This week has been a very busy and fun-packed week! Wednesday saw Year 5 take part in the Junior Life Skills Roadshow at Liskeard fire station. The children had the opportunity to learn valuable skills like CPR, lifesaving skills and electrical safety. They also had the opportunity to learn about the public transport system and health talks such as stopping smoking. Also on Wednesday, some of the children braved the cold at Sterts to join in with lots of other local schools for the Songfest. This celebration of singing and music was wonderful and the children performed beautifully. Thank-you to Mrs Lake and Mrs Nel for their hard work making this so successful. Mr Massey (the CEO) Mrs Gilbert (deputy CEO), Mrs Sanson (Area Executive Head) and Mrs Spencer (Head of St Cleer) all came for a visit this week. They visited the children in the classes, looked at the learning and Before we break up for Easter, a reminder that next Thursday is a half day and children can be collected at 1.30 from their usual door. If you are unable to collect the children at this time, please let us know so we can make arrangements. Also, please may I thank you all for not parking in the car-park at pick up and drop off and after clubs. This is to protect children as they leave the school grounds. Can I also remind you not to park on the zig-zag lines outside school. These need to be kept clear for safety reasons too. Thank-you for your understanding.

It is wonderful to see the sun finally start to shine over Cornwall. The children have been enjoying the sunshine and moods have definitely been cheerful! It has been another great week with children learning lots of new skills. On Monday we joined together as a Trust in music and song to celebrate our love of the world and protecting our planet on a local and global level. Each school brought their own song to sing in front of other schools at St Martin's church in Liskeard. The children had the opportunity to sing with Luke Wallace - a world-renowned musician who came to join us all the way from Canada! The children were a credit to themselves, and it was a great event. The school was a sea of red today as we joined in with Comic Relief. This very worthy cause helps people all over the world, including in our own community. Thank-you to your generous donations, Darite added £26.78 to this year's grand total! As we (hopefully) get more sunny and warm weather, can I take this chance to remind all children to come to school with a refillable water bottle, sun hat and sunscreen. If the children can arrive at school with protection on, they can then re-apply the sun cream when needed. Finally, I would like to take the opportunity to welcome Miss Bantock to Darite school. She will be working in KS2 to support learning as our newest teaching assistant. She is really excited to join the school, and I am sure the children will make her feel really welcome.

It's been another very busy week at Darite with all the children working hard in all their learning. The songs for Song Fest are sounding amazing and the children who are attending Sterts are looking forward to it. We also have our Bridge Song event on Monday and some KS2 children will be singing with all the other schools in Liskeard! We had amazing grounds to celebrate yesterday as the First Lego League team won the Robot Performance award for the 5th year running at RNAS Culdrose! The team of 6 children from class two performed amazingly under pressure in their three times games, coming first with a huge score of 285 points! Despite coding issues and technical problems. this was the highest score in this part of the event over both days! The support the team showed each other in help, guidance and problem-solving means more to us than any trophy. Sadly, the team did not qualify for the national finals in Harrogate this year, such was the strength of the competition, but they should be really proud of themselves (I know I am). The icing on the cake was that they also won the top placed play of for ultimate bragging rights for this next year! The team at Culdrose were so impressed, we even made it to Spotlight and BBC Radio Cornwall! Well done team!
I had a meeting this week with the Educational Welfare Service about attendance and punctuality in schools. Our attendance is improving which is brilliant and thank you for your help in this. Remember, we are happy to administer Calpol in school if needed.
We have been asked to monitor punctuality as our next step as we have a number of pupils who are sometimes later in. This means learning is being missed. If punctuality is an issue for you, please let the school know and we can see how we can help improve this for the children.
There is a lot still comping up in the final few weeks of this term, make sure you keep up to date with the newsletters and website.

News

It's been a wonderful week at Darite. Class 1 had a great trip to the Maritime Museum in Falmouth yesterday. They blew the expert away with their knowledge of geography and the continents and were a credit to themselves and the school. Class 2 worked hard with the experts from Sterts in the first session of their project. They explored movement and journeys linking to the topic of belonging. These opportunities are one of the things that make Darite so special. There where so many different book characters in school today that we couldn't name them all. Even though it was a day later than the rest of the country, the children loved dressing up and sharing their love of reading. 2026 is also the National Year of Reading so it was great to celebrate with the children today. Thank-you for your help with the costumes and, more importantly, reading at home with the children. We are also aware that some children in school are a little concerned about some of the events taking place in the world at the moment. We are, as always, able to support in school with questions but the following link https://www.unicef.org/parenting/child-care/how-talk-your-children-about-conflict-and-war is from the UNICEF website with guidance on how questions at home could be answered. Obviously, you know your children best, but the advice is here if you would like to look. Good luck to those children running in the cross-country race this afternoon. You will be amazing! 

