This week, I have had the pleasure of accompanying children to the 'Wadebridge Festival of Music and Speech'.

Children across the school have been working hard to learn a poem (some of them being over 3 pages!) and perform it to an audience in the Town Hall. The children have impressed me with their ability to perform with clarity and confidence. It takes a huge amount of determination to stand in front of a room full of strangers! The children received fantastic feedback from the judge, such as "You really started to 'lift' the words from the poem". 

Well done to all of the children who took part in the poetry performance and musical performances too. 

On Wednesday, the Year 5 and 6 boys were out of school so the girls from both year groups spent the day together completing a number of activities.

They carried out the ruler reaction activity to test their reaction times. Then, they learned how to carry out data handling using the results that they had collected. They also completed the egg drop challenge! In small groups, they designed and engineered a 'carrier' for their egg. This carrier had to prevent their egg from breaking when dropped from a height. Most of the groups were successful and managed to keep their egg intact! In the afternoon, they sketched and painted dragons.

Everyone enjoyed the day and it was wonderful to see the Year 5 and 6 girls working so well together!

Meanwhile, the boys had the opportunity to head up to the Royal Cornwall Show Ground. Here, they participated in a range of military based activities led by the coaches at DT sport as well as sports leaders/captains from Wadebridge Secondary School.

The children had the opportunity to use their team building skills, unravelling themselves from a human chain and getting themselves in height order or order of their shoe size. They had the chance to play laser tag, using their strategy skills to defend themselves within the course and plan their defensive approach to protect their base. They even had the chance to build fire and make hot chocolate!

To end the day, the children then all took part in a military obstacle course, where they had to hop, dodge, sprint and weave between obstacles, before diving under a net and army crawling through the mud. The race was on for this, competing against other schools, teams, adults and even some teachers! We are incredibly proud of our boys and felt they represented WPA well.

Here is a reminder about the two important events taking place next week...

St Piran’s Day- Tuesday 5th March
To mark the occasion of St Piran’s Day on Tuesday 5th March we will be celebrating all things Cornish and invite the children to come to school dressed in the Cornish colours black, white and gold. Gool Peran Lowen! Please note that there is also a special menu for this day. You can make your booking via ParentPay.

World Book Day- 7th March

World Book Day is taking place at our school on Thursday 7th March and we would like to celebrate this day with all things book related! Our theme this year is ‘Bedtime Stories’ and we invite your child to come to school wearing pyjamas or onesies and bring along their favourite cuddly toy and their favourite book (please name them!). We know that some children enjoy dressing as a book character on this day, so of course if your child would rather do that, then go ahead! However, we do not expect parents to go to the expense of buying new costumes.

Children will take part in reading themed activities throughout the day within their class and will be buddying up with children from other classes in the afternoon for some paired reading over some hot chocolate and biscuits.

World Book Day celebrates the joy and value of books and reading. To help get them started on their reading journey, every child receives a £1 World Book Day Book Token that can either be exchanged for one of special £1 World Book Day books or used to get £1 off any book costing £2.99 or more. You can find out more about the books at www.worldbookday.com/books-and-tokens/books/ 

See you next week! 

Mrs Lee-Elkins 

Despite the endless rain this week, we have made a great start to the second half of the Spring Term and the school has been full of energy and enthusiasm!

The children have returned to school well and attendance is looking better this week with a percentage of 95%. We are getting closer and closer to our whole school target. RW have wowed us with 100% attendance (Mon-Thu). Go RW! 

On Wednesday, the Year 6 Girls took part in Our Girls Can. The day aimed to promote diverse, challenging activities and develop girl’s confidence in and through sport. They completed three different sessions: archery, laser tag and dance. 7 primary schools in the area also took part, so it was an excellent opportunity to meet other girls from other schools that will also be going to Wadebridge School in September. The girls really enjoyed the day and they did us proud - fully taking part in every activity and giving it their all in the final dance performance!

