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!

Ice, Snow and Super Learning in Tregantle Class

Tregantle Class have continued their exciting topic learning on ice and snow, exploring it in lots of creative and hands-on ways. One of the highlights this week has been ice painting. The children used watercolours to paint large blocks of ice, and it was wonderful to watch the colours marble, run and mix as the ice slowly melted. A truly magical experience!

In our maths lessons, we have been focusing on the numbers 6, 7 and 8. Our brilliant mathematicians have been finding lots of different ways to make and represent these numbers, using practical resources and careful thinking to show their understanding.

We also enjoyed a fantastic visit to Saltash Library. We are so lucky to have the library right on our doorstep. The children loved story time with Mrs Orchard and were very excited to choose a new book to take home and enjoy for the week.

Finally, we have been incredibly impressed with Tregantle Class' writing this week. Their phonics skills are really coming together, giving them the confidence and ability to write the words they want to. We are so proud of all their hard work and enthusiasm for learning!

Well done, Tregantle Class - keep up the fantastic learning!

Welcome back to the new term.

We can't wait to get back into a routine with the children and to welcome new friends to our Nursery.

Our new focus story is 'The Three Little Pigs'; we have looked online and found some very different versions of this traditional story, even one where the roles are reversed and the wolf is a 'good guy'. Which version do you prefer?

We have tasked the children (and grownups) to search at home for the story and send us a picture of them reading it at home.
If you don't have one at gome, can you find one at Saltash library?

Class Lantic have had a fantastic week full of curiosity, creativity, and learning across the curriculum. In computing, we explored some very fun robots and thought about how they work. One of the highlights was learning about a robot chameleon, which could change colours just like a real one! The children loved discussing how technology can copy things we see in nature and had great ideas about what robots might be able to do in the future.

In literacy, we continued our work on the text Lost and Found. The children have been thinking carefully about the characters' feelings and the importance of friendship. They have shared thoughtful ideas, made predictions, and enjoyed retelling parts of the story using lovely language.

Our maths learning has focused on place value to 20. The children have been counting, ordering numbers, and representing them in different ways using tens and ones. They are growing more confident every day and enjoying practical activities to support their understanding. We also began our new history unit, learning about how toys have changed over time. The children were very excited to compare old toys with modern ones and talk about how materials and designs are different from the past. Well done, Class Lantic, for another brilliant week of learning!
Mrs Scott, Miss Sleep and Mrs Quick.

Last week was another busy and productive one in Year 2/3, with the children working hard across the curriculum and continuing to develop their skills and understanding.

English:
In English, the children focused on simple sentence construction, learning how to write clear and complete sentences. We revisited the importance of capital letters, finger spaces and full stops, and began to think carefully about punctuation to make our writing easier to read and understand. The children showed great effort in applying these skills to their independent work.

Maths:
In Maths, we worked on solving addition and subtraction problems, encouraging the children to choose appropriate strategies and explain their thinking. They practised using number bonds, place value knowledge and written methods to help them solve calculations accurately.

History:
Our History learning focused on the Wright brothers, exploring who they were and why they are significant. The children learned about their determination, early experiments and how their work helped lead to the first successful powered flight. This linked well to our wider topic on the history of flight.

RE:
In Religious Education, we learned about the first disciples, discussing who they were and why Jesus chose them. The children reflected thoughtfully on ideas of friendship, trust and following a role model.

Other Learning:
Alongside these focus areas, the children continued to engage enthusiastically in all areas of the curriculum. They showed positive attitudes, curiosity and a willingness to challenge themselves in lessons throughout the week.

Well done, Year 2/3, for another week of hard work and fantastic learning!

Dreaming of desert islands...

We have had a busy and exciting week of learning in Duckpool class, with lots of opportunities for the children to build skills, be creative and deepen their understanding across the curriculum.

English & Reading
This week, the children have continued working hard in Read Write Inc, developing their reading fluency and comprehension!
In English, we began writing diaries, linking beautifully with our Geography learning. The children explored what life might be like on a desert island and used this to create imaginative and descriptive diary entries - a lovely thought amid some terrible weather of late! We have been really impressed with their ideas and effort.

