OFSTED inspection

Our inspection has now taken place and we are delighted to say that the feedback from the inspector praises our school's achievements in all areas. The report will be published in about two weeks and will be available to parents on the internet and from the school. A letter from the inspector will also be addressed to the pupils.

The day was gruelling for all concerned but everyone played their part. The children were exemplary and confidently discussed the school with the inspector. Thank you so much to all the parents who were so supportive - much appreciated.

As we are a Church school we will also receive a Diocesan Board inspection which will take place on Tuesday 26th June.

Summer Term Diary

Saturday 16th June Church Fete

Thursday 21st June Swimming Gala


Tuesday 3rd July Sports Day

4th 5th 6th July Y5 & Y6 Residential

Tuesday 10th July District Sports

Wednesday 18th July Presentation Evening

Friday 20th July Leavers Assembly at 1.15pm
End of term at 2.00pm

Petunias

The Royal Cornwall Show petunias were wonderful. There are many green fingered families out there and the children really enjoyed growing their plants. Many thanks to Mr. Lobb who was invited to do the very tricky job of selecting our entry which was commended by the judges. Our thanks to Trelawney Garden Centre for their sponsorship.

Goonhilly visit

Goonhilly visit - change to arrival home time.
We have been advised that the return home time will now be approximately 4.30pm

Church Fete

The fete is a wonderful village event that takes place this Saturday, 16th June on the Green at 2.30 pm. Pupils are practising Maypole Dancing in preparation for their display. We hope there will be lots of entries for the Fancy Dress competition. Why not dress up as a T.V. or book character just for fun and maybe win a prize!

We have also been asked to make everyone aware that this year the fete is being filmed for a television programme looking at village life.

Most of the school furniture is removed from the building to provide tables and chairs for the event. There are always several willing hands in the morning but at the end of the day there are considerably less! So if you are able to help return the furniture to the school at the end of the day that would be fantastic - thank you.

Summer Term Diary 2007

21st May - 25th Walk to School week
23rd May 9.00am Nursery Parents meeting
24th May 2.45pm Class 2 Parents meeting

28th May - 1st June Half Term

10th June 2.00pm Barnabas celebration Truro Cathedral
12th & 13th June Parent Reporting
16th June Church Fete
21st June Swimming Gala
3rd July Sports Day
4th, 5th & 6th July Y5 & Y6 Residential

Jurassic Residential

Jurassic Residential Y5 & Y6 pupils just a gentle reminder to say that all payment should be complete - thank you.

Deli Cross Country Run

The Deli Cross Country Run begins at 10.00am on Saturday 19th May. Good luck to all the runners !

S.A.T.`s and Parent Reporting

Much to the relief of all, the assessment tests have been completed and will soon be marked apart from the Y6 papers which are marked externally. At a staff meeting the teachers thought it would be an excellent idea to inform parents of the results immediately by arranging `Parent Reporting` evenings after half term. So parents are invited to sign up for an appointment on Tuesday 12th June for YR, Y1, Y2, Y3,Y4, and Y5 or Wednesday 13th for YR, Y1, Y3 and Y4. The appointment lists will be in the corridor soon.
Written reports will be sent home at the end of the term as usual and Miss Henchley will arrange appointments for Y6 parents later in the term.

Silver Award

School Council achieves silver award.
During the year the Council has been working very hard to complete their ten point action plan to attain the silver award for PADL (Promoting Active Democracy Loudly). This included contacting other school councils, managing a budget, collecting ideas for events such as Red Nose Day and developing committee roles. This they have done and following a recent assessment the award has been achieved. Two representatives have been invited to the Alverton Manor in Truro to receive the award next Tuesday.

Walk to School week

All schools are being asked to develop a `Travel Plan` to promote alternative ways of travelling to and from from school. We appreciate that for many parents the distance from home to school is realistically too far for you to walk. However during the week commencing Monday 21st May we are taking part in `walk to school` week. Mr and Mrs Kellow have very kindly agreed to permit parents to park in their yard so that everyone can take part. Exercise is so important for everyone please do take part if you can and don`t forget to collect a green footprint! There will be a reward for the class that collects the most!

5 a day

We have been learning the importance of eating 5 portions of fruit andvegetables a day. Here we have designed posters showing 5 a day to display.

Fruit salads

Class 1 designed, made, ate and evaluated their own fruit salads as part of the eat more fruit and vegetables DT topic.

PE Lesson

Class 1 enjoyed a PE lesson with activities planned and delivered by Year 5 pupils.

May Day

Pupils took part in an ancient local festival on May Day at Padstow, with the Obby Oss.

