profits going to School.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

Mrs Hillman

Thank you for sending your children in for a cosy day today in PJs or spots or bright colours. We raised £168 for Children in Need.

For anti-bullying week we have had discussions in assembly and in class about what bullying means to us and how ‘Choosing Respect’ over being a bully is the best choice we can make. We shared our antibullying policy which is on this website under the policies tab.

Well done to our Book Fair bookmark design competition winners Kai, Lowen, Chilali and Harry and thank you for supporting our book fair so generously. We are looking forward to having much needed extra money to spend on books as a result.

Fundraising for Charities and School We recognise that with the cost of living crisis it is currently a challenging time for many families and we are aware that we are asking for several different donations this half term. Please only donate where you are able.

Christmas events We are entering a very busy time of year and here are the dates of upcoming events for your diary. Further details will follow.
• Christmas Gift MUFTI - Friday 29th November (see details below under Christmas Gift Room)
• Polperro Lights Switch On – Saturday 30th November. The children have are making lanterns in school, kindly funded by the Polperro Christmas Lights Committee, for the Lantern Parade from the Village Hall (more details to follow).

• Christmas Fair - Friday 6th December FOPS are currently busy organizing our Christmas Fair which will be on Friday 6th December starting at 2.00 pm. We would be grateful for raffle prizes and good condition toys and books to sell.

• Christmas Performances (in the school hall)
Penhallow Class Nativity Play - Tuesday 10th December at 11am and 2.00 pm.
Landaviddy Class Christmas Play - Wednesday 11th December at 2.00 pm and 6.00 pm.
Talland Class and Chaipel Class Christmas Play (joint performance) - Thursday 12th December at 2.00 pm and 6.00 pm.

• Christmas Jumper Day We are holding our Christmas Jumper Day in aid of the charity ‘Save The Children’ on Friday 13th December. This is one day after National Christmas Jumper Day so that the children can all enjoy their wearing their jumpers after the Christmas performances are over. We ask for a £1.00 donation for this non-uniform day. We will provide opportunities for children to add some sparkle to a plain jumper if they do not already have a Christmas top to wear.

• Christmas Gift Room On Monday 16th December during school time in the morning, Santa’s workshop will be open for children to choose a special gift or two. Each gift will cost £2 (max 2 gifts per child). The elves will then help to wrap the gifts, which will be brought home at the end of the day to go under your tree. To make the magic happen, we kindly ask for donations by holding a Christmas-themed Mufti day on Friday 29th November. In exchange for wearing Christmas MUFTI, we ask that your child brings in any new or unused items. These can include chocolates, toiletries, socks, notebooks or items you’d be happy to receive. (No alcohol or DVDs please).

• Christmas Lunch Wednesday 18th December The Christmas lunch will be held on Wednesday 18th December this year. 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.

FOPS Quiz – new date, February 28th Please note that in light of the West Looe roadworks and their impact on local travel, we are postponing the FOPS Quiz until Friday February 28th.

Have a lovely weekend. 

Mrs Hillman

Welcome to the second half of the Autumn term. For those of you affected by the roadworks in West Looe, thank you for making the necessary arrangements to bring your children in during the disruption. Thank you all for attending this week’s parent/carer consultations. It is great to have such supportive parents and carers who are keen to work with us to achieve the best for pupils in our school.

On Wednesday we held a Black History Month Assembly where each class shared what they had learned about successful black authors. We learned about Floella Benjamin, actress, singer, presenter, author and politician (Penhallow Class); Ibtihaj Muhammed, entrepreneur, author, activist, and Olympic medalist in fencing (Landaviddy Class); Maya Angelou, an American memoirist, poet, and civil rights activist (Talland Class) and Malorie Blackman, a British writer who held the position of Children's Laureate from 2013 to 2015 (Chaipel Class). In the UK, Black History Month is celebrated every October. It gives everyone the opportunity to share, celebrate and understand the impact of black heritage and culture.

We have a lot planned for this half term already. Please see below and our events diary on this website for details.

FOPS A huge thank you to FOPS for organising and running the Spooky Discos before Half term. We raised over £260 which will go towards subsidising trips for all classes across the school year.

FOPS Quiz – change of date Please note that in light of the West Looe roadworks and their impact on local travel, we are postponing the FOPS Quiz until February. Watch this space for a new date.

Book Fair, NEXT WEEK – help us buy more books for school. We will be holding a Scholastic book fair the week commencing 11th November after school from 3:15pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. The fair will held be in Chaipel Class. A percentage of the profits will go to school funds and enable us to buy more books for school. If you would like to buy any books from the fair, you will be able to pay in cash or online if you have your phone with you. You can pay for books online while you are at the Book Fair by scanning a QR code on your phone to easily access the Scholastic parent pay website.

Anti-Bullying Week 2024, 11th-15th November Anti-Bullying Week 2024 will be taking place from Monday 11th-Friday 15th November and has the theme Choose Respect. The week will kick off with Odd Socks Day on Monday 11th November, where adults and children wear odd socks to celebrate what makes us all unique. Odd Socks are all about fun and laughter, but more importantly they deliver a message of individuality, acceptance and tolerance. We will be joining in with Odd Socks Day. All the children need to do is wear odd socks on Monday 11th please.

Children in Need, MUFTI Day Friday 15th November We have asked the School Council what they would like to wear for our Children in Need MUFTI fundraiser day on Friday 15th November. Please send your child in wearing spotty clothes, pyjamas or anything colourful on the day. A donation of £2 or more to Children in Need will be collected in class. We also have a supply of “Pudsey Ears”. These cost £2.50 with all profits going to Children in Need.

