I have learned so much this week and been excited by visiting every class in EYFS and KS1 with Mr Lara, looking carefully at the way our children are learning mathematics. The children really have a high level of understanding of number. By talking to them, it is clear that investigating numbers, and knowing all the combinations of how to get to those numbers, give a far greater mathematical understanding, than just counting to large numbers! Their understanding of Numicon, base 10, 10 frame and part-part-whole are the consistent representations used in each class, and my goodness, the children are thorough in their understanding. Mr Lara was so impressed, and he will be doing a short Zoom session soon so that adults at home can understand the importance of using these resources. We are so looking forward to next week when we explore KS2 maths learning!

Myself and Mrs Ewart have almost run out of golden stickers this week! We have seen so much amazing learning, and more importantly, the children being able to talk through their learning and make links with previous learning to make new learning stick! It is also fantastic hearing about achievements out of school. This week we have heard about Ava’s (Y5) amazing swimming  achievements – achieving county swimming times! Our gymnastic team also won their competition with Lily coming 2nd overall – we hope you saw the pictures on the website! Please keep letting us know of achievements outside of school so we can celebrate with you!

And lastly, I would personally and on behalf of the staff, like to congratulate Mrs Ewart on her permanent position of Deputy Head. We all know how passionately she feels about inclusivity and the pastoral care we give children, as well as her love of teaching and curriculum design. We feel very excited about the future, with Mrs Ewart becoming more involved than ever with the leadership of the school. Congratulations!   

Ms Teagle

French exchange opportunity

Do you know of anyone with teenage children who might be interested in a French exchange? There is a family with links with Mrs Vale who would love to come over to improve their English! If you are interested, please let Mrs Vale know and she can put you in contact with them.

COVID UPDATE (another one!) – 

From Monday 17 January, people who are self-isolating with COVID-19 will have the option to reduce their isolation period after 5 full days if they test negative with a lateral flow device (LFD) test on both day 5 and day 6 and they do not have a temperature. For example, if they test negative on the morning of day 5 and the morning of day 6, they can return to their education or childcare setting immediately on day 6.

The first test must be taken no earlier than day 5 of the self-isolation period, and the second must be taken the following day. All test results should be reported to NHS Test and Trace.

If the result of either of their tests is positive, they should continue to self-isolate until they get negative results from two LFD tests on consecutive days or until they have completed 10 full days of self-isolation, whichever is earliest.

Even if someone has tested positive for COVID-19 within the last 90 days, they are strongly encouraged to take part in LFD testing on-site via ATS or at home once they have completed their isolation period for their prior infection. This is a new policy from UKHSA because of the risk of reinfection with Omicron.  

PTFA – CHANGE OF DATE FOR NEXT MEETING

We have a very exciting PTFA night coming up …. FAMILY BINGO NIGHT! Our next meeting will be in the Vic on Wednesday 26th at 7pm. Please come along: no lifelong commitments – just a get together and planning! 

TMS SPORT and WELLBEING HALL

Lots of you will be aware of the conversations happening between the school and the council over the last 4 years. Our current school hall, as you know, is not fit for purpose: delivering the full PE curriculum is an impossibility and meeting as a whole school, which is so incredibly important to a school, is a logistical nightmare! The hall was built for a school of less than 200 children and with the school expanded to now 420, the buildings have extended, but the hall, situated in the middle of the building has remained the same (in fact … decreased in size!).

The council has allocated £888,000 towards the building of a new sports hall, which is incredibly exciting and shows how much commitment there is from the community of TMS and also the councils and county officers. We have worked with PBWC on a design which encapsulates more than just a sports hall. It includes a wellbeing workspace, as well as building an outdoor learning area to support our curriculum, as well as extra curricular activities. 

We also intend use by the community in the evenings, both the hall and the workspace, for sports hiring, or local groups meetings to strengthen links in the community.

The planning has now been submitted and through consultation with parents and the local community we know how much support there is for this provision to support the children in the village.  We invite you to share you support on the planning portal:

https://planning.cornwall.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=R2Q37YFGH0600

Thank you to all the members of the community who have supported us thus far on this journey: Dulcie Tudor, Kenwyn Parish Council, TMS Community Centre, Rev’d Jeremy and All Saints Church, Stephen Horscroft and many more. 

DIARY DATES