28th Mar 25

The weather is finally starting to improve and the children have been making the most of it this week with Class 1 looking at compass points in the playground and Year 3 and 4 enjoying a Wild Tribe morning. It has been a busy week and we have only got another one before a well-earned Easter break. Year 5 and 6 enjoyed a visit from the National Marine Aquarium and the Ocean Conservation Trust today. They learned all about the treats to the ocean, climate change and how to protect the planet. They did some great science experiments as well. The whole school were able to join in in the afternoon with another workshop. Thankyou to the NMA for their time in providing this great day. Year 5 also had a busy afternoon on Wednesday with a visit to the Cornwall Life-Skills roadshow at Liskeard Fire Station. They took part in short activities including electrical safety, CPR, the RNLI and how to stay safe near railways. They got to meet other children from local schools and they had a fantastic time. I would like to thanks Mrs Richardson-Calladine (one of our governors) for giving her time this week to talk to the school council about breaktimes and lunchtimes and how we can make them even better. Governors play a huge role in the school, providing support and challenge to myself and the pupils. I was very proud of the children for their sensible ideas, maturity and welcome that they gave her. If you think that becoming a governor and supporting the school in another way is something that you are interested in, please get in touch. Finally, with the improving weather, I know that many of the children take advantage of the school field after school. We have been contacted by members of the community about loud and boisterous behaviour after school and ask that if children do go into the field they are mindful of our community and neighbours. They should also not be climbing the wall into the cow field as this can disturb the animals and cause unnecessary stress. We have spoken to the children in school but appreciate your support in this matter. Can we ask that pupils do not use the trim trail before or after school as insurance will not cover them. We welcome children scooting and cycling to school but can we also ask that these are walker across the playground to avoid accidents.

Weekly Blog

It is hard to believe that we have only got 2 weeks left of the term! This week was another busy one with Mrs Lake and I having the opportunity to speak to parents and carers about progress and how well the children are doing. Remember, if you have any questions, don't wait for parent's consultations, get in touch with the office and we can arrange a phone call or meeting. We have been lucky enough, through our work with St Luke's, to play host to Elmer this week. He has been in our library listening to children read! Thank-you to St Luke's for letting us borrow him this week. Congratulations also to our cross-country runners, all of whom have become "Medal Qualifiers" in this season's events. Three of them have also become "Results Qualifiers"/ I am always impressed by successes outside of school and we are very proud of all of our runners. Following the success of the Lego coding team last Thursday, we have been included in lots of publicity including The Cornish Times and the Marine Biological Association. To find out more about our project and what the team got up to, please follow their links for more information. We could like to say a huge thank-you to everyone who has been able to donate to our Go Fund Me page to help send the team to Harrogate in May. The link is here if you would like to donate but it is truly heartwarming that so many members of the community have been able to help support our school. Ocean science meets innovation: Darite Marine Marvels win First Lego League competition On Thursday, March 13th, the Darite Marine Marvels, a group of Year 5 and 6 pupils from Darite Primary Academy, claimed the First Lego League Robot Performance Championship at RNAS Culdrose for the fourth consecutive year! 

Weekly blog - 13th Feb 25

Just like that, we've reached the end of this half term and are halfway through this academic year! We've ended on a high this week with the hugely popular "Art Exhibition" on Tuesday. Thank-you to everyone who was able to attend and look through the amazing art that was on display. The children are rightly proud of their achievements, and it was great to let them share their enthusiasm for learning. We are looking at doing these events whenever possible to be able to share even more with you. Safer Internet Day was this Tuesday. The children learned about scams, how to recognise the signs and what to do if they think they have seen one. Online safety is key in our digital world, and we make sure we teach children how to be safe with technology. Obviously, they spend more time with you than in school and we have lots of resources on our website to help signpost parents and carers to expert help and advice if needed. World Book Day is fast approaching on the 6th of March and the librarians have decided that, along with dressing up as a favourite book character, they would like to hold a book swap. Children are welcome to bring up to 5 books that they would like others to enjoy and swap them with their classmates. More information on this will be forthcoming, but I wanted to give everyone a heads-up about the event. We are really lucky to be part of the Darite community - we have had several lovely comments about how amazing the willow structure looks after the trim last weekend. Thank you so much to Meika and the volunteers for taming the structure. We can't wait for the summer to be able to take learning outside event more. Everyone at Darite wishes you all a very relaxing half term-break and we are looking forward to to seeing the children back in school on Monday 24th February.

It’s been another great week at Darite! As you know, last Tuesday we welcomed an Ofsted inspection to Darite. It was a great opportunity to show the two inspectors what Darite is all about and how much of a special place it is to learn and work. I am delighted to be able to share their findings today as we have received their final report. I know many of you were keen to find out how school performed. As you may be aware, OFSTED no longer give overall effectiveness grades on schools who were graded “Good” before September 2024. We were graded “Good” in November 2019 and so OFSTED give these schools a judgement based on the actions that they have taken to maintain these standards. I am delighted to say that Darite has “Taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection”. We are so proud of the children, staff and parents who all contribute to making school so special and the children were amazing on the day – they were able to talk confidently with the inspectors and explain why Darite is so good. The final report is on our school website here and will be published on the OFSTED website by the end of next week. I wanted to draw your attention to some of the comments that the inspectors made in the report: “Darite Primary is a community-centred, warm and friendly school. Pupils form positive relationships with staff. This helps them to feel happy and safe. Children in the early years are confident and enjoy their time in school. Pupils conduct themselves well in lessons and around the school. The school has high expectations for pupils’ achievements. Pupils meet these and are successful in their learning.” “The school encourages pupils to share their views about school life… Pupils are passionate about the community and helping others. … many took part in a ‘reindeer run’ to raise money for charity. After being inspired by a visit focusing on recycling, pupils successfully requested the donation of litter picking devices to the school. Pupils also support the local food bank.” “In lessons, pupils focus well on their learning. They are keen to do well. Pupils respond quickly when staff remind them of the school’s high expectations of behaviour. Children in the early years thoughtfully plan which areas of the classroom to explore, for example the investigation station, creative area or small world. They concentrate for extended periods of time on these activities.” “As a small community, pupils of all ages play harmoniously together.” As you can see, there are some wonderful comments and the inspectors understood what it is like to attend a small school like Darite. Of course, we are always looking for ways to continue to improve and the inspectors gave us two ways that they feel we can improve on. One of these is to ensure that all children start their learning at the right place to make sure that progress is as good as it could be. We are already working on this with tweaks to the curriculum. The second one is to improve attendance for all pupils. You will know the impact absence has on progress and outcomes and we are working hard to reduce the absence in school. Of course, illness happens but we are keen to work with you all to reduce absence through other factors. I urge you to read the report and thank-you again for your continued support of the school and pupils. On Tuesday we also welcomed back Sarah from St Luke’s Hospice how came to share the giant cheque with us all to celebrate the amazing amount of money we raised as a school during the reindeer run. She told us that our money has helped to support a family in need at the hospice and this brought home the impact of the run that the children took part in. She is also arranging for their giant Elmer statue to visit school to let the children read to Elmer!