Latest News
News
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RNLI - staying safe at the beach
Fri 25 Apr 2025Today we welcomed Charlie and Evo, two of the local RNLI lifeguards, to our assembly.
They told us how to stay safe on our visits to the beach, reminding us of the system of flags used by the RNLI on beaches patrolled by lifeguards: red and yellow - safe area for swimming and body boards; black and white - area for surfing and kayaks; and red - unsafe to enter the water.
They instructed us how to cope if we get caught in a rip tide: stay calm and float.
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Easter Celebrations
Fri 04 Apr 2025This year we held our Easter service in St Anne's church. Led by Reverend David, we sang songs, read prayers and recited readings about Christ's passion.
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'Field to Fork'
Wed 26 Mar 2025Recently, we (Adventurers) joined Year 3 and Year 4 pupils from fourteen other Cornish schools to attend one of the Farm and Country Days held at the Royal Cornwall showground.
At the event, more than fifty exhibits (including live animals and some big, big 'toys') illustrated an aspect of the local farming and food production industry (‘food to fork’), supported by more than 200 volunteers, who kindly gave up their time to make this event happen. The occasion was an interactive learning journey to see how our food travels from field to plate. It was difficult to say which was our favourite animal (they were all so cute), but many of us were eager to smuggle home with us one of the piglets.
As well as some delicious ice cream, we also sampled some tasty cheese, some scrumptious eggy bread and some fresh apple juice.
Our thanks to Holly Braund and Kimberley Neville for accompanying us.
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Squad on tour...
Sat 08 Mar 2025On Friday, we travelled to Bodmin to take part in a football tournament for Year 5 and Year 6 girls, joining teams from a number of other Cornish schools, at the town's leisure centre.
In the afternoon, the girls joined with the boys for an athletics multi-skill event. It included such 'track' events as lap relays and obstacle relays; in the 'field' there were long, triple and vertical jumps, speed bouncing and (soft) javelin throwing.
Thanks to Mr Mould for being our 'manager' and to Mrs Lamble, Mrs Orchard, Mrs Stuckey and Mr L for transporting us to Bodmin - and back again!
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World Book Day
Thu 06 Mar 2025All the children - and, as you can see, not just the children - loved dressing up for World Book Day.
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Friendship
Mon 27 Jan 2025We welcomed Reverend David Saunders to school to lead an assembly.
The theme of the assembly was friendship.
To have good friends, one needs to be a good friend.
We read some poems we had written about friendship.
We look forward to seeing Reverend David again when we celebrate Easter in a few weeks time.
A friend is one of the best things you can be and the greatest things you can have.
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Remembrance Day 2024
Wed 13 Nov 2024In the morning of Remembrance Day, we welcomed Kevin Jeffery of the British Legion to the school as we joined in with a live-streamed online assembly hosted by the British Legion in partnership with the National Literary Trust bringing together art, music and veterans’ experiences. This year was the anniversaries of momentous battles and turning points of World War II. At 11 o’clock, we observed a two-minute silence.
In the afternoon, as part of the commemoration of Remembrance Day, the PTFA organized an Armistice Day Tea, extending an invitation to families and friends in the village and beyond, many of whom could recall memories of their wartime experiences.
We were delighted at the attendance for this event held in the school’s hall. Each of the classes had produced a display featuring the poppy as the theme.
Our thanks to the PTFA for organizing the event and to everyone who donated cakes.
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To Bodmin Gaol - just visiting!
Tue 12 Nov 2024On a bright autumnal day, we (Trailblazers) crossed Bodmin Moor (today with a rare sunny smile on her face) to visit the still forbidding edifice of Bodmin’s former gaol.
Passing through the imposing entrance to the onetime prison, we were greeted by Bex, who was to be our guide on a historical journey from the 1700s to the beginning of the twentieth century, discovering along the way the realities of incarceration resulting from the justice and penal systems of the Georgian and Victorian periods.
The ‘Dark Walk’ is, if you’ll forgive the pun, a captivating experience; an experience in which one is immersed in a gruesome history.
The walk uses theatrical effects and state-of-the-art cinematic technology that allows us to travel back to Cornwall’s murky past – from the crimes to the courthouse and thence to the punishments that were meted out as part of the penal servitude of the times.
Punishments were harsh: from the monotonous hours spent on the treadmill (during a gruelling eight-hour shift on this machine devised by Sir William Cubitt, a prisoner would climb the equivalent of 2,400 metres), the crank, shot drill and picking oakum to, for more serious infractions of the rules, whipping and birching. All these ‘measures’ were intended to have been deterrents to reoffending, but, alas, they didn’t take account of the circumstances that may have led to the offending in the first place, such as poverty and its attendant scourges.
Although by contemporary standards they appear severe, the Victorians’ ‘reforms’ were an improvement on the conditions of such an institution as Bodmin gaol in the seventeenth century.
In the damp communal cells, sanitation was non-existent (in 1759 it was estimated that one in four prisoners died from a form of typhoid known as Jail Fever) with up to eight inmates housed in a cell with a floor area of three square metres, with no account taken of the age or sex of the prisoner or the category of his or her offence.
Shockingly, it was not uncommon for children to be imprisoned, accompanying their mother or father who had committed a crime, but also in these times criminal acts (petty crimes such as stealing a comb, a blanket or a piece of celery – violations of the ‘sanctity of property’) committed by children were judged in the same ways as those committed by adults. It wasn’t until the Children’s Act of 1908 that imposing adult sentences on children were outlawed.
As we wandered through the gaol’s historic corridors, we had the opportunity to engage with Cornwall’s rich cultural heritage while reflecting upon the everyday hardships facing the poorest in society and to understand the evolution of justice and morality in society where the purpose of prison has changed so that depriving offenders of their liberty is not only to punish but, where appropriate, also serves to reform and rehabilitate those who are capable of being reformed and rehabilitated so they can lead law-abiding lives.
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Explorers visit some of our older friends...
Thu 17 Oct 2024Explorers visited our friends in St Anne's residential home to perform the songs they had sung and the poems they had recited at this year's Harvest Celebrations in the village's Methodist chapel. The children delighted in the smiles lighting up the faces of the residents and their appreciative applause.
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Harvest Celebrations 2024
Thu 17 Oct 2024This year, we were delighted to accept the invitation from the village's Methodist Church to hold our harvest celebrations in its chapel.
First to welcome the families and friends who were joining us in our celebrations were our Early Years and KS1 children, who performed songs and poems related to the theme of harvest time.
Following the younger children, Adventurers and Trailblazers stepped into the spotlight.
We would like to thank everybody who was able to come and join us in our celebrations; thanks to Reverend Meg for her inspiring and uplifting words; and to the PTFA for organising some delicious refreshments.
As the celebrations ended, a piece of music by J S Bach entitled 'Sheep May Safely Graze' was played. This musical offering was in our minds as we had had the pleasure of hearing it being played by members of the ensemble Apollo's Cabinet, who had visited the school earlier in the week.
In part, the piece resonated with us because it was evocative of our beautiful surroundings and reminded us how blessed we are to live in such an inspiring landscape - and with some sheep safely grazing in the fields around us.