This week my Headteacher's award has gone to Eliot for impressing us with his determination to continually improve his writing and Sidney for being a great role model. As we look towards the End of KS2 Assessments, Miss May has been supporting the children to identify their next steps to improve their writing. Our Y6 cohort is made up fantastic children (and staff!) who are working incredibly hard to achieve their absolute best. Well done Year 6! 

Next week I am looking forward to taking groups of children down to the Town Hall for the Wadebridge Speech and Music Festival. I will keep you posted with how we get on! 

Please do have a read of the blog below for the many, many events taking place this term. 

Best wishes, 

Mrs Lee- Elkins 
Acting Headteacher 

Welcome Back!

I hope that you all had a fantastic half term break. It has been great to see the children back in school today following the Inset Day and Half Term. The teachers had a busy inset day where Miss Beckett gave us some useful Maths updates and Mrs Keat shared ideas about the importance of celebrating Art within our curriculum and how we can support children to use sketchbooks to explore and showcase their learning. 

A big welcome to any new families who have joined us this term too. It's always good to see new faces around the school! I am also really excited to welcome back Mrs Stephens (previously Miss Bishop) and Mrs Smerdon, who have both returned from Maternity Leave and will be teaching in 3W.

I will write to you on Friday with my usual blog, but here is a quick update with the exciting events taking place this term.

St Piran’s Day- Tuesday 5th March

To mark the occasion of St Piran’s Day on Tuesday 5th March we will be celebrating all things Cornish and invite the children to come to school dressed in the Cornish colours black, white and gold. Gool Peran Lowen! Please note that there is also a special menu for this day. You can make your booking via ParentPay.

Book Fair- 26th February

We are pleased to announce that the Scholastic book fair will once again be held in the school library in the week beginning 26th February. The Book Fair will be open to browse and buy books every morning that week from 8am-8.30am and afterschool 3.10-3.30pm in the school hall/ Library. All classes will also have the opportunity to visit the Book Fair during the week to browse.

World Book Day- 7th March World

Book Day is taking place at our school on Thursday 7th March and we would like to celebrate this day with all things book related! Our theme this year is ‘Bedtime Stories’ and we invite your child to can come to school wearing pyjamas or onesies and bring along their favourite cuddly toy and their favourite book (please name them!). We know that some children enjoy dressing as a book character on this day, so of course if your child would rather do that, then go ahead! However, we do not expect parents to go to the expense of buying new costumes. Children will take part in reading themed activities throughout the day within their class and will be buddying up with children from other classes in the afternoon for some paired reading over some hot chocolate and biscuits. World Book Day celebrates the joy and value of books and reading. To help get them started on their reading journey, every child receives a £1 World Book Day Book Token that can either be exchanged for one of special £1 World Book Day books or used to get £1 off any book costing £2.99 or more. You can find out more about the books at www.worldbookday.com/books-and-tokens/books/ These tokens are valid from Feb 15th and will be given to the children today.

Red Nose Day- Monday 11th March and Friday 15th March

Red Nose Day is back! Let's do something funny for money! Or in our case Yummy! This year, we would like to launch a ‘Red Nose Day Bake Off’ to raise money for Comic Relief. The money we raise could help put food on plates and roofs over heads, keep little ones safe and support families affected by conflict and climate change. At WPA, we are going to bake up a storm! To enter, you must send your comical creation (the funnier the better) into school on Monday 11th March. Please ensure that you include a list of ingredients with your bakes so that we can be aware of allergies. The funniest yummy bake will be awarded a prize, and then all the funny yummies will be on sale in the hall at playtimes throughout the week. Please send your child to school with 50p if they would like to buy a tasty treat.

On Friday 15th March (Red Nose Day) children are invited to come into school in non-uniform and are welcome to be in fancy dress if they choose, after all, the theme is 'Do something funny for money!', but please do not go to any extra expense. If you could like to make a donation towards comic relief on this day, you are more than welcome to send your child to school with some change, however, the bake sale is our fund raising event this year so please do not feel obligated.

