Head's Blog

World Book Day

If you know the school, when you look at this picture, you will think, that's not Trenode! You would be right, because for World Book Day this year, we were invited to spend the day at Looe Primary and as you can see - we grew from 39 pupils to 260! It felt a little daunting at times but we had a fantastic day taking part in lots of activities.
The day started with a reading breakfast and a whole school assembly. After that we all joined other classes to work as a mixture of KS1 and KS2 children. We found out about books that we all like, books that were new to us and we completed some amazing writing based on our favourite books - the theme of the day. As well as all this, there was great art work to be done and all things books. It's going to feel strange but great to be back at Trenode after such a busy day!

Bridge Trust Singing Event

Over the last few months, children in the Trust have been working to write a song about climate change. To achieve this, they were visited by some guest speakers to help them to think about what climate change means to them and how they might be able to spread the message and do their own small things to help. They were given time with a professional musician to write the music for a song. Last week, it all came together at St. Martin's Church in Liskeard where the schools came together to share their songs. Singing has a strong tradition at Trenode and we were delighted to be part of this project. Although we could not take all of the children, Mrs David was as ever very complimentary about the standard achieved by the children. Well done yet again to you al and we look forward to the final part of the process at The Eden Project in September!

Trenode and St. Wenna

Learning all about St. Wenna

This week, we took all of the pupils to St. Wenna church in Morval. This is the church linked to our school and with the help of the volunteers at the church, the pupils learned all about Christmas in the church and also some wonderful information about St. Wenna herself. One of the highlights was when Mike explained about the Millenium window. It is dedicated to St. Wenna and there is an amazing image of her in the central window of the triptych that changes as you move closer to it or further away. It was designed by a local artist and also includes the red cross of Trenode CofE School because it is the only school that serves the parish in which it sits.
It was quite some feat getting all of the children to the church in the minibus, down some very narrow lanes, but it was worth it. The children enjoyed singing together and we have decided to look at adopting and adapting a song about St. Wenna as our school song for the future. A lovely way to learn about our church.

Exploring Spirituality

We are spending a very thoughtful and reflective week this week, beginning to explore who we are as a school in more detail. Our focus for the week is spirituality. We know that spirituality can mean different things to different people and we have begun to think about what it means to us as a Church of England school in the context of celebrating God in all that we do.

The children have thought about how they think, how they reflect, how they like calm, peace and quiet in amongst their learning and activities.

We have been delighted to welcome Sean Hewitt to school this week. Sean is a local abstract artist and the children are working with him to look at the art of Andrew Goldsworthy. They are using this to create beautiful art work such as the circle of life art you can see here.

We can't wait to see what the finished product will look like by the end of the week.

We are getting very environmentally aware!

As part of a Bridge Schools Trust opportunity for pupils to eventually create a new piece of music that has its inspiration in the environment, the pupils at Trenode have been meeting professionals to help them to think about the impact of their actions on the environment and to help them to understand that even a few small changes in their lives can make a difference.

As well as a visit from Luci Issacson to show the children an electric car, they also had a visit from Nick Hart. When the children met Luci, they were asked to consider some pledges for things they could do at home. These included turning the tap off when they brushed their teeth, switching the energy supply to a green supplier (with their parents of course!), using electric cars when they grow up, cycling or walking to school etc. The children talked about what they found easy and difficult. They also talked about how they would like to see the world change in an environmental way, for the better and the pledges that they would like to make for the future. Nick also introduced some ideas about global warming and he steamed up his glasses to show condensation and then evaporation. Finally, he showed them a special metal water bottle which he left with the children as a prize. He explained that the bottle can be used in some shops and cafes to fill up your bottle for free if the shop displays a special symbol.

So, we will have a prize to give away soon and if you are wondering why the children are talking about changing your energy supplier, now you know why! We are really looking forward to creating the piece of music in the near future.

Our New School Council

Welcome to our new School Council. We held a democratic election after all of the pupils who wished to be a part of the School Council had an opportunity to give a speech or presentation. It was well done to all, as they were all confident speakers. We now have a wonderful team of representatives who have already begun to show that they would like to do all that they can to play their role in keeping this lovely school fun and happy and a great place to learn.

Together, we have agreed that the School Council aims are to:

- Enable all pupils at Trenode Primary to have a voice
- Ensure the school is the best place it can be for learning and stretching learning
- Help everyone to help each other
- Keep the school a happy, fun and enjoyable place to learn and care about each other
- Work as a team
- Fund raise for the school and for charity and to do all that we can to support the environment

These are great aims and all chosen by the children. I am sure you will agree that they are already doing a great job! We will keep you posted.

Beautiful Weather for Sports Day

Trenode Primary Academy is a wonderful family of children, staff and families and it is perhaps most obvious on the Annual Sports Day. It was wonderful that the sun shone and the children were able to show their support and encouragement for each other despite the competition. Congratulations to the green team, Fowey, for their success on the day. Thank you too to all of the support and help given on the day and for the Summer Fayre events that also took place.

The Trenode team were also in action at the Area Sports Day held at Liskeard Secondary School. Special congratulations to Olivia for winning the Year 5 sprint.

Easter Crafts

On Thursday afternoon, the children at Trenode took part in an Easter crafts afternoon, decorating eggs and making biscuits. This was organised by volunteers from the PTFA.

Cardinham train trip to Looe

When they reached Looe, they worked in teams to create sand sculptures, for a competition. They learned about creating symmetrical designs using natural materials.

Cardinham class went on an environmentally friendly trip to Looe on Monday. On the journey, they learned about carbon friendly ways to travel, and noticed landmarks along the way.

Science at Plymouth University

The children in Cardinham had a wonderful time at Plymouth University on Wednesday this week.

They took part in a wide range of science activities from making slime out of sea-weed, to programming ‘robots’ on ipads and experiencing virtual reality sky scrapers!

Mrs David was amused at the fun they had with some of the ‘retro’ technology there—including a ‘Pac Man’ game.

They made friends with a ‘Student Mentor’ who helped them to get the best out of the activities.