Welcome back after a very soggy half term! The children have been continuing to work hard this week with Class 2 finishing the mummification of their apples and Class 1 starting an interesting topic on explorers! The children have loved these activities and have learned a lot from them - well done! This is another shorter half term but we have lots planned for the school and children. Please make sure you are checking the newsletter and website for up-to-date calendars. Next week sees Class 1's trip to the Maritime Museum in Falmouth and World Book Day. A reminder that children can dress up as a book character on Friday next week due to the trip. We will still be taking part in lots of reading related activities and fun! Also starting next week is the project that Class 2 are doing with Sterts. It is a term-long project on "Belonging" during which experts in music, dance, drama, design and other areas will come into school to work with the children once a week on a performance that will take place in May. It promises to be really exciting and we are looking forward to it. Have a wonderful weekend and thank-you for your continued support of our school.

We are very nearly at the middle of the school year! Next week is the final week of this half term and it has flown by. Still to come next week we have the Valentine's disco on Tuesday and school finishes for pupils on Thursday as the staff have INSET training on Friday 13th Feb. 

We were really lucky to have a visit yesterday from author Jane Griffiths. She came in to talk to us about her new book (and read it to us) and talk about conservation. We are grateful to her for giving up her time to visit us and share her passion. 

Parent Survey: You said, we did!

Thank-you so much for your replies to the parent survey. You have made some fantastic suggestions and comments and we have already started to look at them. Thank-you also to the parents and carers who have volunteered to be part of the steering committee. There is still time to be part of this if you would like. Please let Mrs Norris know. 

Our first piece of work will be looking at communication between school and home and will shortly be sending out a communications charter that will underpin how school and home communicate. It is an exciting piece of work that children will be part of too. 

Finally, an we please ask all parents and carers to park responsibly outside of school. The markings at the front are to keep the children safe and should not be used to park. Also, please can we ask that you too remind children to use the pavements to walk on as we have had some reports of children running out into traffic. 

Thank-you again for your support of the school. Have a wonderful weekend. 

Mr Whipps

It's been another busy week at Darite with some wonderful learning going on across the school. It is always makes me smile to see what the children have been learning and for them to show me their work. There are a few exciting events happening over the final two weeks of this half term. Next Thursday we are welcoming Jane Griffiths - an author - to school to share her latest book and talk about how she gets her ideas. On the 10th of February, the PTFA are hosting their Valentine's Disco! I know a lot of children have signed up for this but if they haven't put their names down yet and would like to come, please let Mrs Norris know. Finally, a reminder that the 13th of February is an INSET day. School will be closed to pupils on that day. Safeguarding I am the designated safeguarding lead (DSL) for Darite Academy. All staff take safeguarding very seriously in school and will report any worries that they have or that are passed to them to me. Should I be unavailable, both Mrs Lake and Mrs Norris are trained to act as Deputy Designated Safeguard Leads (DDSL). They will be able to listen to you should I be unavailable.

It has been another busy week at Darite despite the best efforts of the rain! Class 1 have been working hard in all their learning - it was wonderful to see some of their writing this week. The standard of handwriting and presentation is going from strength to strength. Class 2 have been learning about electricity and using it to solve problems in their science lessons. Wider curriculum in both classes is a time to see all children shine. Parental Engagement project We are lucky enough to have been selected to take part in this program this year and moving forward. It is aimed at making sure that school and parents work together for the best of the children and whole school community. We are lucky at Darite to have a close-knit community around the school and a strong community in the school but there is always room to grow. To help with this, your children will have come home today with a parent survey. This is very similar to ones you've had before but with an emphasis on communication. I would be really grateful if you were able to complete this and send it back to school via the office or teachers. The results of this will help us steer the project moving forward. In addition, I am looking to form a group including myself and other members of the school including parents. This will entail meeting once a term to discuss the plan and how school can continue to improve. If you would like to be included in this group, please let Mrs Norris know and I will send invitations out shortly. Many thanks for your support of the school.

It has been a calmer week weather-wise at Darite this week thank-you again for your understanding last week. Thank-you also to those of you who have given us updated contact details for our system. Please remember, if you move house, phone numbers or email addresses, let us know so we can make sure we have details in case of an emergency. Thank-you. The children have really continued their learning well this week. Class 1 have been producing some great written work and I even learned a thing or two in their ICT lessons! Class 2 have all been getting into their DT project, helping Dr Smart at Exeter university by designing a product to safely hold archaeological artefacts in scanners! It is great to see the range of learning that takes place in school. Finally, can I politely remind you that Darite is a non-smoking or vaping site. This is for the safety of all members of the school.