Car Boot sale

The recent car boot sale organised in aid of St Mabyn Home School Association raised an impressive £270

Carnyorth Banners

Carnyorth Residential

Class 2 set off on a beautiful sunny morning for West Cornwall. We visited Chysauster iron age village where we spent time exploring and drawing, looking for patterns in the landscape.After lunch we went to Carnyorth where we were to stay the night.The children worked with Ali at the centre to produce banners using shapes based on their sketches. Still full of energy after unpacking and playing in the garden, we set off for the moorland above Carnyorth. In the evening we were entertained by a visiting smuggler who told stories and sang songs.As everyone was awake early the next morning and the sun was still shining we set off again for a walk on the moor before Ali came to do more drawing and printing to complete the banners.Then it was time for pasties in the garden and back to school.

Carnyorth Slideshow

Class 1 enjoyed a visit to Bodmin firestation

looking after plants

A parent who is a gardener came into class 1 to talk about looking after plants

Homework

May we remind parents that pupils are expected to do homework daily by reading and learning their multiplication tables and spellings. The older children will receive set homework as well. A curriculum letter is sent home each term to share with parents the topics we are studying at the time and are accompanied by Maths Target pamphlets. Much learning can be achieved if children can use their knowledge - for example handling money, telling the time or weighing ingredients etc. - practically.

Water bottles

We actively welcome water bottles in the classroom for children to use throughout the day. Hydration is very important to learning ensuring that pupils continue to feel alert. Please ensure that water bottles are sent to school daily.

Sun Smart

It is vitally important that children develop sun - smart skills.
Slip on a `T ` shirt. Slop on the sun cream and Slap on a hat !
With all this beautiful weather please encourage your children to bring sun cream and a hat to school for daily personal use.

Book Fair

There will be a Book Fair in school on Friday 27th April.

Internet Safety

No one can deny that the internet has revolutionised our lives and can be very useful however there are also significant areas of concern especially for children using the internet independently. Parents need to be aware of a range of issues concerning the use of the internet such as `filtering` , `chat rooms` monitoring web sites, e-mail bullying etc. Our Primary cluster of schools has arranged a meeting to help and support parents by raising their awareness to the pitfalls and offer advice to ensure that our children are kept safe. This is to be held at Wadebridge Primary School on Wednesday 25th April - please do come along if you can.

Barnabas Award

Barnabas Award Distinction for our school.


Each year schools are invited to compete in the Barnabas Award which is a competition to celebrate the Religious Knowledge curriculum taught in the county`s schools. Our entry this year focussed on the KS2 curriculum and all the work the children have been studying centred around the theme a ` Sense of Place`. Cornwall is often called `The Land of Saints` and Class 3 used their I.C.T., Art and Drama skills to discover more about the lives of local saints. In Literacy and Art Class 2 wrote an illustrated story based on Tudy and Mabena . Following our visit to Minions the children in both classes wrote some amazing poems that really impressed the judges with their imagery, sensitivity and reflective quality. Representatives from both classes were interviewed by the judges and did a splendid job. This all resulted in our school being awarded a distinction and invited to take part in the Barnabas presentations at Truro Cathedral on Sunday 10th June. On that occasion Class 3 will be presenting their play. Families and friends are welcome to accompany us and there will be a coach leaving the school at 12.00pm. More details will follow so do keep this afternoon free.

Clubs

This term we are offering the following activities;
Monday - Football with Darren
Tuesday - Board Games with Mrs Waters
- Cookery with Miss Bearns
Wednesday - Rounders with Miss Henchley / Mrs Puttock
Thursday - Runfit with Miss Bearns

We are asking the children to `sign up` if they would like to take part in a club so that we can arrange groups for the various activities. Clubs start straight after school and finish at 3.45pm apart from football.
Clubs will begin next week on the 23rd April.

Refurbished toilets!

The contractors have been very busy over the Easter holidays and all the toilets have been completely refurbished much to the delight of pupils.

The Summer term is here!

Welcome back to the Summer term which promises to be very busy and as exciting as usual with residentials to Carnyorth and the Jurassic Coast, visits to Goonhilly and May Day, adventure days out canoeing and water safety training with the RNLI, sports days, the swimming gala and the fete to mention just a few events!
A very special welcome to all the new Nursery pupils and their families. We hope you will all enjoy a very happy educational experience with us. We would like to invite all parents of Nursery pupils to an informal meeting on Tuesday 22nd May at 9.15 am. Hopefully by then everyone will have settled into a new routine but it provides an opportunity to chat about any queries anyone might have.