Parents' Evening- Tuesday 26th March and Wednesday 27th March

We will shortly open the bookings for the 10 minute meetings so please do log on to Arbor to confirm your appointment.

This week our focus for 'Shining Stars' is PE Superstars- I look forward to updating you on Friday about who has received awards!

Many thanks,

Mrs Lee- Elkins

Acting Headteacher

Thank you for your support in ensuring that children are looking smart for school each day and for following our uniform policy. It has been noticeably different when walking around the school this week. Just a reminder that there is a rail of clothing in the Reception area (and lots more upstairs!). Last weekend I took a huge bag of jumpers home for a wash and they are now on the rail. Please do take one! 
You can also purchase ties in the school office. Just make sure everything is named so that it can be returned to you. 

There have been many great learning opportunities across the school this week, but the most exciting has got to be the Space Odyssey dome that Y5 and Y6 experienced on Wednesday. The dome provides a live and interactive experience for the children. In the words of a Y5 pupil, "It was the coolest thing ever!"

As part of a 'Learning Walk' this week, I spent some time in each classroom. I saw some fantastic reasoning skills in Maths lessons (where children were grappling with some challenging concepts) and some brilliant oracy skills in English (where children in Y3 were having a thoughtful debate about a topic in their class reading book). I finished my time in Reception where the children were taking part in a 'Drawing Club'. 'Drawing Club' is a new initiative that we are trialling in Reception. So far it is proving to be a brilliant opportunity for children to immerse themselves in the magic of storytelling and to extend their vocabulary. The Reception children were using words like adored, galloped and elated. Impressive! 

It is always a pleasure walking around the school and seeing how the children's knowledge, vocabulary and skills develop as they travel up through the school. In each classroom there was a purposeful 'buzz' and some great interactions between the children. 

This term is whizzing by so quickly! Just a reminder that the final day of school is Thursday 8th February. Friday 9th February is an INSET day and the following week is half term. The first day back for the second half of the Spring term is Monday 19th February.

Don't forget to book into Bridge Kids for the half term. The team have planned some great activities! 

See you bright and early on Monday morning! 

Mrs Lee- Elkins 

Just a quick mid week update to show you some of the great new resources we have in the EYFS Outdoor Learning Classroom. 
We recently received some additional funding which has helped us to purchase new resources for the children. They are VERY excited to get outside and explore! 

There has been much excitement this week at Wadebridge Primary- especially about the snow flurries! Thank you for driving in carefully and slowly each day and for ensuring that your child comes to school wrapped up nice and warm. 

I would just like to send a gentle reminder about our school uniform expectations at Wadebridge Primary. A school uniform provides children with a sense of belonging and we are proud of our uniform at our school. Over the last few weeks we have noticed quite a lot of incorrect uniform across the school, for example ties not being worn and black football trousers being worn under shorts (if its cold, wearing trousers is best). Please have a read of the attached document. We are always happy to support you with finding uniform. We have a huge bank of clean school uniform in school, along with a rail in the office that we regularly top up with clean jumpers, shirts etc. We also have school ties that can be purchased from the school office. If you have any questions or worries about uniform, please do let us know.

Our new Wider Curriculum Learning Journeys are now in full swing! From Rainforests to Victorians, it is certainly going to be a term packed full of learning. Please do look at your child's current learning journey, which can be found on the school website under 'Wider Curriculum'. 

This week we have introduced several new reward systems, to help us celebrate those children who consistently and regularly follow our school rules (be safe, be ready, be respectful). Each week we are going to be looking for 3 children across the school who are our 'Playground Stars of the Week'. This week it went to three children who are kind, helpful and always have a smile to share. 

