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!

Weekly Blog - 17Jan 25

It really is never dull at Darite! Following the snow and ice last week, this week brought a visit from Ofsted on Tuesday! We were told of their visit on Monday and everyone in the school pulled together to really show what Darite is all about. We were so proud of all the children on Tuesday who showed our guests exactly what they do at Darite. We were all so proud of them all. We cannot share the outcome of the inspection at this time but as soon as we are able to, I will let you know how we got on. I would also like to express my thanks to everyone who was able to complete the survey sent out and give their thoughts on the school to the inspectors on the playground. Thanks also to those in the wider trust who were able to support the school this week. Darite is more than just a school, it is a true community. Also this week, Class 2 had their second session with the Eden Project and their healthy lunch competition. The children were buzzing when they saw the entry that the school won with shown to the other schools and work is well underway on this year’s competition. Class 1 meanwhile have been looking at Haiku poetry in preparation for entering a “Flyku” competition – more on this soon! Good luck to our cross country runners at Cotehele today. I can’t wait to hear about the event on Monday. 
Gardening Club were very privileged to be visited by Philip from St Cleer Gardening Club. He brought seeds and a lot of expertise! He showed us how to use cardboard tubes instead of plant pots and then we put them into half of a plastic bottle so that they can be kept hydrated. He will be back next month to help us plant runner beans, pumpkins and geraniums.

Weekly Blog 10th Jan 25

Firstly, a very Happy New Year to you all! I hope you all managed to have a good Christmas break with friends and family. I hope you all managed to stay well too with all the flu and winter viruses around. The children have loved telling us all about their Christmas fun from skiing, visiting friends, sleepovers and exciting adventures to meeting Father Christmas. It has made us all jealous! It may only have been a four-day week but what a week it has been! Class 2 had their first session for their "Eden Sustainability Lunch" challenge on Wednesday. They will be working with each other to design a healthy and sustainable packed lunch that could be taken to the Eden Project. This is the second time the school has entered, and we won a prize last time! The children are keen to keep up their winning streak. Our school council spoke very eloquently about their learning to a governor on Wednesday. I was blown away with their answers and reasons and made me proud to be a part of Darite. They spoke very positively about school and both Mrs Richardson-Calladine and I were very impressed with their understanding. Thank-you to the school council and to Mrs Richardson-Calladine for giving up her time talk to the children. Having their voice heard is so powerful. I am sure you all shared our disappointment with the necessity to cancel the pantomime trip yesterday due to concerns around safety of pupils and staff because of the snow and ice. I am sure you understand that such decisions are never made lightly and without careful consideration for alternatives. Thank-you for the kind messages of understanding with this difficult decision. Despite this, the children who were able to make it to school had a great day - Class 1 made the best snowman I have seen in many years and Class 2 brought the pantomime to Darite with their performances in the afternoon! We definitely have some future Oscar winners in school! Mrs Norris has already been looking at other opportunities for a trip soon. Last, but by no means least, I would like to welcome Mrs Nel to school. She is covering Miss Bawden’s maternity leave in Class 2 and lunchtimes. She is a familiar face in school, having volunteered last term but it is lovely to welcome her formally. Of course, we wish Miss Bawden well with her maternity and when we hear from her, we will let you know! This half term is short but full of activities so please keep checking the diary and website for details. Thank-you from all the staff at school for your continued support of Darite. Have a lovely weekend and we will see the children back on Monday.