Blackbeard story

In Nessa class we have begun to learn a new story. It is an exciting Pirate tale featuring Blackbeard and Davey Swift. The two brothers are locked in a battle. The story climaxes with Blackbeard setting alight his ship to intimidate his enemy. Pupils have been learning and applying the rules of speech - inventing their own conversations between the pirates. Year 5 and 6 pupils will need to use pirate slang to enliven their speech. This week we have also been focusing on character descriptions. We will use a range of sentence structures to describe the character's appearance and mannerisms.

Next week, pupils will be acting out sections of the story before writing an innovation of our class text. It will be fantastic to see which direction their Pirate Tales take.

Forest School

This week year three and four went for a wander along the bridle way to collect some foliage as we wanted to make some natural clay tiles.
They looked for leaves with prominent veins which would help to make a clearer imprint on clay. Luckily, they found a wonderful variety along with some interesting seed heads. Once back on the field the children spread out their collected treasures and began by breaking off a small handful of the air-dry clay to knead in their hands until it is soft and pliable. Adding a few drops of water to the clay with there fingertips if it began to crack. They pinched out the clay and then gently rolled it out until about 5 mm thick. The children placed some foliage onto the clay and firmly rolled it in to imprint the pattern onto the clay, making sure that they didn’t press too hard and distort the shape. Watching the children’s delight as they peeled away the foliage to reveal a pattern was a pleasure. The children enjoyed some free time to create little birds and animals. Working with clay is an invaluable experience for sensory development, motor skills, self esteem, and self expression, problem solving skills, discipline, and pride. Clay also has a uniquely therapeutic quality that often settles and calm children; it keeps their attention for a considerable time. Clay is a unique art medium because it is highly responsive to touch and very forgiving. As soon as children are given clay, they immediately begin to mould and shape it. They become aware that they are in charge and have influence over the medium as it is quick to respond to their fingers. The feeling that they are in command of the clay gives children the confidence to try any project which opens the door to greater self expression and imagination. Clay also allows a child to learn to repair mistakes and therefore not be afraid to make them. Making mistakes is essential for self improvement but can be difficult and even an obstacle for some children. The forgiving quality of clay, and therefore the ability to readily fix mistakes, gives a child a sense of control over their project’s success which improves self esteem and self expression as they realise that mistakes are not going to stop their progress

After a successful blackberry hunt, the children eagerly put on their aprons and joined Mrs Pearce. They were not just spectators, but active participants in the cooking process. They weighed out the ingredients, cut up the apple, counted out the blackberries, and rubbed the ingredients together with their fingers; this proved to be somewhat sticky, but they were all fabulous at taking turns and waiting patiently for it to bake. Their sense of achievement and independence was evident in their beaming smiles and the delicious aroma that filled the kitchen.

   Cooking is one of the children’s favourite activities in Storytellers. It is an authentic experience where children can gain various skills, specifically in Maths. In addition, it can aid language and communication. When children can complete activities independently, their confidence soars. Following a recipe also helps children to learn to read for a purpose and follow instructions. In addition, they can talk about their likes and dislikes and healthy eating. When children are involved in preparing food, they are more likely to try out new tastes and flavours. The children's enjoyment of the cooking activity was evident in their eagerness to learn and their enthusiastic participation.  

The crumble was a scrumptious afternoon snack to enjoy in the autumnal sunshine. 

Children love to show what they can do, and cooking provides opportunities to gain a sense of accomplishment.

   Here at Storytellers, we like to provide real-life experiences. Cooking is a needed life skill. It is an authentic experience where children can gain a range of skills, specifically in Maths, as genuine opportunities for children to count, measure and calculate. Making bread gave their little hands a fabulous workout as they kneaded and shaped the dough.

It helps the children understand traditions and really aids language and communication. Today we introduced new vocabulary such as harvesting wheat, grinding wheat, dough, kneading and rising. When children can complete activities independently their confidence soars. Following a recipe also helps children to learn to read for a purpose and follow instructions. When children are involved in preparing food, they are more likely to try out new tastes and flavours. Today the children enjoyed learning how to make bread like The little Red Hen, how to knead the dough and then watch it double in size like magic! The best bit was tasting though….well done little chefs

 We have been talking about cooking in class and suggested to the children that we could make a blackberry crumble, so we jumped at the chance to take our little fruit pickers out in the sunshine to see what we could find. We are lucky at Storytellers to be blessed with a bridleway close by that is rich in bramble bushes full of large juicy blackberries. The children could pick their own and sample the trials and tribulations of foraging for these black jewels.  

