January 2026

Happy New Year!

What a first week back at nursery, We have had snow and ice, which we enjoyed out on the field making footprints in the snow and finding different shapes in the ice.

We all helped paint a giant snowflake.

There was a sensory activity in the water tray using oranges and lemons to explore our senses of touch and smell. We  have been practising our fine motor skills by using scissor skills cutting out shapes also using tweezers and scope grabbers to pick up pom pom's. We had a fun in a winter tuff tray learning what animals live in cold climates while Mrs Deacon read us a story. Outside learning children where turn taking and sharing putting balls through a basketball hop, building a bug house and sharing knowledge what wild animals eat. We celebrate RSPB big garden birdwatch, where we learned about what kind of birds visit our nursery garden the children did some grate mark making by ticking of the birds we seen on our checklist chart. We did a spot off cooking where children made chocolate rice cake bird nests with Mrs Symons the children had a great understanding that when we had to warm up a bar of  chocolate for it will melt to make it easy for us to mix in the rice crispy's. We did lost of expressive art and design activities where we made bird  masks using different coloured feathers, we also did Owl baby's where we use different tolls and materials to get the perfect texture for our pictures. As our topic is winter we talked about what birds like cold weather. We also did great size comparing when we used different size heart shape to make a penguins. The children had great fun making our bird feeders we mixed lard and bird seeds together the push the mixture into the moulds and piped the in the fridge too hard. We took a walk done to the school woodland area where the children chosen a perfect tree to hang the feeder. We sat very quietly in  the outdoor classroom to watch the birds visit the woods.

Weeks ending 16th January 2026

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

We started the festive season by decorating our Christmas tree. The story of the week was "The Christmas Pine' and we watched "My First Christmas on CBeebies.
In our 'White Christmas' area we set up our Nativity figures and read 'My First Nativity'.
Using Christmas tree hand prints we made some lovely cards for our families. We had fun on a Christmas decoration hunt around the school and picked out some lovely Christmas story books from the library.
Using offcuts from the class tree, we made clay decorations, adding gems to make them sparkle.
Everyone made a snowman and used ties and different shapes to decorate them.
There was a reindeer food tuff tray and everyone filled a bag to take home ready to sprinkle on Christmas Eve for Santa's reindeers.
We had a Christmas jumper day and a Christmas party with festive music and plenty of bubbles.

November 2025

Our role play are has been transformed into a 'hedgehog hospital' as we have been learning about hedgehogs and hibernation.
We looked at different types of fireworks and created pictures using cardboard tubes to re-create exploding fireworks.After watching a CBeebies "My First Festival' programme on Bonfire night, we discussed how to keep safe around fireworks. Using pretend sparklers we practised how to handle sparklers safely.
In the tuff tray we practised matching numerals and quantities.
We learnt about Remembrance Day, decorating poppy biscuits to practise fine motor skills. We also did some poppy stamping and, using rose petals, we made our own poppies to take home. We watched 'Poppies' - a CBeebies animation designed especially for young children to observe the two minute's silence.
Children in Need was celebrated with a fine motor skills tuff tray activity and the children painting spots onto the 'Pudsey' pictures using cotton buds.'Pudsey's Great Fundraiser' was our featured story book.
We took part in learning about road safety. We learnt all about colours on a traffic light and zero crossings using the wiggle bikes to help us in our role play.
When we had a light dusting of snow we went out on the field to enjoy it!

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.

 

 

 

Weeks Ending 14th November

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 'sping 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.

October 2025

As we entered Autumn we changed our seasonal area over  to a lovely woodland scene complete with woodland animals, books and poems. Our first story focus of the month as voted by the children was 'The Gruffalo'. We enjoyed getting messy in a 'Gruffalo Crumble' tuff tray where the children used various tools to scoop, crush and mix oats. The children were able to recount much of the story and used their knowledge of the book to complete sequenced story boards using the scenes and characters. Using chocolate scented playdough and loose parts we made some recognisable Gruffalo models, choosing the correct coloured parts for his features.

Outside we observed the changes happening in the natural world and looked for signs of Autumn. We supported our understanding of the seasonal changes reading books such as 'The Leaf Thief' which tells us about the life cycle of an oak tree through rhyme and beautiful illustration. We gathered natural objects from around the school grounds and used the conkers to develop our hand eye coordination and fine motor skills. We used dried leaves, along with coloured film to make squirrel sun-catchers. We then waited for some Autumnal sun to beam it's light through the windows to make the squirrels shine.

