February 2026

This month in English we have completed some work on Kenning poems, we learnt about the features of these poems before writing some of our own about animals. We then performed our poems to the rest of the class and they had a go at guessing which animal we had written our poems about. We also learnt about non-chorological reports this month about bees. We studied the features of these non-fiction texts and learnt how to identify them in a model text. We completed work using these different features to make sure we understood what they were and how they were used in our own text. After planning each paragraph, we wrote them up using a success criteria for each section.

In Maths this month we continued to focus on our multiplications using our mastering number at Key Stage 2 program we also completed work on length and perimeter through Whiterose and Oak Academy.

In Art, we learnt about 'Tones and Textures'. We learnt and practiced different shading techniques, and layering colours to create 3D effects. We looked at the work of artists; Sarah Graham and Nicola McBride, using their work to help inspire us with ours. Finally, we looked at the work of Beatriz Milhaze before using different materials to create a collage which we then sketched and added layered colours.

In PE, we completed a unit of Gymnastics where we learnt different balances and rolls before putting them altogether to create our own sequences.

In Science, we completed our unit on 'Animals including Humans'. We enjoyed learning about the different teeth we have and their functions before investigating the human digestive system. Our favourite part of the unit was our experiment investigating the effects different liquids have on our teeth. We took lots of videos and photos of the experiment and was surprised about the effect vinegar has on teeth.

February 2026

It's been a very busy month in Year 5!
Following on from our unit on The Tempest, we looked at Shakespeare's famous Sonnet 18. We looked at the structure of sonnets, as well as their use of rhyme and rhythm. We had a go at writing our own sonnets about something we care about (which was really difficult!) as the most common theme in sonnets is love.
In PE, we have been learning skills and tactics to improve our football this month. We have worked on our attacking skills; using long passes to get the ball forward and the meaning & importance of formation as a team to make sure we have the whole pitch covered to use all the space. In Music, we used claves to listen to the rhythms when we say different words and phrases. We listened to how close the beats were to each other to help us recognise whether they should be represented by crotchets or quavers. 
In our Forces learning, we tested different shapes to see if this affected the water resistance which they had acting on them. We tested shapes such as spheres, cones, rings, discs and cylinders. Our final lesson was testing friction. We tested the friction our shoes created when pulled across a variety of surfaces (sandpaper, Lino, carpet, tin foil etc.). To record our findings we used Newton meters to measure the number of Newtons needed to move the shoe on each surface.

February saw 3 significant dates in Year 5: Safer Internet Day (10th), Children's Mental Health Week (9-15th) and on the 3rd, Year 5 had their ELS Quiz heat on TEAMs. To celebrate Safer Internet Day, Year 5 joined the BBC Bitesize Live Lesson which taught us all about AI Chatbots, how they are created and the errors they can include. For Children's Mental Health Week we discussed 'Belonging' and how it's really important for our mental health to feel like we belong. We drew our own maps/islands of all the places we felt like we belonged (often the places we feel safe).
Since October, Year 5 had been reading 3 novels set for us by the Education Library Service (ELS): War Dog by Tom Palmer, Holes by Louis Sachaar and Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo. All of which, we have really enjoyed reading - especially Holes - which we enjoyed so much we chose to watch the film as our Christmas treat before we broke up for the holidays! Then, on the 3rd of February, we joined the ELS and a number of other schools around Cornwall on TEAMs to answer quiz questions on them. The top ten schools would make it through to the final. Unfortunately, despite scoring an excellent 20/25, we did not make it though to the finals, be we did have fun at the quiz and REALLY enjoyed the books!

January 2026

In January, Year 5 have been learning about Shakespeare in our English lessons. We have been looking at the story of The Tempest and discussing the life and times of William Shakespeare as he was writing right at the end of the Tudor period which is our history topic this term! Many of the class have taken a keen interest and have been reading retellings of some of his other plays. We have been learning about Henry VIII, what he was like as a ruler and why he had so many wives.

In Science, we have been learning about forces; starting with gravity and air resistance. We made parachutes to demonstrate air resistance and discussed the importance of creating a large surface area to create more contact with the air. 
Mr Jane has been helping us to compose our own music using the letters in our name to help us choose notes and join our names together to create longer pieces of music. We have been experimenting with different instruments this term too: playing our compositions of the glockenspiels and learning to play notes on the ukuleles. We played the ukuleles in a jazz style and even tried improvising a small section of the composition using the notes we had learnt to play.

Perhaps the most exciting thing to happen in January, has been the sessions some pupils have been attending n the Pulse Bus! This started as an extended assembly in which we were asked to reflect on some important ideas such as being positive about ourselves and the important qualities of friendship. Following on from this, the pupils were offered 6 after-school sessions with the team on their fantastic, custom bus - which I know they are all enjoying!