As you know, a key focus for us as a school is to continue to improve our attendance levels. At Wadebridge Primary we aim to ensure that all children 'learn, thrive and excel'. To achieve this and for children to reach their full potential, attendance and punctuality is really important.  Therefore, each week, as part of our Shining Stars assembly we are going to be celebrating the class with the highest attendance. Each class can earn a star for their year group and the first year group to get five stars can choose a reward. This could be a class movie, extra playtime, non-uniform day etc. We understand that attendance is very personal to a child's needs, and therefore we will never highlight individual attendance as part of a reward system. If you would like to  find out more about attendance procedures, this can be found on our school website. 

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Lee- Elkins 

It's been great being back in school for a full week. The new term has started and with that brings lots of exciting learning opportunities. Along with this, our clubs have started this week too. We currently have Cornish Dancing, Construction, Gymnastics, Film Club and many, many more! 

The highlight for me this week was talking to the Y1 children about their science experiment. They were exploring the question 'Does the wind always blow the same way?' They had designed and built their own wind socks and were working scientifically by making predictions, observing carefully and noticing patterns. 

This week our Shining Stars theme was linked to our Trust and School value of being 'determined'. It was great to hear the teachers talking about the children in their classes who were showing determination in many ways, particularly with their learning. As a school we often talk about 'The Learning Pit'. We celebrate the value of mistakes and the benefits of finding things difficult, as an important part of the learning process. We often talk about the power of YET. Rather than saying 'I can't do this', we encourage the children to say 'I can't do this YET'. With a positive attitude we encourage the children to consider that whilst something may not be possible yet, with hard work and determination we can get closer and closer to our goals. This ties in well with Mrs Orme's assembly on Monday, when she shared a poem called 'You' by Kristina Stephenson, all about the importance of having your own, unique dreams. 

My Head Teacher's award went to Sam and George this week. Sam had been noticed by Mrs Giles for his impeccable manners and for always being so polite. As I announced  his name in assembly and the reason why he was chosen, there were lots of nods of agreement around the room! George has been chosen this week as Miss Lake was telling me how proud she was of the progress that he has made. Miss Lake said that George is trying hard in all aspects of learning, and because of this, he is making great progress. Well done George and Sam! 

Please can I just remind you that you should only park in the two disabled bays, if you have a blue badge. We have a few families in school who have a blue badge and this week they have found it tricky to park safely at school as the spaces have been filled. There are two cones in front of the spaces (along with the yellow markings on the floor). Thank you for your support with this. 

On Thursday 18th January it is the National School Census Day. This is the day the Government collect information about our school that helps with future funding. We would like to encourage all Reception, Y1 and Y2 children to have a school lunch on this day, along with the children who are eligible for free school meals. Please make your selection via ParentPay. You will notice that the menu on this day has changed slightly to...
-Cheese and tomato pizza and chips
-Loaded jacket potato 
-Jacket potato + fillings.

The KS2 children are of course welcome to still have a Caterlink lunch on this day too. 

I hope you all have a great weekend. 

Mrs Lee-Elkins

Happy New Year!

It's been a short week, but it’s certainly been a great week!

In our assembly this week, we reflected on what a New Year means to us and how others celebrate the New Year across the world. Did you know that in Spain, people often eat 12 grapes on New Years Eve? Apparently, it is supposed to bring a year of good luck. We discussed how people often use the start of the New Year to set themselves goals and challenges. We thought carefully about how we can make sure these goals are achievable and something that we can stick to.

The children have been set a challenge to make a resolution linked to our Bridge Values of being creative, curious, responsible, enthusiastic, excellent and determined. These resolutions are going to be displayed on our school ‘resolution tree’ and we are going to catch up with the children throughout the year, to see how they are getting on. Here are some of the children’s very thoughtful aims for the next year….

Determined: To take my morning work home on a Friday and work on the bits I find hard.

Excellent: I want to be an excellent reader. I am going to read 2 pages of my book, 3 times a week until my birthday in August.

Determined: I am going to learn 3 new notes on my guitar this year.

Responsible: I will help my Mummy to do the dishes once a week.