Maths
In Maths, our focus has been on a combination of fractions, as well as multiplication and division, with lots of work on our times tables, too. The children have been focusing particularly on the 11x and 12x tables, and took part in mini-maths sessions throughout the week to build confidence and speed.

Geography
Our new Geography topic on deserts began this week. The children explored where deserts are found in the world and what makes them unique environments. This learning has supported their English diary writing brilliantly.

PE 
In PE, we refreshed our memories of some team games which we can play at break time and lunch times, in preparation for (hopefully) increasingly dry days ahead. We were also really proud of some of our class going to the table cricket final, in which Brunel came 3rd!

Computing
During Computing, the children worked on photo editing, learning how digital images can be created and edited. They showed great enthusiasm and creativity.

Science & RE
In Science, we launched our new topic on Electricity, beginning to learn about electrical devices and how electricity is used safely in everyday life, plus we made electrical circuits to light the bulb! I
In RE, we started a unit on racism, encouraging thoughtful discussions about fairness, respect and treating others kindly.

Art, Music & Languages
The children continued their Architecture project in Art, producing thoughtful and detailed work about Hundertwasser. In French, we learned about La Fête des Rois, and in Music, the children enjoyed a Classroom Jazz lesson, exploring rhythm and musical style.

PSHE & Assemblies
In PSHE, we began our new topic on relationships, focusing on positive interactions and friendships - how jealousy can be tough to deal with.

The week ended with our Achievers Assembly, celebrating the children's hard work and successes. Overall, it has been a fantastic week full of learning, creativity and enthusiasm. Well done to all the children for their excellent effort throughout the week!

Image courtesy of https://unsplash.com/@rpnickson

w/e 16/1/26

We have had a busy and exciting week of learning in Perranporth class, with lots of opportunities for the children to build skills, be creative and deepen their understanding across the curriculum.

English & Reading
This week, the children have continued working hard in Read Write Inc, developing their reading fluency and comprehension!
In English, we began writing diaries, linking beautifully with our Geography learning. The children explored what life might be like on a desert island and used this to create imaginative and descriptive diary entries. We have been really impressed with their ideas and effort.

Maths
In Maths, our focus has been on multiplication and division, with lots of work on our timestables, too. The children have been focusing particularly on the 11x and 12x tables, and took part in mini-maths sessions throughout the week to build confidence and speed.

Geography
Our new Geography topic on deserts began this week. The children explored where deserts are found in the world and what makes them unique environments. This learning has supported their English diary writing brilliantly.

PE 
In PE, we started gymnastics, focusing on balance, control and basic sequences. We were really proud of some of our class going to the table cricket final, in which Brunel came 3rd!

Computing
During Computing, the children worked on photo editing, learning how digital images can be created and edited. They showed great enthusiasm and creativity.

Science & RE
In Science, we launched our new topic on Electricity, beginning to learn about electrical devices and how electricity is used safely in everyday life, plus we made electrical circuits to light the bulb! 

In RE, we started a unit on racism, encouraging thoughtful discussions about fairness, respect and treating others kindly.

Art, Music & Languages
The children continued their Architecture project in Art, producing thoughtful and detailed work about Hundertwasser. In French, we learned about La Fête des Rois, and in Music, the children enjoyed a Classroom Jazz lesson, exploring rhythm and musical style.

PSHE & Assemblies
In PSHE, we began our new topic on relationships, focusing on positive interactions and friendships - how jealousy can be tough to deal with.

The week ended with our Achievers Assembly, celebrating the children's hard work and successes. Overall, it has been a fantastic week full of learning, creativity and enthusiasm. Well done to all the children for their excellent effort throughout the week!

Welcome to this week's edition of The Brunel Bulletin. This is your weekly update of all the latest news and events from our wonderful school. We hope you enjoy browsing through the 54th edition of our newsletter.