Easter Cards

Class 2 painted watercolour paintings of flowers and made them into Easter cards.

Class 2 planting Petunias

Voyage of the Mystery

Class 3 used paint print and collage to create their own interpretations of the Voyage of the Mystery

Class 2 Shoes

Class 2 designed and made shoes from recycled materials.

Class 3 Minions Abstract Art

In September, the whole school had a trip to Minions.Class 3 used digital photographs taken on the day as a starting point for their abstract paintings.These paintings have been exhibited at the Eden project and at County Hall in Truro.

Class 3 Minions Abstract Art

End of term

Friday 30th March is the end of term
School closes at 2.00pm

We are Healthy!!

We have just received news that we have achieved national `Healthy School` status for all our work in Physical Education; promoting Healthy eating; our Emotional Health and Well - being strategies; and our curriculum for Physical, Health and Social Education! To achieve this an extensive portfolio of evidence had to be compiled and a parent governor, members of staff and pupils were interviewed. So thank you so much to everyone for your support. Representatives from the school will receive the award at a ceremony in June.

Antique valuation evening

H.S.A. Antique valuation evening - Friday 30th March in the Village Hall. This was a very popular occasion last time so please hurry to buy the remaining few tickets and bring along the item that you have always wanted to know more about and perhaps it could be worth a fortune!

Football team

Congratulations to the football teams who played so well in their matches against Cardinham by winning both games and showing excellent teamwork and shooting skills.

High 5 team

Congratulations to the High 5 team who played so well in the district tournament at Wadebridge by reaching the semi - finals. The team showed excellent passing skills and teamwork.

Activemark Award

The school is celebrating having gained a government Activemark Award for exceptional delivery of sport.This year, the school was also recognised by the English School Swimming Association as national winners for outstanding achievement in swimming.
"Opportunities for pupils to enjoy sport to keep fit and healthy is a cornerstone of our curriculum. The pupils enjoy PE lessons with specialist teachers and can attend a range of extra curricular sport clubs."

Red Nose Day

Everyone had fun raising money for Red Nose Day. There were delicious Red Nose cakes for sale, an exciting football match and St Mabyn's own Strictly Come Dancing competition. The judges found it very difficult to decide on a winner but eventually gave first prize to Callum and Harry from class 2. All the dancers had worked hard and put on an enjoyable show.

...more photos from Red Nose Day

Red Nose Fun day raised £198 - thank you so much for all your support.

Red Nose Day

Red Nose Day, Friday 16th March is non uniform day for just a £1 and there will be cakes for sale at breaktime - contributions very welcomed. Red noses are also available from the Secretary.

Roly Bain

Fun, Faith and Foolishness with Roly Bain. We really enjoyed the visit of Roly who is a clergyman and also a professional clown. He has the amazing ability to combine these skills to present the teachings of Jesus in a very humorous way to make us think!

Eden artwork

Class 2 and 3 exhibited some of their art work at Eden as part of the St.Piran's day celebrations.

St.Piran's Day

Class 2 went to Eden to join the St.Piran's Day celebrations. They performed their play based on "The Voyage of the Mystery"" unit of work to other schools. They also watched other performances and films and met Tim Smit.

Cross Country Champions!

Congratulations to Paige, Oliver, Jake, Jack, Callum, Daniel and Joseph who competed so successfully at the St.Tudy Cross Country Run gaining a host of medals and especially to Jack Blake who was the overall winner of the event. Such great teamwork meant that they also won the cup!

World Book Day

The children celebrated World Book day by dressing up as characters from Jill Murphy's books. JIll came to talk to them about writing to inspire them with her enthusiasm.

The Large Family

Children dressed as The Large Family from one of Jill Murphy's picture books.

Jill Murphy

Jill Murphy talking to the children in Class 2

Aboriginal Art

In their art lessons Class 3 are thinking about different ways of portraying journeys.They have looked at symbols used in different cultures and by various artists. These paintings are based on symbols used in aboriginal art.

World Book Day

World Book Day celebrations Thursday 1st March
World Book day is an annual event to promote the love and enjoyment of reading. All the children will receive a £1 book voucher. These can be exchanged at local bookshops that are participating in the scheme.

We are also very fortunate to have a famous author, Jill Murphy, living in the village and she has very kindly accepted an invitation to our school to talk to the children about the hard work, fun and enjoyment involved in writing. Hopefully this will inspire their creativity in writing as well.

Jill Murphy is well known for the `Worst Witch` series and the delightful family adventures of the `Large Family` so we thought it would be fun and something different for the pupils to have a themed dressing -up day based on those characters.

