What a wonderful start to the Summer Term it has been. Thank you for your continued support. Please enjoy catching up with all of the latest events at Brunel in our Brunel Bulletin. Have a lovely weekend. 

Year 2 & 3 Weekly Learning Update

Welcome back! We hope you all had a lovely Easter break. It has been wonderful to see the children return to school so positively-they have settled back into routines brilliantly and have been eager to get started with their new learning.

Topic - "Why is our world wonderful?"

We launched our new topic with a fun and engaging "wow starter". The children worked together to create a gallery showcasing both physical and human features of the Earth. They also wrote interesting facts about the different oceans, demonstrating great curiosity and teamwork.

English

In English, we have begun our new genre: descriptive settings. The children explored what they already know and identified key features of this type of writing. We also started to look at adverbials of time and subordination, helping us to build more detailed and interesting sentences.

Maths

In maths, both year groups have been busy developing new skills:

• Year 3 have started learning about length and perimeter, measuring and comparing different objects.
• Year 2 have been working on multiplying and dividing by 2, as well as practising doubling and halving.

PSHE

We began our new PSHE topic, Relationships, by discussing roles and responsibilities both at home and in different jobs. The children shared some thoughtful ideas and made great links to their own experiences.

RE

In RE, we started our new unit: "What do Christians learn from the creation story?" The children worked collaboratively to explore and represent different parts of the Genesis creation narrative, thinking about what Christians believe about how the world was made.

Art

In art, the children revisited and showcased the skills they developed last term in observational drawing. They practised sketching shape, adding tone through shading, experimenting with cross-hatching, and using mark making to create patterns. It was fantastic to see their growing confidence and attention to detail.

PE

In PE, we started our athletics unit, focusing on how to sprint effectively. The children showed great energy and determination as they practised their running technique.

These are just some of the highlights from a busy and productive first week back. It's been lovely to see such enthusiasm for learning across the class-we're excited for the term ahead!

Summer Term

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter Holiday and enjoyed some of the lovely sunshine. 

We have had a busy first week back with many learning opportunties.

In English, we have continued with our unit on persuasive writing. We are creating a leaflet for a space hotel. This week has mostly been focusing on different sentence types and a varied use of vocabulary to include. 

In Maths, we have been focusing on time. We have reminded ourselves about the different measurements and converting between seconds, minutes and hours. Then we looked at timetables, converting between analogue and digital and solving word problems. Please practise telling the time at home as it is an important life skill. 

In science, we continued our learning on properties of materials. We conducted an investigation to see which substances dissolved in water. We discussed the difference between dissolving an suspension by looking at what happens to the particles in the solutions. The children were amazed by adding oil to the water and watching it separate on the top. They learned a new word - hydrophobic. 

I have attached the new learning journey below.

Enjoy the weekend.

Miss Burton

Summer Term! 

It has been wonderful to welcome everyone back after the Easter holidays. The children have returned full of energy and enthusiasm, ready for a busy and exciting term ahead.

This week, we have begun our fantastic new topic on Transport and Vehicles. The children are already showing great curiosity, and we are looking forward to exploring this theme in lots of creative and engaging ways including a trip to Saltash Fire Station! Please see the attached information for more details about what we will be learning.

We have also been delighted to welcome our early transition children from Nursery-hello to the Dolphins! They have settled into their new classroom beautifully and are already becoming part of our Tregantle family. On Monday, we enjoyed a truly special visit to St Anne's Residential Home. The children brought so much joy to the residents with their singing, poems, and storytelling. It was a lovely experience for everyone involved and a great opportunity for the children to connect with the wider community.

Thursday afternoon was equally special as we welcomed parents into the classroom for our Books and Pastries event. It was wonderful to see everyone sharing stories together, both indoors and outside, and enjoying such a relaxed and happy end to the day.

We are so pleased to be back and are looking forward to a fantastic summer term filled with learning, fun, and new experiences.

Earth Day Celebration at Our School! 

Earth Day Celebration at Our School! Today, we are proud to celebrate Earth Day - a special time to raise awareness about environmental issues and learn how we can all take better care of our planet. To mark the occasion, we are delighted to celebrate the grand opening of our KS1 Nature Park Garden! Our new garden space has been carefully created to support greater biodiversity while giving our children the opportunity to explore, enjoy, and nurture the natural world around them. We look forward to welcoming parents and children straight after school today to join us in celebrating this wonderful new addition to our school community!

Happy Easter!

What an exciting and busy time we have had in Tregantle Class!

This week, we were thrilled to release another butterfly into the wild. It was a very special moment for all of us as we watched it spread its wings and fly away. To celebrate our butterflies, we learnt a beautiful poem called "Oh to Be a Butterfly" and proudly performed it from memory.

We have also made the most of the lovely weather by spending time in our wonderful garden. The children have enjoyed being creative outdoors and exploring nature around them.

In class, we have been learning about the Easter story and have taken part in a range of fun, Easter-themed activities. It has been a great way to understand the meaning of Easter while also enjoying some seasonal crafts and learning.

Our PE lessons have been full of energy and laughter, especially when using the parachute. We had lots of fun bouncing balls, running underneath, and working together as a team.

As the spring term draws to a close, we would like to wish you all a very happy Easter. We look forward to more fun, learning, and exciting experiences in the summer term! 

Caterpillar Celebration Day!