Poppies and Remembrance Reminder that we will be having a Remembrance assembly next week with Rev Richard. Year 6 volunteers are selling poppies at playtimes. If your child would like to buy a poppy to raise funds for the British Legion, please send your child in with cash. A minimum donation of 50p per poppy would be welcome and other items are available to buy.

Clubs Reminder that clubs will restart NEXT WEEK 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
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 race 15th November. Pupils do not have to race in these events.

Please inform us by email or phone call, which clubs you wish your child to attend by midday on Monday 11th November. Please sign up again, even if your child attended last half term.

Have a lovely weekend

Mrs Hillman

It was great to see so many parents and carers at the foodbank assembly on Tuesday after school. They have welcomed the kind donations you have made. As they said, if you are aware of anyone who is struggling, please point them in the direction of the foodbank or indeed, if you would like support, please contact school. We recognise it is a challenging time for everyone. Attached is a rural pop up poster to look out for which will contain details of the local pop-up where they will be giving free help for those in need of food, energy support, benefit checks and much more.

House Points School Council has added up the house points for this half term. House Points are given to the children when they demonstrate our school values: Curious, Creative, Excellent, Responsible, Determined and Enthusiastic. We have been focusing on ‘Responsible’ this half term: Congratulations to Oak who are in the lead with 112 points followed by Ash with 79 points, Willow with 74 points and Chestnut with 56 points.

Communications Class blogs and the Heads’ blog on this website are updated weekly so that we can share with you what the children are learning. We will also post information messages on our resurrected Polperro Primary Academy Facebook page – please follow us. This is in addition to the weekly Friday update which will contain all of the messages and information you need about school in one place.

Parent Consultations – week of 4th November. Thank you all for signing up for parent consultations. These are straight after half term. There will be no clubs the week of the 4th November however wraparound care will continue as usual.

Clubs will restart on the week commencing 11th November. Monday: After School Football Club (Mr Langley) for years 3,4,5 % 6 Tuesday: Lunchtime ECO Club (Miss Randle) for years 3 to 6, some places by invitation
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. 

Half Term Activities Please find attached information about a children’s book launch in Polperro on Saturday; Halloween Activities in Looe next week; Cornwall Cricket Holiday Camps and Half Term Football Roadshows with Plymouth Argyle Community Trust. 

Flu Nasal Vaccination YR – Y6 This will take place on Wednesday 6th November. Here is the information you need in order to sign up: Flu Link (all years): https://www.kernowimmunisations.co.uk/Forms/Flu
School Code: EE142953 Deadline to submit: Monday 4th November, noon If you have already submitted a consent form, then you do not need to do another one. If you are unsure or have any problems, please call the School Immunisation Team on 01872 221105

Attendance I would like to remind you that we do not authorise holidays within term time unless circumstances are exceptional. Unfortunately, attendance across the school for this half term has been below the national average and under the new statutory guidance, we have had to consider fining for some families. If you require your child to be out of school for an exceptional reason a form MUST be submitted at least 15 days before the proposed absence.

Coming up next half term…
• Anti-Bullying Week 2024 will be taking place from Monday 11th-Friday 15th November and has the theme ‘Choose Respect’. The week will kick off with Odd Socks Day on Monday 11th November, where adults and children wear odd socks to celebrate what makes us all unique. Odd Socks are all about fun and laughter, but more importantly they deliver a message of individuality, acceptance and tolerance. We will be joining in with Odd Socks Day. All the children need to do is wear odd socks on Monday 11th please.
• Children in Need, MUFTI Day Friday 15th November For our Children in Need MUFTI fundraiser day on Friday 15th November, please send your child in wearing spotty clothes, pyjamas or anything colourful on the day. A donation of £2 or more to Children in Need will be collected in class. We also have a supply of “Pudsey Ears” for the School Council to sell after half term. These cost £2.50 with all profits going to Children in Need.

Tomorrow, 25th October, is an INSET day. We wish you all a lovely half term break and look forward to seeing everyone back in school from 8:30 am on Monday, 4th November.

Thank you for your support this half term.

Mrs Hillman

Well done to our amazing cross-country runners who entered the first cross-country league race of the year with enthusiasm and energy. In spite of the mud and rain they all completed the course admirably. A great start to the season.

Foodbank Assembly and Cookery Demonstration On Tuesday 22nd October, the Foodbank Schools and Rural Outreach Team will be joining us for an assembly where the children will learn about all of the things they do in the community. At the assembly, the children will present our harvest donations collected this month. At 3:15, following the assembly, parents and carers are encouraged to come and join their children in the hall where a cookery demonstration will take place. Any family that attends after school will receive a bag of ingredients and a recipe card to take home. This project is separately funded and is all about encouraging families to cook. It is open to everyone. If your child is at dance club, please come and join us anyway. Please email school by Monday to us to let us know if you would like to attend the cookery demonstration. It would be great to see as many of you as possible there.

Parent Consultations
Please sign up for parent consultations which are happening week commencing 4th November. Details have been emailed and are attached to this blog.

Clubs There will be no clubs the week of the 4th November because of parent consultations ; however wraparound care will continue as usual. Clubs will resume from Monday 11th November 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
• 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
• Thursday: After School Running Club (Mr Langley 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. Pupils do not have to race in these events. Please inform us by email or phone call, which clubs you wish your child to attend by Thursday 24th October. As usual, if your child has signed up for a club they should attend every session in the half term unless they are unwell.

Photographs Individual Photographs will take place on Wednesday 23rd October. We will arrange for siblings to be photographed together including those in our nursery.

Spooky Discos Tickets for next Thursday’s discos are selling quickly. Don’t forget to buy yours from the office!

INSET and Diary Dates Reminder that next Friday is an INSET day and pupils will not be in school. There is an Events Diary on this website where you can find upcoming events and dates such as the year’s INSET dates, sports day and other events.

Have a great weekend

Mrs Hillman