When we have snacks in the Storytellers, the children receive fruit in front of them on the table. How did this fruit get to them? Where did it come from? Allowing the children to be a part of the production of their food (our nursery garden is key to this also) begins to teach them about the journey their food goes through to get it to their plates. The first task was to let our group of bouncing toddlers know what sort of adventure we were about to take; of course, as soon as we mentioned it, there was a rush of putting wellies on and getting our collection pots.

We all ventured along the tack where some were found. These weren’t immediately highlighted to the children to see if they could spot any. One little one ran over to the first blackberry bush we discovered excitedly, exclaiming: “I found a blackberry!” He understood straight away what we were looking for and showed he understood what our adventure was all about. It was clear the discovery had made him happy, and he picked one straight away. However, this Blackberry did not manage to reach the cups. It went straight into his mouth! Before all the children started picking the berries, we had to explain some important rules about foraging. Could we pick green or red blackberries? We let the children know that only blackberries would be picked, as the green and red would be very yucky in our tummies! The children noticed that the blackberries had sharp thorns and stinging nettles growing around them. A few of the older children knew the stinging nettles and brambles would hurt them, so they learnt to identify what they looked like so they could avoid harm. When we venture out of the nursery, we always explain to the children all the hazardous plants we might encounter.

When the children started to get stuck into picking the berries, they didn’t stop! We enjoyed the sunshine along the track, picking all the blackberries we could reach. Spending this time outside gave the children lots of exercise and fresh air, running back and forth from bush to bush.

During our blackberry picking, there was lots of talk between the children. Other conversations were about picking blackberries at home. Seeing the children do this activity at nursery was nice, but it is a lot more satisfying knowing that this happens at home. The sharing was also great to see between the children, passing around the pots so we all have a hold without adults having to suggest it. We then spoke about how nutritious the blackberries are, especially because they are organic and full of vitamin C, giving the children’s immune systems a good boost and containing plenty of fibre to help their digestion. When we returned to the nursery, we washed the berries and prepared them to cook the following day.

This last week has been all about settling in for our youngest class members as nursery may be the first time a child has been away from parents for a short period of time, which can be daunting for both at first. However, it gives the child the opportunity to be independent and have freedom to explore and to make other relationships, which is critical for their long-term well-being.

That added independence can nurture a child’s self-confidence, help to develop their own personality, disposition, thoughts, and ideas, and encourage them as they discover more about life outside of their family unit. Learning to complete basic tasks by themselves, taking part in activities and spending time with others, will help develop their confidence and build a foundation, which prepares them for school and life in the outside world.

Storytellers offers a wide range of activities, resources, and experiences to stimulate and engage the children. Having so many different things for them to discover and explore, helps to develop their interests and encourages them to try new things out for themselves. It’s an exciting new adventure and the bonus is you can leave the messy play to us! !

Both academically, socially, and emotionally, children will be learning new skills every day. For example, learn how to hold mark-making tools, put on their own coat, learn mathematical concepts, and help tidy up. These are all valuable life skills and build the foundations for the future in preparing your child for school.

We couldn’t be prouder of our little bunch and how well everyone has settled. We look forward to an exciting term. 

Maths

In KS2 we are kicking off with place value. Pupils are learning to read number lines with a million, partition numbers flexibly, understand the value of a digit within a number and round to the nearest 10, 100, 1000, 10,000.

We are also focusing on our Times Tables Space Race. Pupils have helped to create our display where they are each represented by a space rocket and they must learn there times tables to move onto the next planet. Ask you astronaut which planet they are on.

English

We are leaning to use sentence structures for the first three weeks of this term. We have 5 structures to learn: Verb starters, Conjunction starters, Adverb Starters, Sentence of Three and Embedded clauses. We are learning to use these structures, punctuate them properly and mix them together. Years 5 and 6 are taking these structures and creating an emotion,

Wider Curriculum
This term our topic is: Would you rather love in the Stone Age, Bronze Age or Iron Age? We are focusing on being historians and looking at sources. How do we know how early humans live? How do historians make inferences? In music we are learning to play the recorder. We have so far Jazzed up Hot Cross Bun! There will be a performance at the Harvest Festival.

Welcome to our Nursery blog ...

In our spacious, inviting nursery, we work hard to offer a nurturing and supportive learning environment for the children to thrive and grow. We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum, emphasising the characteristics of effective learning.

This approach fosters a love of learning and provides challenges linked closely to developmentally age-appropriate experience. We strive to create an environment where the children feel confident exploring and discovering new things. We have weekly forest school activities and constant access to a large, safe outdoor space and an all-weather area. Our excellent cook cooks all meals daily on-site.

As a Nursery, we understand that all children are unique and understand the importance of following their individual interests.

We are set just outside the beautiful village of Blisland, 10 mins from Bodmin town centre.