As we approached half term we celebrated Diwali and made some colourful Diyas lamps to take home. We also learnt about how Hindus celebrate the Festival of Light. We decorated paper hands in a Mendhi style, learnt about Rangoli patterns and used natural objects to make our own circular and repeating patterns. We also explored our own fragrant Spice station, using our sense of smell to find out about different spices.

We ended the month with some Halloween fun, making our own mixtures in our Witches Potion area, dressing up and making our own natural magical wands.

September 2025

We returned from the Summer holiday with lots of new friends starting nursery. The first few weeks we focussed on settling the children into their new environment and encouraging new friendships. Once the children were comfortable in their nursery surroundings, we ventured further into the school, familiarising ourselves with the wider school facilities, including the library, woodland area and the hall where we enjoyed riding the wiggle bikes.

We played lots of games that promoted sharing and turn taking. Our favourite was 'Pop Up Pirate' which helps develop turn taking, patience, colour recognition and fine motor skills.

Our first story focus' of 'Anyone Can Be My Friend' and 'All Are Welcome' celebrated new friendships and our similarities and differences. We spoke about our own uniqueness and looked in mirrors to talk about our appearances. We then made mini figure collages carefully selecting materials that looked like our own features. Following on from the children's interests, we also read lots of Elmer the Elephant stories which gave us an opportunity to practise our colour recognition. We then worked together to create a giant Elmer, exploring different printing tools to make various paint effects. As we said goodbye to Summer, we looked at the changes happening outside. We found apples growing on the trees which we picked and then had great fun rolling them down ramps to see whose was the fastest. We then used the apples to print with and made some wonderful masterpieces. We also used them to help with our counting and used weighing scales to compare and balance and to predict which side was heaviest/lightest.

Week ending 17th October 2025

Mufti
Thank you very much for donating so many lovely items for the tombola and supporting this at the Harvest festival. We are going to put the proceeds of the tombola towards buying a gift for each child for Christmas.

Eco Council
You may have noticed this on our Facebook page, but we now have an Eco Council representing both schools. The aim of this council is to encourage everyone to reduce energy use and carbon emissions at a school level. We are also concerned with ensuring that the school environment is tidy and eco- friendly.  Look out on here and Facebook for updates.

Harvest Festival
We held our annual Harvest Festival at the Infant and Nursery school on Thursday afternoon. It was a great celebration filled with lovey Harvest songs and beautiful poems, courtesy of the Year 6 pupils.There were lots of family members who were able to join us and we were delighted ablout that. We are grateful for all of the generous donations of food that you sent into the schools. These have now been delivered to the Callington Foodbank and will provide valuable provisions for families in need.

Honey Fair Art Competition

Although Storm Amy prevented the choir from singing at Callington Honey Fair, the children still submitted art for the competition. I am delighted to tell you that we won 3rd prize overall. We received at £50 cheque and we are going to be presented with a goodie hamper on Monday during celebration assembly. We done to everyone who created lovely art work.

Week Ending 3rd October 2025

Year 3 Half Marathon


The weeks continue to fly by. This week the Year 3 children have been running laps of the field during their break and lunchtimes. They ran enough lengths to complete a half marathon. Thank you to those of you who sponsored them in this endeavour. All sponsorship raised has raised money to pay for their upcoming trip to Wildwood. 

Bag 2 School

In the next week or so we will be sending home some Bag 2 School bags for you to fill with your unwanted items of clothing, shoes, towels, handbags etc. These bags need to be returned to school by first thing on 6th November. Thank you, in advance , for your support with this.

Honey Fair

Sadly, the choir's scheduled performance at Honey Fair on Saturday was cancelled, due to the weather conditions. Thank you to Miss Owen for preparing them - what a shame they were not able to perform.

Individual Photographs

The school photographer will be visiting the Infant and Nursery School on 16th October  to take individual and sibling photographs. If you would like younger siblings included in these photographs then you can bring them into school from 8.15am. These photographs will then be returned in time for Christmas as they make excellent presents!

Mufti

This Friday (10th October) is a Mufti day. Children can come to school in non-school uniform. We ask for a donation of a prize for either an adult or a children's tombola. Thank you.