Roars and snores!

What a way to end Spring term! Duckpool students had the opportunity to take part in Dartmoor Zoo's 'Snooze at the Zoo' experience.

On an action-packed first day we had a guided tour of the zoo, educational workshops based upon conservation and endangered species, as well as a 'close encounters' session where we came face-to-face with a giant stick-insect and a bearded dragon.

After completing a tricky zoo trail in teams, we were served a delicious dinner before watching 'We Bought a Zoo': the film adaptation of the story behind the current owner of the zoo. After darkness fell we embarked on an 'after dark' tour and spotted some of the nocturnal creatures.

On day 2, after filling ourselves up with a range of lovely fruit, pastries and cereals we were ready to explore the zoo ourselves privately, before it was open to the public! We visited the reptile house, played on the play equipment and went back to say our farewells to our favourite animals. We had a picnic lunch in the glorious sunshine in the 'calm garden' before heading back to Brunel.

The children behaved impeccably and were an utter joy to take. Members of the public also commented upon how well they conducted themselves. What an incredible couple of days of learning, fun and excitement!

Check out lots more photos in the document below...

Our first week back after Easter break has seen us enjoy some beautiful but windy weather!

The children all came back excited to share what fun they had shared with their families over easter, and how many easter egg hunts they had all been to!

The children settled back into pre-school quickly and they enjoyed our garden center role play area, planting seeds and selling plants.

We talked about our new enquiry question for this half term, 'What can we plant and see in a garden?'  The children talked about what they know can grow in a garden, plants, fruits and vegetables.  We looked at different types of seeds and how we plant and look after the seeds to make them grow. We also enjoyed stories such as Sam Plants a Sunflower and Jaspers Beanstalk.

Next week we will be getting our big tractor tyre flower beds weeded in preparation to plant some plants into them.  The children will help to water them daily and look out for signs of them growing.  We will also be starting some seeds off and hoping they grow too!

The children on Thursday are lucky to be joining Lantic and Mrs Edwards for a short forest school session, the first one this week was thoroughly enjoyed.  We know not all of the children are here for a Thursday session, but to reassure you that all the children will be accessing forest school at times over the summer term.  We quite often go exploring over there when the afternoons allow us to.

The Summer Term school lunch menu is in our entrance area, remember all our children can order a school lunch.  If this is something you would like to do, please pop in and see Mrs Thompson if you need a Parent pay account setting up.

The pre-School Team.

 

Mysterious Musical Instruments!

Mr Jane treated Duckpool to an introduction to the unusual musical instrument called the piano accordian in music this week. He played some familiar tunes to the children, as well as showing them clips of how they work and how they are made.

At the end of the session, the children were extremely lucky to have a go at holding and playing the piano accordian - despite it almost matching some students in size! It was a wonderful opportunity to access a lesser-known instrument: both inspiring and interesting!

Woven Wonders!

Duckpool class have outdone themselves with their 3D sculpture final pieces this week.

We learned about the work and inspiration of the artist El Anatsui, who is known for producing interesting 3D structures from recycled and reused materials.

Our task was to use offcuts of paper to create an interesting 3D design. A variety of weaving techniques, as well as overlapping 'tiles' was combined and thoughtfully attached to a backboard in order to bring energy and movement to materials that are usually 2-dimensional.

Fiddly but fun!

This week, in our 3D sculpture art unit, we were learning about the use of wire to create shape and frames.

We used techniques such as twisting, bending and shaping over the top of a pre-planned sketch.

It took a great deal of patience and resilience in order to get to these fantastic final pieces! We had shells, astronauts, birds, flowers, cars, shoes, and even more... We were very proud of our efforts.

Welcome to the Summer Term!

It has been lovely this week to finally enjoy some outside learning in the sunshine. We have been enjoying our recently purchased trikes and our writing shed has been transformed into an explorers base with a jungle theme. 

Our learning this term, is based on the enquiry question; 'Who are explorers and what do they do?' We have launched the topic by discussing what we already know about explorers, and have researched the equipment that explorers might need in different environments. The children have asked some interesting and thoughtful questions such as; 'Can anyone be an explorer? Are explorers allowed to take home what they discover? and 'What is the furthest anyone has ever explored?' This led us to find out the recent space mission which ventured to the far side of the moon.

'The Tiger who came to Tea' has been the focus of our English learning in Year 1 and Year 2 for this week as well as next week. We have drawn a story map, summarised the story and used interesting verbs in sentences. Reception have been busy using 'Supertato' as their text for English, and have written some lovely wanted posters as well as going on a search for the evil pea. It's so lovely to see the children have so much fun with their learning this week.

What a brilliant start to the term everyone! Well done.