January 2026

This month we have been looking at 'How Children's Lives Have Changed' in History. We looked at life for children during the Victorian and Tudor times. We enjoyed learning about how different our lives are compared to that of children in the past. We used a range of different primary and secondary sources to complete our research and practiced evaluating the reliability of our evidence.

In Literacy this month we have been studying the story 'Gregory Cool'. We read the story as a class whilst completing VIPER activities and using our Fab Four characters to investigate the story in more detail. We were focused on the genre 'Stories from another culture' whilst also learning how to create a really effective setting description for a story. We completed lots of SPaG work, particularly focusing on expanded noun phrases, adverbials of place, figurative language and fronted adverbials before eventually planning, writing and editing our very own sequel to the story. We have also studied Kenning poems and created some or our own.

In Maths we completed lots of work on multiplication and division. We spent time using various different written methods to help us complete the given calculations. We also continued our Mastering Number at Key Stage 2 work by learning two focus facts a week.

In Art/DT this month we have been looing at tone and texture with a focus on the artists Sarah Graham and Nicola McBride. We completed lots of activities whereby we experimented with using different tones and textures in our art work as well as focusing on proportion and composition.

This month in PE we have completed a Gymnastic unit where we learnt about different jumps, roles and balances before putting together our own sequences.

Weeks ending 16th January 

It has been good to have a 'normal' week at school not interrupted by icy weather and high winds! 

Football

Our mixed Y5/Y6 boys and girls football team were brilliant ambassadors for both schools when they played on the astro turf at Callington last week. They lost the first game by a small margin and the second by a bit more. However, everyone who took part had a great time and they played really well as a team. Thank you to Mrs Hannaford for organising everything and to parents for transporting the children.

Pulse Bus

Our Y5 and Y6 Pupils have been given an exciting opportunity to access the Pulse Bus for six weeks after school on a Wednesday. Run by the Oriel Ministries, the children have the opportunity to take part in some gaming, playing games, doing crafts, sliding, drumming and even climbing. In addition to this, all children attending get a delicious, free hot chocolate! The first session took place on Wednesday and everyone had a ball. I would like to publicly thank 'The Mustard Seed' in Callington who funded this experience for us at a cost of £3, 500.

Cooker at the Infant School

Thanks to your generous support of various fundraising initiatives and a kind donation from Mr and Mrs Myres (Great grandparents of pupils in our school), we have been able to buy a new electric cooker. This will enable pupils to fully engage in food technology. The old cooker has been broken for some time so we are delighted to have it replaced.

 

December 2025

December saw Year 5 participate in several online lessons with the Royal Ballet and Opera. We learnt about the art of opera singing and how to build soundscapes using only our voices. We learnt about staging and the art of prop making. Alongside staff from the Royal Ballet and Opera, we built prototype props used in the ballets: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Magic Flute. Finally, we learnt about how dancers tell stories on stage.
We've had lots of festive fun in keyboard lessons with Mr Jane, learning Jingle Bells, The Carol of the Bells and even venturing into using a sharp note (F#) in We Wish You a Merry Christmas! This linked in with our English unit this month, in which we read the poem 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and learnt about its structure, rhyme and use of figurative language. 
In DT, we have been designing gingerbread people hanging decorations. We completed online research about the history and popularity of gingerbread people at Christmastime. Our gingerbread people had to meet certain size, shape and decorative criteria, then we had to use correct tools appropriately to create them. Finally, we had to evaluate our final decoration and what we had learnt throughout the whole project.
On the very last day, we had some fun playing a whole class Snowman Drive! A game which required rolling certain numbers on a dice, in a certain order, to build a snowman.
Merry Christmas everyone!

Termly Round Up

Girls' Football Team

The girls football team represented the school really brilliantly this half term. Although they only played 3 out of their four matches (as one team did not turn up!!) they showed amazing fighting spirit, resilience and great teamwork. Thank you to Mrs Hannaford for training the team.

Eco Council News

Our eco council have been very busy this half term. Not only have they completed an audit to identify areas for improvement, but they have started an energy-saving mission in school. They encouraged families to take part in 'Cut your carbon month' in November and started a 'soft plastics' recycling scheme in school. At the end of November they carried out a 'litter pick' on Foster's field in Gunnislake. I look forward to what they will implement in the Spring term and beyond.

Staff Departures (and arrivals)

We are sad to say goodbye to Mrs Sam Gates, from the nursery and Miss Ellie Cunningham, from breakfast club and Year 6. Both are valued and well-respected members of our Copper Valley family and both will be sadly missed. Sam and Ellie are leaving to take up positions in our neighbouring school of Copper Fields. I am sure that you join me in wishing them the very best for the future. We hope that they will visit us often.

I am pleased to welcome Mrs Emma Deacon to Copper Valley. She will be joining us in the Nursery as Mrs Gate's replacement. I know that you will welcome her warmly to the school. She is no stranger as she is also a parent. Mrs Birkenshaw will be the year 6 teaching assistant, certainly for the immediate future.

