Heads Blog

Welcome to the Head's Blog - Janine Waring, Headteacher

Please visit the Head's Blog regularly for news, information and communications from Looe Primary Academy.

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20.12.18: Happy Christmas - what a term it has been!

It is lovely to be able to sit quietly to reflect now that all pupils and staff have left for the Christmas break. What an amazing term we have had. Teaching and learning has gone from strength to strength and our efforts to be more involved in our local community have seen many wonderful people walk through our doors to share their skills and experiences with the pupils.

Not only that, we have been out and about too, with our Looe Gaol and Museum experiences, singing at the Lifeboat Station, trips to the Sardine Factory and Bodmin Military Museum and not forgetting the large number of children and staff involved in the Remembrance Day commemorations.

All that is left is to wish you all a peaceful and joyous Christmas and to say 'thank you' for your continued support of our school. School opens for the Spring Term on Tuesday 8th January. Happy Christmas everyone.

11.12.18 - Christmas is coming!

‘Cockadoodle Doo’ – ‘Is there a baby in there?’ said the cockerel. Well, for most of the performance there wasn’t a baby in there and even when the baby arrived the Early Years children were still adamant that there wasn’t a baby in there, causing much laughter in the audience! We have begun celebrating Christmas in style with the wonderful EYFS and Year 1 Christmas performances on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning.

We then have the Years 2, 3 and 4 pupils performing all sorts of things ‘Christmas’ at the Looe Lifeboat Station on Thursday evening from 5.00pm to 6.00pm, all rounded off by a Carol Concert for Years 5 and 6 with Reverend Philip Sharp at St. Martin’s Church on Monday 17th December from 6.00pm – 7.00pm.

We hope that you all enjoy the festivities as much as the children and staff have enjoyed rehearsing them.

30.11.18 - The Mousehole Cat

Well - didn’t we have a wonderful time today! Along with Polperro, Pelynt, Duloe, Trenode and Polruan pupils, our Year 2, 3 and 4 pupils, we had the privilege to watch a professional performance of ‘The Mousehole Cat’ by the theatre company ‘Cousin Jacks’. We were also welcomed to this performance by Looe Community Academy, so it felt very special and it was lovely that so many schools from the local area could come together; thank you to Looe Community Academy for enabling us to create this experience.

We were also very lucky, because this performance does not often leave Mousehole; it is a traditional local performance of words, drama and Cornish music. The production was ‘in the round’ so the children sat all round the stage and it gave them a very close up feel of the actors and especially of the puppet cat, ‘Mowser’. Mowser was amazing and it was hard to remember that she was a puppet and not real.

The children were mesmerised and they will now carry on to study the story further and create their own writing, art and music as a result. You might even spot one of the songs at the Christmas Performance at the Lifeboat Station on Thursday 13th December. We will certainly be inviting Cousin Jacks back for a future performance!

28.11.18 - Years 5 & 6 take over Looe Gaol and Museum

Last week, the whole school project on World War 1 started to come to an end. Some of the Year 5 and 6 learning included a visit to Looe Gaol and Museum as part of the national museum take over project.

Children went down in groups to share their work with family and members of the public after being helped to get ready by the curator of the museum, Petra. Some of the work included amazing show box trenches designed and built by the pupils and their parents and carers as a home learning project. See below.

All of the sessions were fantastic and the national organiser of the project, visiting the museum on one of the days, said that our pupils were the most engaged, interesting and well informed pupils that she had met on her national travels.

We have also received a lovely letter in to school from a member of the public sharing his delight at meeting the pupils, although he is concerned because his wife was sent to Australia by a judge; she had stolen a loaf of bread and he is still awaiting her return! We really enjoy opportunities to get out of the school environment and to be part of our local community, so we would like to say a huge thank you to Looe Gaol and Museum staff for inviting us.

21.11.18 - School lockdown procedure

You may have become aware that in the last few days we have been talking to and teaching the children about a ‘lockdown’ procedure for safety. This is where a situation may arise that requires us to lock down the building as opposed to carrying out an evacuation for a fire etc. We are required to establish and practice this procedure and as it is new for most children, we need to make sure that they fully understand what is happening and why.

Lockdowns happen when there is an event taking place outside that we cannot control immediately. This may include extreme and adverse weather conditions, a loose animal such as a dog that we cannot control, or who is aggressive and unfortunately this may also be required if we have intruders on site or if we have received information that leads us to believe that the children and staff are at risk. As this is a new procedure, we have talked to the children and given them opportunities to discuss their worries.

All schools have a lockdown policy and procedure. In many ways, this is a safer procedure than evacuation, but we have talked as staff about the need to manage the anxiety of children in these circumstances, even as we practice. You will receive a letter today with more information, but I would like to reassure you that it was always our intention to share this with you, to enable you to talk to your children at home if necessary.

We will have a full practice in the very near future, once we are confident that the children are ready. On this occasion, they will know that the practice is taking place. Once you have read the letter, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me if you have any further concerns. The letter will be sent home as a paper copy on this occasion and will also be available in the letter section of this website.

11.11.18 - Looe Pupils Remember

As the whole country prepared to commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War 1, staff and pupils decided that we should make sure that we also show our respect and remembrance for fallen soldiers and civilians in all wars, but with a special focus this year on World War 1.

We started with a ‘crafternoon’ in September where each class made some poppy items. Years 5 and 6 visited the Infantry Museum in Bodmin to start a lengthy topic covering all aspects of the Great War. A week before the 11th November, our Trust Creative Artist, Sean Hewitt, visited us to tell us the exciting news that he had been chosen by the famous film director, Danny Boyle to be part of the national ‘Pages of the Sea’ initiative to draw the images of fallen soldiers and personnel in the sand on beaches across the country. The Year 6 pupils spent a day with Sean making collages of soldiers and words, and these were then displayed on the beach front in the form of postcards on Remembrance Sunday - see below.

We held a very moving whole school assembly on Friday 9th November and we were proud to welcome our Mayor, Armand Toms and the President of the Looe Royal British Legion, Mr David Bryant to our assembly, where they both read poetry and spoke to the children. On Remembrance day itself, we laid wreaths, took part in a number of events on the beach, and then throughout the day, a number of Looe children took part in singing, hand bell ringing, reading poetry etc.

It was a proud day for Looe, but we were very proud at school that we had played a big part in remembering those who gave their lives, so that we can live today. It was an especially proud moment as Headteacher when the President of the Royal British Legion praised the children for their behaviour and respect during our Remembrance Assembly.