Newquay Primary Academy

Cornwall Council has introduced a new process to help more eligible children receive free school meals without families needing to apply. Called the Free School Meals (FSM) Auto Award, the new process automatically checks whether some children are eligible for free school meals and enrols them if they qualify. The Council will use information it already holds to identify children who may qualify, including those who currently receive free meals and households that receive Housing Benefit or Council Tax Support from Cornwall Council. Families do not need to take any action at this stage. The Council will contact families who are identified through the automatic checking process and explain any next steps. The change comes ahead of new national eligibility rules being introduced by the Department for Education from September this year. Under the new rules, all households receiving Universal Credit will be eligible for free school meals, with the current household income threshold being removed. Eligibility will also be reviewed at the start of each academic year. Families identified through the process, as well as current free school meal recipients, should have now been contacted. Parents and carers who are not identified through the Auto Award process, or whose circumstances change during the year, can still apply through the online Parent Portal. https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/schools-and-education/schools-and-colleges/school-meals/

7 October 2026

This Week in History! This week, Chough Class explored what the Ancient Egyptians believed about gods, goddesses and the afterlife. The children learnt that Ancient Egyptians worshipped many different gods and goddesses, each with their own particular role or responsibility. They also discovered the importance of Ma'at the Ancient Egyptian idea of truth, goodness, balance and harmony. The children learnt that Ancient Egyptians believed the more good deeds a person carried out during their lifetime, the lighter their heart would become. When someone died, the god Anubis would weigh their heart against a feather belonging to Ma'at. If the heart was heavy with wrongdoing, it would be eaten, meaning the person would not continue into the afterlife. To help bring this belief to life, the children created their own heart outlines and filled them with examples of good deeds they could do. They then imagined weighing their hearts against Ma'at's feather to see whether they would be ready to enter the afterlife! The children really enjoyed stepping into the shoes of an Ancient Egyptian and thinking about how these beliefs may have influenced the way people lived their lives. What a fascinating journey into the beliefs of Ancient Egypt!

7 October 2026

This week Puffin Class received a letter from Evil Pea. The children decided they should reflect on the traps they made last week and make them even better. They decided we should use glittery balls as 'bait' to lure in the pea. They are also challenging themselves to feed Puffins the correct amount, cross the Lava using their problem solving skills, make nature faces on Play dough Island, use bingo dabbers to dot the number they see on the dice, make sound bracelets and keep searching for the Evil Pea! Great Work Puffins!

7 October 2026

Guillemots Bug Hunt Guillemot Class had a very successful bug hunt last Friday! The children were able to identify what mini beast we have living in our local environments as well as what types of habitats we have in our play ground. All children are confident with identifying what animals have vertebrate, invertebrates and Exoskeletons! They have really enjoyed our science lessons this half term and the children have worked really hard with their learning. Well done Guillemot Class!

7 October 2026

For Parents of Our Older Learners A member of the Senior Leadership Team from NT will be available in the Horizon Room. If you have any questions or queries, please feel free to pop in for a chat.

7 October 2026

Please bring any donations into the academy by 15th October. Donations can be given to your child's teacher, or you can pop them into the academy office. Many thanks for your support and generosity!

6 October 2026

Happy International Smile Day! Today, we've been asking our learners what makes them smile, and we've loved hearing their answers!

2 October 2026

Stars of the Week! A huge well done to all of our fantastic Stars of the Week! We are so proud of the effort, kindness, resilience and fantastic learning you have shown this week. It has been wonderful to celebrate all the amazing things you have been doing in school.

2 October 2026

Craft Club got cooking today! We took a trip to the DT room to make some delicious oat cookies! The children did an amazing job measuring out all the ingredients and carefully shaping their own cookies. The hardest part was definitely waiting for them to bake! We were cutting it a little fine with the time, but thankfully everyone got to take a cookie home to enjoy. Well done, Craft Club you did a fantastic job!

30 September 2026