Christmas Activities

It has, once again, been an incredibly busy build up to the Christmas holidays. Out Year 1 and Year 2 classes delighted audiences with two brilliant performances of 'Shine star, shine'. The Year 1 class also enjoyed a festive outing to the theatre to see Father Christmas.

A huge audience of families and locals were entertained at the Rifle Volunteer by some amazing singing from the pupils. They treated the audience to a selection of carols and Christmas songs. Thank you to Miss Owen for rehearsing them and to Mrs Trapp for conducting them on the day.

Many families enjoyed 'Breakfast with Santa' on Sunday 14^th December. A big thank you to all staff who helped to make this such a happy and successful event, particularly Mrs Wright who coordinated the whole thing. Of course, thanks to Santa himself for giving up his Sunday morning at his busiest time of the year.

The fun continued during the last week of term with an excellent rendition of 'Wiggly Nativity' by the Reception children. Families attending really enjoyed it and the 'wriggling' raised many laughs.

Christmas jumper and dinner day was a great success. Thank you to Bex, our cook, who was ably assisted by Jaye to create a delicious lunch- some children went back for thirds! Thank you also to Mrs Wood and Mrs Penhorwood who gave up a few hours of their retirement time to help out.

Finally, we rounded off the term with a beautiful Christingle. Thank you to all of you who attended, what a magical way to finish!

 

Finally, I would like to thank you all for your continued support of the school. It is a pleasure to work with your wonderful children and watch them grow and develop. I also want to thank the amazing team of dedicated people who teach and care for all the pupils. I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you a very happy 2026.

 

 

 

November/December 2025

We have had another busy month and a bit in Year 4. During November and December, in Geography we have been looking into the question 'What impact did travel during the time of the Tudors have on the world as we know it?' The children have really enjoyed investigating the things travellers during the Tudor period found and how they impacted people then and now. They researched Sir Francis Drake and his circumnavigations, thinking about his discoveries and their impact on us today. The children also explored maps and atlases, in particular focusing on maps created back during the Tudor times and then comparing them to maps from today. They researched the tools that used to be used to draw and plot maps and thought about the reliability of them compared to the technology used today. The children learnt about the Mercator Projection and the distortions between a globe and a map. They then began to research some of the other travellers of the Tudor period and how their discoveries impacted the world as we know it as well as trade that happened between certain countries and how some of those trade links are still used today. The children came up with some brilliant ideas about the discoveries made and the affects of them since.

In Maths we have been continuing with our NCETM Mastering Number at Key Stage 2 work alongside our Whiterose unit of Multiplication.4

In PE we have been learning the skills and techniques needed to play a game of Basketball. The children have thoroughly enjoyed this unit. 

We completed two English units, one was a narrative unit on Mrs Stink which involved us learning about the story, the characters and the authors writing style before planning, writing and editing our own chapter for the story. The other was a non-fiction unit, we recapped previous knowledge on Volcanoes and Mountains and then learnt about the different features of explanation texts before planning, writing and editing our own on Mount St Helen's. 

November 2025

In November, Year 5 have been learning about materials. We have tested the properties of materials, such as magnetism, electrical and heat conductivity and their transparency. We have looked at many different mixtures and solutions and thought about if, and how, they could be separated. We have learnt about the changes in materials some reversible (can be changed back again) and some irreversible (cannot be changed back, new products have been made).
In RE, following on from our History unit last half term (WWII), we have been learning about Judaism and the importance of the Torah to the Jewish community. 

Weeks ending 14th November 2025

The weeks continue to fly by in the hectic run up to Christmas. Here is a round up of what we have been doing in school!

Bag2School
Thank you to all of you who donated unwanted clothing to the school. We raised £54 for school funds which is a brilliant amount. we will be repeating this collection in the New Year  as many people have a 'spring clean' after the festive period!

Baby News!
Mrs Trudi Stephens, who is a Teaching Assistant in the ARC, gave birth to a little boy, Richard, on 24th October. He came very early (31 weeks) and was tiny but her is now doing really well. I know that you will join me in sending her and her husband huge congratulations.

Anti Bullying Week
This year anti bullying week ran from 10th - 14th November. All pupils learnt about strategies to combat any bullying behaviours that they may encounter and how to ensure that they themselves do not engage in these behaviours.

EYFS Open Evening
On 12th November we held an open evening for prospective parents  for our Reception class from September 2026. It was lovely to meet these parents and 'show off' the school to them and explain the great opportunities which their children will experience when they attend Copper Valley.


Children In Need
On Friday 14th November the pupils dressed in pyjamas/spots/mufti for Children in Need. Thank you for supporting this great cause for disadvantaged young people. You will be pleased to know that we raised £128 for the charity.