Pre-Prep Life

There were cheers, flowers and doughnuts as Truro School Prep helped celebrate National Teaching Assistants’ Day, recognising the valuable contribution Teaching Assistants make to children’s education and support.

The Nursery was awash with colour and curiosity as the pupils took turns showing their classmates their ‘All About Me’ boxes.

The display looked bright and welcoming, whilst the pupils listened beautifully as each child showed the contents of their boxes.

Some of the Reception Class took a much-needed break after an afternoon of hard work. They made the most of the sunshine and play equipment, having applied themselves diligently to their earlier literacy lesson.

The pupils were learning about nocturnal and diurnal animals and were writing about the different types they had studied in class.

The Year 2 pupils were showing their fantastic creativity during their Wednesday art lesson this week.

The sun was streaming through the windows of the Millenium building, providing excellent light for the budding artists. Guided by Mrs Ashdown, the class learnt about printing and pattern-making and how to layer colours for striking effects. They looked at each other’s work for inspiration and shared ideas.

The class was lucky to be supported by two Sixth Form students. Sophie and Soumya helped the pupils to load their stamps and roll their paint.

There was curiosity, confidence and creativity on show in Nursery this week as the children explored a nativity scene, drew art on the whiteboard, built huge towers and practised their Christmas music. Phew! What busy learners they are!

Learning was bought to life and curiosity was inspired for the Year 2 and 3 classes this week, as the Great Fire of London was re-created. The Truro Fire Brigade were on hand for safety as a model village of Tudor London was set alight to show how quickly the fire would have spread on Pudding Lane in 1666.

“It was brilliant. I loved it,” Henny told us. “The white ash was the best because it looked like snow.”

The children were given a chance to look around the engine after the fire was safely put out, and talked about the importance of fire safety in modern times. Fjola said, “Thank you to the Fire Brigade for letting us look around the fire engine and thank you for helping to light the fire and then put it out.”

Our Pre-Prep took a step back in time today, learning all about Victorians. Our historians arrived dressed in Victorian attire, and began the day posing for some photographs with their best solemn faces to mimic the look of 19th-century portraits. However, it wasn’t long before everyone was smiling with the excitement of the Victorian day!

The children spent the rest of the day doing a range of Victorian-inspired activities, from making gingerbread and sandwiches to playing centuries-old party games.

There was more scientific discovery in Truro School Pre-Prep this week too. Nursery had a wonderful time learning all about ‘Hot and Cold’ science with some of the Senior School Chemistry teachers yesterday. The session started off with Dr Brogden doing some exciting experiments, which captivated all the pupils, especially when they were allowed to make as much noise as possible to change the colour of the potion! They were then given a range of different activities to have a go at, from saving bugs from the squelchy slime and hatching baby dinosaurs from frozen ice eggs to using a special liquid and lit splint, with the help of the teachers, to make a squeaky pop. The session finished with a special experiment, outside, where Dr Brogden disappeared behind a big puff of smoke, like a genie coming out of the lamp. Nursery really enjoyed their session and even did some nursery ‘unicorn’ and ‘ketchup’ claps to say thank you.

The Year 2s were set a tricky challenge this week in Art. Inspired by their topic of the Great Fire of London, they used warm colours and bold patterns to create their work. But they had to learn to work together to combine their creative talent and work in pairs.

It was wonderful to see the creativity and confidence this activity inspired in the children, as they encouraged each other to share their ideas and make something truly wonderful.

With thanks to Sixth Formers Sophie and Soumya, who volunteer to support the pupils as a part of their Sixth Form Diploma.

The children in Nursery were dancing with their digits in their daily dough disco this week. A dough disco is the chance for the children to improve their dexterity and finger strength by manipulating play dough. This, in turn, will help encourage early writing by giving the children more control. Having selected their own named pots, the children lined up beautifully, ready to listen as they began their disco. A fantastic bit of fun and learning for them all..

Thanks to all of the parents, staff and pupils who made this year’s play such a success. Such courage and confidence on display!

Pre-Prep pupils were getting into the Christmas spirit by creating angels out of recycled materials. The pupils showed great compassion and care as they put lots of thought into making their angels.

The angels will be displayed in The Truro Methodist Church in the lead up to Christmas, along with lots of other angels made by local schoolchildren.

Nursery and Reception pupils put on a fabulous performance of ‘The Little Nativity’, the story of the classic nativity performed through song.