As a smaller setting, we can only offer ten places per year group, which ensures a very high level of interaction with adults and quality education for your child while they are with us. We are very family-oriented and have strong community connections.

We can offer places to children from the age 2yrs and offer 3yrs funding and 30-hour funding; more information can be found here: www.gov.uk/30-hours-free-childcare

Morning sessions are from 8.50 am - 12 cost £17.70

Lunch is available from 12-1 pm at £5.90 plus meal cost or a home-packed lunch.

The afternoon session would be from 12-3 pm at £ 17.70 plus meal cost or home-packed lunch.

All day session 8.50 am - 3 pm £35.40 plus the meal or home-packed lunch.

We are offering a fourth session free if you pay for 3. It can be just mornings or a full day.  Your equivalent 4th session would be free, saving a max of £35.40

We are very flexible with hours and days, so please feel free to ring for more information.

We can offer afterschool care from 3.15 - 4.15 pm for £5.80, including snacks.

We also run a parent and toddler group, ' Twiglets', on a Wednesday morning from 9 am to 11 am, where you can come along to stay and play and meet new people, have a coffee and get a feel for what we are all about; this runs weekly in term time and its free. Bump to 4yrs.     Weekly information is also available on our Twiglets Facebook page.

Following our nursery blog, which we hope to publish weekly, will allow us to inform you through words and pictures how we promote your child’s learning in the nursery. It is also a great way for you to discuss with your child at home what they have been doing each week.

Kind regards,

Reading

Reading is one of the most important things we do in Kensa Class and we encourage all children to participate in reading activities at home at least 4 x per week. For children in Year Reception, this might be simply sharing a bedtime story together. Please record any activities you do in your child's reading record - this helps to ignite a love of reading from a young age. Inside the children’s book bag, you will also find a ‘reading for pleasure’ book. These are books chosen by your child, for you to read to them at home. We will change these over every Monday but you are very welcome to swap them yourself at any time during the week. The books can be found in the reading for pleasure box in the children’s cloakroom.

Welcome to our Nursery blog ...

In our spacious, inviting nursery, we work hard to offer a nurturing and supportive learning environment for the children to thrive and grow. We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum, emphasising the characteristics of effective learning.

This approach fosters a love of learning and provides challenges linked closely to developmentally age-appropriate experience. We strive to create an environment where the children feel confident exploring and discovering new things. We have weekly forest school activities and constant access to a large, safe outdoor space and an all-weather area. Our excellent cook prepares all meals daily on-site.

As a Nursery, we understand that all children are unique and understand the importance of following their individual interests.

We are set just outside the beautiful village of Blisland, 10 mins from Bodmin town centre.

As a smaller setting, we can only offer ten places per year group, which ensures a very high level of interaction with adults and quality education for your child while they are with us. We are very family-oriented and have strong community connections.

We can offer places to children from the age 2yrs and offer 3yrs funding and 30-hour funding; more information can be found here: www.gov.uk/30-hours-free-childcare

Morning sessions are from 8.50 am - 12 cost £16.80

Lunch is available from 12-1 pm at £5.60 plus meal cost or a home-packed lunch.

The afternoon session would be from 12-3 pm at £ 16.80 plus meal cost or home-packed lunch.

All day session 8.50 am - 3 pm £33.60 plus the meal or home-packed lunch.

We are offering a fourth session free if you pay for 3. It can be just mornings or a full day.  Your equivalent 4th session would be free, saving a max of £33.60

We are very flexible with hours and days, so please feel free to ring for more information.

We can offer after-school care from 3.15 - 4.15 pm for £5.00, including snacks.

We also run a parent and toddler group, ' Twiglets,' on Wednesday mornings from 9 to 11 a.m. You can come along to stay and play, meet new people, have a coffee, and get a feel for what we are all about; this runs weekly in term time and is free. Bump to 4yrs. Weekly information is also available on our Twiglets Facebook page.

Following our nursery blog, which we hope to publish weekly, will allow us to inform you through words and pictures how we promote your child’s learning in the nursery. It is also a great way for you to discuss with your child at home what they have been doing each week.

Kind regards,

Julie Pearce and the Storytellers team. 

As we near the end of another wonderful year at Storytellers, we celebrated with a circus-themed day; the children all looked fantastic as they arrived as an array of clowns, acrobats and strong men! The children thoroughly enjoyed the large inflatable Circus, which housed a side, ball pool, obstacle course, and air shots. We had a delicious party lunch with a fabulous fruit elephant created by our clever cook, Sam!

A day full of laughter in the sunshine….what a perfect way to end the year.