Tregantle Class celebrated National Caterpillar Day in style this week. The highlight of our celebrations was creating a paper chain caterpillar that stretched the entire length of our classroom. All of the children joined in, using good fine motor skills to carefully manipulate and glue the paper strips together. We were so pleased with the finished result and loved seeing our giant caterpillar come to life.

With perfect timing, just a few days later, our first class caterpillar hatched out of its cocoon and we now have our first butterfly. The children have been so excited to observe it, especially its lovely fluttery wings. It has been a wonderful opportunity to see real life changes happening right before our eyes.

To top it all off, we have seen some incredible writing from Tregantle children this week. They have been using their Fred Fingers to help spell words and label a spring picture. We were even impressed to see some children writing full sentences.

What an amazing week for Tregantle Class. We are so proud of all the children and their fantastic efforts.

Thank you for your continued support. Please find this week's edition of The Brunel Bulletin. 

Welcome to the Vicious Vikings!

Welcome back after Half Term - we hope that you had some lovely family time and a chance to relax and chill; ready for new, exciting learning in Spring 2.

Our new History unit is based upon the Vikings. This week we have begun by learning at where they fit chronologically within history. The children worked in groups to order historical events, in and around the time of the Vikings, on a timeline.

Our new science topic is 'Changing Materials'. We started by considering changes of state. The children were set a conundrum: if they were to find two unlabelled bottles of water on a desert island (one sea water, one fresh water), how could they find out which was which? They successfully came up with a solution to the problem and identified that bottle A was sea water, as indicated by the salt crystals left behind after evaporation. Nothing will stop our class if they find themselves stranded in the middle of nowhere!

Smart with Switches...

This week in Science, Duckpool have been learning how electrical switches work. They also then investigated how to create their own switch using a range of given items - they could choose from things like cardboard, brass split pins, paperclips, straws and pencils.
There were some great successes and they found it very satisfying to design and create their own circuits and circuit components.

What a busy week it has been at Brunel Primary and Nursery Academy. Please enjoy catching up with all the latest news and events in this week's edition of The Brunel Bulletin. Have a wonderful weekend and we can't wait to see you all on Monday for another incredible week at our school. 

Outside learning

This week in Tregantle Class, we have made the most of the wonderful weather by taking our learning outside into our fantastic school grounds. From exciting obstacle courses to splashing fun with water play, it has been a joy to learn in the sunshine!

Our learning about life cycles has truly come to life this week. The children have been fascinated to see our tadpoles growing their tiny little legs, and there has been great excitement as our caterpillars have started forming their cocoons. It has sparked so many wonderful conversations and curiosity in the classroom.

We have also been enjoying our class story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which has supported our learning beautifully. The children have impressed us with their ability to re-tell the story and confidently order the life cycle stages using our toys, naming each stage correctly.

What fantastic learners we have in Tregantle Class!

We are incredibly proud of the many leadership roles our children take on across the school. These opportunities help our pupils develop confidence, responsibility and a strong sense of community.

Today we are celebrating our wonderful Brunel Buddies, who support our Reception and KS1 children at lunchtime. They help younger pupils play together, solve small problems and make sure everyone feels included and happy during their break times. All of our Brunel Buddies had to advertise for their positions, sharing why they would be great for the role and how they would support others. Thus week, they were officially recognised and awarded their Brunel Buddy hats - a proud moment for them all. We are so proud of the kindness, leadership and responsibility they show in helping the younger children in our school community. Well done, Brunel Buddies.

We are incredibly proud of our School Council. They visited Wesley Methodist Church to deliver their Winter Warmer Bags for members of the homeless community. The bags were thoughtfully prepared to provide warmth, comfort and a reminder that people care. It was wonderful to see our pupils showing such kindness, empathy and commitment to supporting others in the local community. Well done, School Council - you are fantastic ambassadors for our school.

Tregantle Class - Science Week Fun!

Science Week has been so much fun in Tregantle Class! The children have loved getting involved in lots of exciting activities and experiments. One of our favourite experiments was investigating what happens to wax crayons when they are heated. The children watched carefully as the crayons melted and changed, and then used the melted wax to create some beautiful, colourful pictures. It was fascinating to see how the crayons changed when heat was applied!

We also enjoyed exploring our school pond. During our visit, we released our class newt and some tadpoles so they could live in their natural habitat. The children were very gentle and excited to watch them swim away into the pond.

In maths, the children are doing brilliantly. They have been working hard to find different ways to make 10 using Numicon, and they are becoming much more confident with their number bonds.

Our new gravel pit has also been a huge hit with the class! The children have loved digging, scooping and exploring, and it has led to lots of imaginative play and teamwork.

Well done, Tregantle Class, for such a fantastic week of learning and fun!

It has been an incredibly busy week at Brunel. Please enjoy catching up with the latest news and events in our weekly Brunel Bulletin.

Curiosity and Questions

This week we have been writing our sonnets in English based on cats after midnight. We used Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 for inspiration and the children have enjoyed using archaic language.

In maths, we have been learning about metric measures and how to convert between them. We have been using our knowledge of how to multiply and divide by 10,100 and 1000 to help us. 

In science, we conducted an experiment to find out what the best material for a phone screen is. The children tested a range of materials to see if they conducted electricity, if they were magnetic and if they were transparent. We discovered that the marble was the best material even though it doesn't conduct electricity because it was not magnetic but it was transparent. Through research, we found out that the glass used in phone screens has a special layer of metal called indium tin oxide added to it which enables it to conduct electricity from our fingertips to the phone. This is what makes it work and why we cannot wear gloves when using the phone. 

Have a great weekend!

Miss Burton