Half term ideas to fill rainy days based on the theme of elephants and witches!
Prepare your dressing up costume.
Competition - Write a story / poem
Competition - Make/ paint a picture
Research Jill Murphy`s books.

Following this event. On Monday 12th March, another author, Jack Trelawney has offered to visit the school to discuss his books which are based in Cornwall.

School Council

News from the School Council - All the children have been involved in the `Sense of Place` garden project. Through the Council pupils have long requested a quiet area to use at break times. So this is to become a reality shortly. Photographs and measurements have been taken and a scale plan drawn by Sam has been used to discuss ideas for the development of the garden. These have included wind chimes, sensory planting and a water feature.
Currently the School Council is making plans to raise funds on Red Nose day. Friday 16th March.

Shoebiz Appeal

The Blue Peter Shoebiz Appeal - Thank you so much for your support of this appeal . We collected 160 pairs of shoes!

Cycling Training

The H.S.A. very successfully organised cycle road safety training a little while ago. If there are any other children and parents interested in taking part in another course, please notify Mrs Goldsmith as soon as possible. Each session would cost £5.

Emergency School closure

As many schools were `caught out` in the snow conditions of November 2005 it seems timely to remind parents of our emergency procedures in the event of bad weather or any other emergency when it is necessary to close the school. When a decision is made to close the school the Local Authority are informed and the local radio stations will be asked to publicise the closure. If the school is in session and the school needs to close we will contact all parents to request the collection of their children if it is safe to do so. School staff will remain at school to ensure the safety of all the children until a safe collection can be made. Building on our experiences of the last snowstorm we know that some parents working away from the area had difficulty reaching us so please be assured that ALL children will be well looked after until they can return home.

Sense of Place Garden

Through the School Council, pupils have requested a quiet area outside to include a sitting area, shade, planting, sensory aspects such as windchimes and scented herbs. This will become a reality during the Summer term. We are currently asking pupils to become fully involved in the project by planning and designing a `Sense of Place ` garden. We have applied for grants to help us fund the project and the H.S.A. are very kindly supporting us as well.

Sense of Place

This term the cross curricular theme of a `Sense of Place` continues. Classes 1 and 2 have taken part in drama workshops learning about the voyage of `The Mystery`, a small traditional fishing lugger that sailed to Australia with a crew looking forward to a better life gold digging! We have been invited to perform this tale at Eden on St. Piran`s Day 5th March.

Healthy Schools 2007

Healthy Schools revalidation 2007.
We are currently in the process of revalidating our Healthy School status. To do this we are gathering a wealth of evidence to show how the school promotes Healthy Eating, Physical Fitness, PHSE ( Physical, Health and Social Education) and EHW (Emotional Health and Well being) !

Fruity Tuck and milk are popular at break times but there are still several pupils who are not taking the opportunity to enhance their diet for just 10p per item - that must be a bargain! Fruit from home is very acceptable as well and please do not forget to ensure that the children bring along their water bottles .

Darzona!

Classes 2 and 3 have participated in Cornish language workshops.
This topic also has links to Literacy, Art, Dance, Drama, History and Geography.

Activemark

Great news - we have received the Activemark for our commitment to Physical Education and Sporting activities. Keeping fit and active is a key objective of school life and this standard means that all pupils take part in P.E. lessons for at least two hours a week. The pupils swimming achievement in distance and water skills is outstanding. We also offer a range of extra curricular clubs including Football, Runfit and High Five. The junior pupils have opportunities to take part in adventurous activities such as canoeing, climbing and abseiling. Children showing particular sporting talent are selected to receive specialist coaching. It is part of our school philosophy to invite specialist teachers or instructors into school for activities such as Dance, Gym and Football to ensure the highest quality of teaching and learning can take place. Everyone is encouraged to find a physical activity that they can really enjoy and pursue. Following a pupil survey P.E. is one of the most enjoyed areas of the curriculum.

School Improvements

We are delighted to say that the all the toilet areas are being totally refurbished during the Easter holidays.
Pupils have been very busy choosing colour schemes for walls, floors, cubicles and vanity units!

The Mystery

Long ago in the harbour at Newlyn there was a fishing boat. She was called the ‘Mystery’. She looked pretty much the same as all the other Newlyn luggers. She had the number 233 painted on her bows (the front) and a crew of hard-working young fishermen to keep hershipshape. The names of her crew were; Job Kelynack, Charlie Boase, Lewis Lewis, Philip Curnow Matthews and the brothers William and Richard Badcock. So, the ‘Mystery’ was just an ordinary fishing boat but an extraordinary adventure lay ahead of her.