On Friday we had an unexpected visit from Air Ambulance as they assisted someone in the local community. We wish everyone involved a speedy recovery. Thank you so much to the Air Ambulance team who took the time to share the vehicle with the children and allowed them to ask lots of interesting questions. We are very lucky in Cornwall to have a community that funds such a wonderful service for those who need it.

What a busy and exciting week we have had in class! The children have been working hard, exploring lots of new topics and developing their skills across all areas of the curriculum. Here is a little look at what we have been getting up to!

Maths

This week, we have begun our new unit on place value to 100. We have been exploring how tens and ones work together to make two-digit numbers, using practical resources to help us understand how numbers are made. We have also started practising counting on from different starting numbers, developing our confidence and fluency when counting. The children have enjoyed using their mathematical thinking to explore numbers in different ways!

English

In English, we have continued to develop our sentence-writing skills, using our story of Traction Man as inspiration. We have been focusing on building sentences that include a subject, a verb and a 'what' or 'where' to make our writing more interesting and informative. The children have been working hard to think carefully about their word choices and remember to include all the important parts of a sentence.

PE

We had lots of fun in PE this week as we explored movement inspired by sea creatures! We thought about how different sea animals move, including crabs, sharks, whales and jellyfish. We then used our bodies to recreate their movements, thinking about how we could travel, stretch, twist and move in different ways. There were some fantastic creative ideas and plenty of imaginative movements!

RE

In RE, we have been learning about the Christmas story. The children worked on sequencing the key events, thinking carefully about what happened first, next and last. This helped us to develop our understanding of the story and recognise the important events that make up the Christmas narrative.

Geography

Our Geography learning took us on a closer look at our own school environment. We explored the different parts of our school and practised identifying and labelling them. This helped us to develop our understanding of the places around us and begin using geographical vocabulary to describe familiar locations.

Science

In Science, we have been learning about animals and exploring the differences between mammals and birds. We thought about the features that help us identify each group and discussed how they are similar and different. The children enjoyed sharing their ideas and using what they already know about animals to help them classify them.

PSHE

This week in PSHE, we focused on our Learning Charter and thought about what makes us good learners. We discussed the behaviours and attitudes that help everyone to learn, such as listening carefully, taking turns, being kind, trying our best and not giving up when something feels tricky. We then put our ideas into action by creating posters to show what good learning behaviours look like. There were some wonderful ideas and colourful illustrations!

Music

We have been getting into the festive spirit in Music as we continue learning our Nativity songs. The children have been practising the words and melodies and are beginning to build their confidence when singing together. We are looking forward to sharing more information about the parts and roles for our Nativity next week, so watch this space!

Art

In Art, we have been exploring the different types of lines we can make. We looked at how lines can be straight, curved, wavy, zigzag or thick and thin. We thought about how artists use lines in different ways and began experimenting with the marks we could create. It was lovely to see the children exploring their creativity and discovering how something as simple as a line can make such a difference to a piece of artwork.

Forest School

We finished off some of our outdoor learning by getting creative in Forest School. Using natural materials that we found around us, the children made their very own faces! They carefully selected different leaves, sticks and other natural objects to create eyes, noses, mouths and lots of interesting expressions. It was wonderful to see their imagination at work and how they used the natural environment to inspire their creations.

Well done, everyone, for another fantastic week of learning! We are so proud of the enthusiasm, creativity and hard work the children continue to show each day. We are looking forward to another exciting week ahead, with lots more learning and festive fun to come!

What a Busy First Week Back!

What a fantastic and busy first week back at school we have had! It has been wonderful to welcome everyone back and see the children settling into their learning, enjoying new topics and getting stuck into lots of exciting activities across the curriculum.

In English, we have started a new unit all about sentence building, using the brilliant story of Traction Man as our inspiration. The children have been exploring the story and beginning to think about how we can build interesting sentences, use exciting vocabulary and develop our writing skills. We are looking forward to seeing where our Traction Man adventures take us!

In Maths, we have continued to develop our understanding of addition and subtraction. We have been looking carefully at finding the difference between two numbers and exploring different ways to solve problems. The children have been practising their mathematical thinking and explaining how they work out their answers.

Our PE lessons have been full of energy and creativity this week! We have been focusing on dance, using our imaginations and pretending to be different cats. The children had lots of fun exploring how to move their bodies in different ways, creating movements and thinking about how they could express themselves through dance.

