It has been a busy first few weeks back at school for us already.  Year 5 have been out on two trips (to Heligan and Falmouth), there are children on Bikeability courses, new children are settling into the school and pupils have been working hard in their new classes.

There are lots of exciting events planned on the calendar for this year which we will tell you about on this blog.

Perhaps you would like to start by telling us what you are particualrly looking forward to this year.

Last Friday, Mount Charles pupils have been performing their hidden talents in front of a paying audience.  There were no prizes – they were doing it just for fun.  Money raised went to Kingsville Village charity.

 The school council planned the talent show and many of the school councillors helped to collect the money, introduce the acts and make sure everything ran smoothly.

Faith was one of the stars of the show when she sang Mercy (and Mrs Hunkin paid twice to hear her perform again!).  Another highlight was Milo busting out some great breakdance moves!

Other acts included dancing, comedy, violin playing, singing and much more!

Were you in the audience?  Did you take part?  What are your own highlights – we would love to hear from you.

Year 5 went to Eden to look at the exotic plants and to explore the Rainforest biome – this was really hot and you could tell what it was like to live in a rainforest.

We went into the Education Centre and saw the things that would be in the rainforest and how they could be used for a shelter and for tools.

We saw a plant that you could touch and it would close up.

There was a workshop called ‘Don’t Forget Your Leechsocks’ – it was run by Nick, who had been to the rainforest himself and showed us his leech bites.

The best bit of the day for Lauren was having an ice cream at the end of the day – it was fantastic!

Well done to Mr B and Mr W for allowing pupils (and staff) to throw wet sponges at them this lunchtime – all in aid of Comic Relief.

Thanks to everyone who took part – you helped to raise over £60 for the Comic Relief charity!

Perhaps you would like to tell us what you have done to raise money for charity in the past.

At Mount Charles School, a couple of weeks ago, pupils celebrated World Book Day with a whole week of fun.

Pupils made models with their families – you can see more of these in the Pupils’ Work section of the website and on Thursday we came to school in our pyjamas (or as a book character) and had a drink of hot chocolate.

During the week other book related activities took place.  Please let us know what you did during World Book Week!

Friday 6th February

Mount Charles School is OPEN today.

I would like to apologise that this information was not available earlier this week as our school system does not allow us to update our website whilst away from the school site.   

By using this site for this information, I shall be able to post an entry even if I cannot get into school.

School closure information is also now available on www.bbc.co.uk/cornwall

While you are here, why not tell us about the fun you had in the snow on Tuesday!

For the second year, Mount Charles celebrated ‘The Big Draw’, organised by Miss Nile and Mrs Body.  Children and their parents were invited into the school hall at the end of the day to have fun drawing a selection of pictures.

In the middle of the hall was Mr Dickinson’s motorbike for people to try sketching.  Around the edge were a series of drawing stations with various activities.

Children tried to draw with chalk stuck onto the end of long sticks (a lot harder than it sounds), decorated a mermaid, listened to music and drew what came into their mind, tried to describe shapes to others, drew portraits of each other, designed an alien and many many more activities.

Did you come to the event?  What did you draw?  Which activity did you enjoy the most?  When you are at home, what sorts of things do you enjoy drawing?  Please let us know!

Today, we were lucky to have a visit from Jemma Simpson, who ran in the 800m Olympic race in Beijing last month.  She talked to the children about her experiences in China, memories from her time at Mount Charles and about her training regime.

The children asked a series of questions and were fascinated by the answers Jemma gave.  We all congratulate her on achieving her dream she had as an 8 year old to compete in the Olympic games.

Did you watch the Olympics this year?  What events did you particularly enjoy watching?

Despite the weather not being the kindest to us (for the second year in a row), this year’s Summer Extravanganza went ahead and was a success with a great amount of money being raised for the school by the PSA.

With the smell of burgers and hot dogs in the air and people feeding themselves on the delicious cakes, scones and fruit kebabs, there were a selection of stalls, oppotunities for children to play games on the playground and the running of the inaugural Mount Charles Dilly Race.

There was a fantastic turnout of dillys (like go-karts) designed to transport a teddy down a road.  Families had worked really hard together on the designs – well done to everyone who took part!

During the evening the vehicles were raced down the road and timed to see who would make the distance (20m) in the fastest time.  Congratulations to Frazer and his family who won the event with a time of 4.78 seconds with the dilly seen above (sorry, I broke the number plate when I put my foot out to stop it after the first run!)  Other awards were presented for the best crash, the most interesting design and the slowest vehicle to finish (which took 1 minute 52.9 seconds!)

How did your dilly do?  Did you come to the Summer Extravanganza this year, if so, what did you enjoy best?  Please let us know by leaving a comment below!

Last week the Juniors took part in their Sports Day.  The day was split into two events – Year 3 and 4 in the morning and Year 5 and 6 in the afternoon.

The scores for all the events can be found on the school website.  Overall, the Blue house won (for the second year in a row).

Well done to everyone who took part.  What was your favourite event?  Maybe you have got some good memories of a Sports Day in the past – it would be good to share these stories in the comments below!