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SATS Superstars

We are incredibly proud of our year six pupils who have had their SATS results this week. We have worked extremely hard in school and in after school club. Each pupil was set their own targets and they put their all into achieving it. The process of setting high expectations and working hard towards it - with all the ups and downs - will set them up perfectly for the next stage of their learning journey. It is an absolute pleasure to see them succeed and all of us at Blisland Primary are extremely proud of each one them.

Storytellers have made the most of the weather this week and enjoyed adventuring outside. Mud pie making, setting sail with pirates and driving to the shops were just a few of the adventures they have been on! We have also been practising for sports day, and everyone is getting rather good at the egg and spoon race ….

Sports Day 2024.

Despite the weather's best efforts yesterday, we all had an exhilarating afternoon in the sunshine. The unexpected weather challenges only brought us closer, making Sports Day 2024 a testament to our community's resilience. We couldn't be prouder of the children, who showed remarkable teamwork, encouraged each other, and took care of their younger peers. It was a joy to witness!

The Duck race provided the usual year six mayhem as 400 ducks were released down the river to be caught by a very brave Mr Smith, who proceeded to get slightly wet! Hopefully, our duck catchers have all dried off!

We had some delighted prize winners! Thanks to the PTFA and everyone who supported them by donating food, setting up, clearing away, serving ice cream, and running the Tombola. We appreciate everything you all do, and it’s an integral part of our little community school!

As a school community, you raised a fantastic £700 with the PTFA, which goes towards providing enrichment opportunities over the coming year … That is one of the highest amounts ever raised on sports day.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who sponsored us: Tesco, Asda Bodmin, Morrison’s, The Old Inn, The Westberry Hotel, Bodmin Nursery, Rowes, Dole Fruit, Lappa Valley, The National Trust, Bodmin Wenford Railway, Bowood Golf Club, Trelawney Garden Center, and all our parents. Your support has made a significant difference to our school community.

Summer term 2

Well the fine weather is finally here! What a packed Summer Term we have.

PGL

Nessa class have recently returned from a hugely successful trip to Barton Hall. The residential was packed with activities: high ropes, climbing, archery, rifle shooting, aeroball and raft building to name a few. We were blessed with perfect weather and the children had a trip to remember!

Awful Auntie

On Friday we are off to the theater to see Awful Auntie - what an end to the week. 

Aquarium

Kensa class visited Plymouth Aquarium last week. They came back full of facts and ideas about the underwater world.

Cricket

Next week we are visiting Summerset Cricket Ground to watch a county game.

Mountain bike club

This half term we have been running an mountain bike club at Lanhydrock. We began by shredding the green family trails before progressing to the technical blue trails. All the pupils have made fantastic progress. We have even attacked the skill track where there are drops and jumps. A huge thank you to the parent helpers who have transported the bikes and children as well as joining us on the trails.

War Hammer club

Mr Coates has been running a War Hammer club this term. Pupils have been making and painting models as well as learning how to play the game. Thank you Mr Coates for volunteering your time to give our pupils this unique opportunity.

Insect topic

In Kensa class pupils have been studying insects. As part of this topic pupils have: been on a bug hunt, created bug environments and made bug art. In the classroom there are live caterpillars who are moving through there life-cycle. Our young scientists are observing the changes daily.

Ancient Greece




SATS

Throughout the year, several trips and experiences are planned into the seven areas of learning to help the children broaden their knowledge by exposing them to things they may not encounter. These experiences enhance the children’s awareness by seeing real-life examples of what they have been learning; the children gain a deeper understanding of the topic, increasing their motivation to learn and retain the information. We focus heavily on our local environment, with trips and walks around the local community, which is why our visit to the Lost Gardens of Heligan was a fantastic experience for the Storytellers as they were able to see lots of the things they have been learning about on a far grander scale: beehives, sculptures, conservation, unique colours within the world of plants and lots of rare breed animals. This language-rich experience is essential and also fun which is always at the heart of everything we do. It is our role as a setting to help the children experience the awe and wonder of the world in which they live, and what a pleasure it is to be able to do that with these fantastic little people 

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At Storytellers, we have been outside enjoying the sunshine while learning about various habitats for the minibeasts that we have been looking at resonantly. The children each picked a mini beast and set to work, making it a house. This involved lots of fine motor skills as they assembled their little homes.

Through our dedicated efforts in caring for minibeasts and other animals, we are instilling in the children a deep sense of respect and care for all creatures. This hands-on exploration of the natural world they inhabit is a testament to our commitment to their holistic development.

It's good to develop children’s knowledge of the natural world they live in.

Over time, the children will develop the skills to talk about what plants and insects need to grow and how they change.

We have been learning to take care of small creatures, hold them without damaging them, and know that we must always place them back where they found them.