Celebrating our Cornish Surrounds

At Truro School Prep, 2026 has seen the continued growth of the Belerion Award among our Year 5 pupils. Rooted in Cornish history and landscape, the award is an environmental initiative centred on wild places and the importance of Cornish mining that encourages awareness, responsibility and stewardship of the natural world, whilst nurturing a spirit of adventure and discovery.

This year, we have added a brand-new unit of work to their humanities curriculum which celebrates the story of Cornish mining. Ahead of their visit to King Edward Mine, the pupils enjoyed a virtual visit on their Chromebooks, which is available through the World Heritage Site resources.

As an independent school, our pupils are not required to sit standardised national tests at the end of Year 6. This allows them to enjoy a varied curriculum during their Key Stage 2 learning, of which the Belerion Award is an important part.

This term, our Year 5 pupils have been completing a key element of their Belerion journey with visits to King Edward Mine. Spread across two separate trips, pupils stepped back in time to explore Cornwall’s remarkable tin and copper mining heritage.

Through hands-on STEM practical experiments, which included a practical investigation of the density of rocks and artefact handling, and a guided tour of the historic site, pupils gained a vivid understanding of the scale, processes and danger involved in mining. They learned how Cornwall’s mining legacy shaped communities both locally and around the world, and how its imprint can still be seen so clearly across our landscape today.

A highlight for the pupils was the coding task, in which the children learnt to sequence coding instructions for a LEGO robot. This provided them with an exceptional opportunity to work together on a trial and error task, solving problems like moving forwards, changing direction and stopping at various points.

The experience offered challenge, insight and a strong sense of connection to place, all of the things that the Belerion Award is designed to inspire.

If you would like to find out more about our inspiring curriculum at Truro School Prep, you can join us for our Open Morning on Saturday, 7th March from 10.00am to 12.00pm. Find out more and register your interest here.