During Kixx, the children have begun learning some new hockey skills. They have been introduced to the basics of the game and started practising how to control and move the ball using a hockey stick. There has been lots of enthusiasm as we begin developing our teamwork and coordination!

In Art, we have been learning about the famous artist Pablo Picasso. The children have started by creating their own cover pages inspired by Picasso, exploring his name and getting ready to discover more about his artwork and unique artistic style.

Our Science learning this week has focused on animals. We have been beginning to explore the animal world, thinking about different types of animals and what makes them special. There will be lots more exciting discoveries as we continue with this topic!

In Geography, we have started learning about the United Kingdom. Our first challenge was to identify and name the four countries that make up the UK: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We have been building our knowledge of the places around us and learning more about our country.

Finally, in RE, we have begun exploring the Christmas story and thinking about its importance. We have also started practising our nativity songs, which is getting us all into the festive spirit! We are already looking forward to sharing our Christmas performance with you.

It has certainly been a busy first week back, filled with lots of learning, creativity, movement and fun. We are so proud of how hard the children have worked and can't wait to see what the coming weeks have in store! 

In the glorious Friday sunshine today we walked to our St Cleer War Memorial and we laid our school remembrance wreath. We took a little time to read through the names recorded and talked about the surnames we still recognise to be linked in our area. We also took some time to sit at the bench near the Darley Oak and view some of the graves with poppies. We will share some more of these ideas in assembly for our remembrance assembly on 11.11.2026 - we will remember them.

Thank you so much to everyone who came to share in our curriculum sharing afternoon. It was lovely to see parents and family members getting stuck into the learning and enjoying being in the classroom with your children. Thank you for supporting this event. Happy half term break!

Thank you so much to the East Cornwall Harriers for organising a great first meet to the season! The sunshine, the smiles and the open Cornish countryside air - perfect for those of us who love to run! Well done to you all and thank you to the parents, carers and volunteers who were there to cheer you at the start and over that line!

What a busy and exciting week we have had! The children have been working incredibly hard and enjoying lots of fun, hands-on learning experiences across the curriculum.

In English, we have been learning all about sentences and how to identify the subject, verb and leftover information. The children have been developing their understanding of how sentences are put together and thinking carefully about the different parts that help to make a sentence.

In Science, we have been exploring our five senses and discovering how we use them to learn about the world around us. We put our senses to the test by tasting a variety of different foods, including lemons, chocolate, chilli, apples and crisps! The children enjoyed exploring the different flavours, describing what they could taste and discussing whether the foods were sweet, sour, salty or spicy. There were some very interesting reactions, particularly to the lemon and chilli!

During ICT, we have been developing our research skills by searching for information about animals eating. The children explored how to find information online and discovered more about different animals and their eating habits.

In Maths, we have been busy practising our number bonds and doubles. The children have been working hard to recognise number pairs that make a given number and to recall doubles facts. We have been using a range of activities to help us become more confident with our number knowledge and develop our mental maths skills.

Our Forest School session was another highlight of the week! We put our knot-tying skills to the test as we practised tying things together, using our hands-on skills and working collaboratively. We then enjoyed gathering around the fire to toast marshmallows. The children loved this special outdoor experience and had a wonderful time developing their practical skills while enjoying the fresh air.

To finish off our week, we had the lovely opportunity to sing in church as part of the Harvest Festival celebrations. The children did a fantastic job and it was wonderful to come together as a school community to celebrate the harvest. We were so proud of them as they shared their singing with everyone.

Thank you so much for all of your donations for Liskeard Foodbank this Harvest Festival. It was wonderful having some time with you in the beautiful St Cleer church. Thank you Rev. Li for welcoming us, Sally Butlin for supporting our singing, the children for being wonderful, the staff too. Thank you as always for your support and trust you put in us to work with your children. 

Class Leader elections were held this week with the children writing their manifestos and presenting them to the class. We held a blind vote to elect our chosen candidate - Congratulations to Harriette, Jowan, Emilia and Stanley.

We've continued to apply our knowledge of Place Value in Maths, using Base 10 to support our understanding, moving onto number lines and calculating intervals and the difference between numbers.

In English, we've identified subject and verb in independent clauses and discussed the use of pronouns in our writing.

On Monday, we were very lucky to be visited by an author called Laura Sweet who shared chapters from one of her books and also gave us a step-by-step drawing workshop on how to draw one of her characters called 'Toad'. Thank you Laura, we loved it! Please take a look here too: St Cleer Primary Academy - Heads Blog

Carnglaze caverns