From The Penhallow Team

Welcome back to everyone after the Easter break. We have a busy term ahead and will be sharing many of the children's wonderful learning experiences as they happen. This week, an invited group of Year 4 & 5 pupils participated in an art and sustainability workshop at the University of Plymouth. Well done to Joey, Harriet, Anoud, Elodie and Thomas, who worked brilliantly alongside children from two other Bridge schools. The headteacher from Brunel was in attendance and emailed me with the following message: 

We know how brilliant our children are but it is always nice to hear it from someone else.

Art
This week, I had the pleasure of working with Class 4 at the start of their summer art unit. This unit explores the work of designers and craftspeople. The point of our lesson was to make something from a fairly abstract prompt card. For example, they could make something that looked introverted, something that was shy, something that balanced etc. This allowed the children to design as they worked, so they didn't become fixated on trying to make something recognisable. This freedom, led to some very creative outcomes:



Reading
As we progress towards the annual summer reading challenge within our local libraries, there is an opportunity for children to meet local author Tom Palmer:


Sun Safety
In our assembly today, I reminded children of the need to keep themselves sun safe. I am sure we have all enjoyed the sun this week but we need to make sure we protect ourselves in the correct way. Please send your child to school wearing sun screen, with a sun hat and a bottle of water to ensure they are sun safe. Thank you in anticipation of your support.

I look forward to sharing more as we progress through the term.

TALLAND'S BLOG 24.4.26 

Welcome to Summer 1 everybody and the sun has shown its face - YAY! It's great seeing all of the children and hearing about some of their fun-filled adventures over the Easter Holiday.

Here's a snapshot of what we've been learning:

Maths:
Year 5 have begun their second unit on FRACTIONS where we have been multiplying fractions.
Year 4 have begun their unit on DECIMALS and PERCENTAGES where they have been solving problems with tenths and hundredths.


English:
We're going to write a persuasive text this term to the local council about beach and ocean pollution. This week, we have been looking at different persuasive texts and exploring which features make an effective one. 

Geography:
In Geography, we are investigating the ocean. This week, we explored the different oceans of the planet, why the ocean is so important and took a trip to Australia to look at the Great Barrier Reef.

Science:
Talland investigated the water cycle this week and all of the magnificent things it does. 

PE:
In PE, with Mrs. Hillman, Talland were finding clues to help them solve problems during orienteering and with me (Mr. Langley), we practiced badminton serves outside in the wind - it was a little challenging - based on the weather - but lots of fun at the same time. Lots of giggles were had!

Celebrations:
Congratulations to Rory for progressing to the next round of the 99 Club - well done! A big well done as well to Amelia for demonstrating our school values. She showed kindness towards her peers and fantastic determination towards her handwriting - it is looking fantastic now! Also, great work from Isabelle in our HANG TOUGH CHALLENGE! She lasted a whopping 2 minutes and 28 seconds - WOW!

That's all from Talland Class this week. We hope you have a wonderful weekend and look forward to seeing everyone next week.

Signing off, Mr. Langley and Mr. Bishop.

  Storytellers Nursery has had a wonderful start to the half-term with our exciting new topic, The Zoo. The children have shown great enthusiasm as they begin to explore the world of animals and where they live.

This week, we have been learning about different animals and their habitats. The children have enjoyed discovering how animals live in a variety of environments, such as jungles, oceans, farms, and deserts. Through stories, discussions, and play, they have started to understand what animals need to survive and why their habitats are so important.

 A highlight of the week has been the children creating their own habitats for a chosen animal. Using a range of materials, they have built imaginative homes, thinking carefully about what their animal would need, such as water, shelter, and food. It has been lovely to see their creativity and growing understanding come to life.

We have also been looking at animals within our own environment, encouraging the children to notice and talk about creatures they may see every day. This has helped them make connections between their learning and the world around them.

It's been a fantastic start, and we're looking forward to continuing our zoo adventures over the coming weeks!

The sun has finally arrived and it is beginning to look like summer! Thank-you to everyone who is sending children into school with sun hats and sun cream. We are always trying to make the most of the weather and need children to be as safe as possible in the sun. It has been another busy week with lots going on. On Thursday the school council visited St Luke's Hospice in Plymouth to see how the money that we have raised is spent. The children met with nurses, occupational therapists and physiotherapists about their important work and how they make people in their care as happy and comfortable as possible. It was really important to see the good the school is able to do through fundraising. The school is apparently famous at the hospice from our videos! Next week sees the Speak Out! Stay Safe! Sessions for Year 1/2 and 5/6. Monday is also the meeting for Year 6 parents about SAT that are coming up. These are a few of the many event coming up this half term, please make sure that you check the calendar for the latest news.