This afternoon we celebrated the ten year anniversary of Bridge Schools Trust. It was a chance for the whole Trust to come together (virtually) and celebrate all that we have achieved as a collection of schools. Each school had put together a short animation to demonstrate a trust value and we also heard from children across the trust about what makes their school special and how it feels to be a part of the Bridge Schools Trust team. Lily and Oscar (from our Pupil Leadership Team) represented the school marvellously.

Have a great weekend. Who knows, it may even stop raining!

Best wishes,

Mrs Lee- Elkins

Acting Headteacher

What a fantastically festive few weeks we have had at Wadebridge Primary!

Our festive season started with the most delicious Christmas dinner, cooked by our brilliant Caterlink Team. Thank you so much to our cooks and our parent helpers who came to decorate the school hall and make the occasion feel very special for the children. Thanks to the most wonderful donations from a local company, the children were also able to take home a toy. Our Rainbow Room was decorated as ‘Santa’s Grotto’ and the children were able to choose from a great selection of toys. It was so great to hear the children talking about how they are looking forward to enjoying the board games with their families over Christmas.

Our Reception and Nursery classes put together the most magical little performances and it was so brilliant to see so many families in school, enjoying the celebrations with their children. The EYFS team were able to raise a great amount of money to help improve their outdoor classrooms. Thank you for all of your support.

Our Year 1 and Year 2 children put together a great Christmas show called ‘Christmas with the Aliens’. It would be an understatement to say this was OUT OF THIS WORLD! The costumes, dances, songs and acting skills were simply marvellous. Well done Key Stage One!

The Year 3,4,5 and 6 children sang their hearts out at Egloshayle Church last week too. It is such a special tradition and we are so grateful to Miss Day (Marguerite), who came to play for us. The Church was packed full and we were able to raise a great amount of money for The Grace Project. Thank you so much to everyone at Egloshayle Church for hosting the event.

Amongst us we certainly have some great performers! The Drama and Choir Club, with lots of support from Mrs Reeve and Miss Johnston, put together the most amazing show, ‘Cinderella and Rockerfella’. Despite only having around 45 minutes per week to rehearse, it was a fantastic show! The children should feel incredibly proud of themselves. Whether they were singing, dancing, acting, making props or in control of the lighting, they all played an important role in putting together such an entertaining performance. Mrs Reeve and Miss Johnston have certainly started a new tradition. I can’t wait to see what they have up their sleeves for next Christmas!

In addition to the classroom parties, card making and crafts, all children have enjoyed a trip to the cinema too, to enjoy a festive movie called ‘Arthur Christmas’. Thank you to everyone who was able to make a payment via ParentPay and thank you to all of our lovely Parent Helpers who walked with us.

There is one final treat to look forward to…. The WPA Staff Panto! Every year, the staff get together to perform a Christmas Panto for the children. It could certainly be described as a little ‘ad hoc’ (given the 20 minutes that teachers have to prepare!), but the children have an absolute blast. After all of the children’s hard work this term, it’s only fair that they get to sit back and enjoy a performance from their teachers!
Please remember that the children will be finishing slightly earlier tomorrow, 1pm for EYFS/KS1 and 1.15pm for KS2. 

As we start to come to the end of the Autumn Term, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support. Primary school should be about having wonderful experiences and making memories with our friends (amongst great learning too!), and thanks to the hard work of everyone, that is exactly what has happened this term. There have been many ‘magical moments’ over the last few weeks.

Wadebridge Primary is made up with a fantastic community of children, staff and families who all work together to ensure that the children ‘Learn, Thrive and Excel’. We have achieved so much this year already and there is lots to look forward to in the new year, when we all return on Thursday 4th January.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas break and find some time to rest and relax, amongst this busy time of year.

Warm wishes,

Mrs Lee- Elkins

PS This afternoon we had a wonderful group of singers from The Wadebridge Choral Society who performed Christmas Carols for us. They were songs that the children could sing a long to. What a way to end our final assembly of the year together!
The Choral Society meet at WPA every Tuesday evening. Please do come along and join them! 

http://www.wadebridgechoral.org.uk/