We had a fabulous week this week!

The best day of the week was Thursday when we had a full day of sporting fun. We started with a morning of competing in a range of athletic events where we tried to score as many points for our house as possible. Then, after lunch, we had fun making inspirational banners and flags to use during the main event. We ended our school day with a full session with Pro20. We came back later in the evening for our Sports Evening and PSA Fete with our friends and family.

Besides all the fun, we also managed a lot of learning in the classroom. In Maths, we have continued consolidating our understanding of multiplication and division by exploring the 5 and 10 times table before moving on to dividing by 2. In Literacy, we have completed our draft diary entry, edited it using our toolkit and have begun writing up our neat copies.

In Science, we explored the rainforest habitat and have begun discussing the different problems they face. In RE, we listened to the story of St Piran and looked at places around us that might be connected to him and his stories. In Geography, we explored the Jurassic Coastline and learned to identify a variety of physical features along this coastline. Finally, in DT we explored a variety of tools used for prepping food. Then, we had a go at using some of them, making sure we kept ourselves safe while using the tools.

Finally, a very well done to:
> Isabella for getting the Ready Award for her awesome effort at writing her neat copy.
> Lilly T for getting the Respectful Award for always coming in to the class with a smile and remembering her please and thank you.
> Finley for getting the Safe Award for always including his friends in his games and being a kind and gentle friend.

Eco Summit
Rudy, Toby, Cadan and Anoud, our Class 4 school councillors, attended an eco summit at Brunel Primary School today. The group engaged in workshops to learn about recycling and waste management from industry providers. They made future plans for Harrowbarrow, which they later fed back to the other schools attending. It was an inspiring day and the ideas of the group were really impressive.


Sport Days
An annual highlight of the school year, sports day and sports evening provide an opportunity for children to compete across a range of different activities. Thank you to all those in attendance and to Abi Flashman for organising the sports and working with the PSA to provide a brilliant post sports event. A special thank you to the PSA, who provided food and drink, entertainment and some fundraising opportunities. It was a truly lovely evening last night and always feels very special when our school community come together in that way.

First Aid Workshop
Class 4 were joined by paramedic and first aid instructor Peter Salisbury this week. Peter taught them how to deal with choking, how to put someone in the recovery position, dealing with sprains and how to resuscitate someone. Hopefully, the children will never need to use this knowledge but it always best to be prepared. It was a very instructive lesson.



Child Exploitation & Online Protection (CEOP)
From feedback, we know that many parents and carers have concerns about children's online activity as they grow older. It is a worry knowing how to keep children safe. Learning to keep yourself safe online as a child is part of our curriculum but there is also lots of advice for parents and carers which would be worth exploring. Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) and is part of the National Crime Agency and they have a useful webpage designed to support you:



To follow some of the links above, please click on https://www.ceopeducation.co.uk/parents/

The last few weeks of term look like they will be very busy with trips and and activities in school. I look forward to sharing more from Harrowbarrow next week.

We don't know about you, but it has been one HOT week here in Class 2!

We have had to find some very innovative ways to keep cool and continue learning in our very hot classroom this week. We have had barefoot classroom, water tray congas, forest school lessons and joining Steve Backshall to watch videos about the Polar habitats to try and help us cool down enough to learn. However, despite the heatwave, we ploughed on and got oodles of learning this week.

In Maths, we have completed all units of learning for the year, and so we have started consolidating some key learning from the year. This week, we have started consolidating our understanding of multiplication and division. We have had everything from table maths to carpet maths... and in all this we have managed to use bar models and arrays to visualise multiplication. In Literacy, we have continued working on our diary entry and constructed expanded noun phrases to make our sentences "juicy."

In Science, we looked at how the environment is constantly changing. We looked at a variety of habitats and how they might change naturally. We also looked at the impact of human activity on these habitats. We had a cool, calm session in our forest school area. We took our Explorer Journals and made notes of what we saw and had a very serious discussions about how our activities there might impact the habitat and the many micro-habitats there. In PSHE, we ended our unit on relationships by talking about people who are special to us and reflected on what makes them special to us.

In RE, we discussed our understanding of the word "sacred" and "holy." We also looked at some sacred buildings and worked together to understand why they are sacred to some people. In Geography we looked at some coastlines around the UK and used Google Map to help us locate them on our maps. We were really good at remembering our learning from previous terms about the difference between physical and human features as we explored some photos of coastlines. Finally, in DT we used our learning from the previous lesson about a balanced meal to help us create a balanced and healthy menu for our end of term Teddy Bear's Picnic. In Computing, we revisited our understanding about life on the ISS before we received an invitation from our friendly alien Paxi to join him for a day on the ISS. We now have to digitally design, draw and annotate a bag with 4 key essential things to take with us.

Finally, a very well done to:
> Lilly R for getting the Ready Award for her resilience and perseverance. 
> Theo for getting the Respectable Award for making really good choices during his RWI lessons and doing some great reading.
> Sofia for getting the Safe Award for being a kind and helpful friend.
> Darcie and Jimmy for earning their London Achievement Award. 

Please look below for a montage of images from our Science learning this week.

A roundup of of our week at Harrowbarrow: 

Design Technology

This week, Class 3 concluded work to design and make their own working torch. Recycling a plastic bottle and using their knowledge of electrical circuits, the children made these very realistic and effective torches with a homemade switch.

Meanwhile, Class 4 concluded their project to design a multifunction navigation device. Having already used Micro;Bits to code a programme that counts their steps and also work as a digital cardinal compass, the children used Computer Aided Design software to come up with the case for their Micro:Bit.

UK Parliament Workshop

Tomas Williams from the UK Parliament Service joined Class 3 and 4 on Tuesday to talk about our system of government. He presented information about how laws are agreed upon and the role of MPs. The session concluded with a question and answer session and a mock vote on the proposal of  new law. The children voted to abolish school uniform!



Heat Wave

Thank you for helping us make school more bearable during the oppressive heat this week; fan donations, dressing the children appropriately and ensuring they attend wearing sunscreen and with a water bottle has really helped. The children have been amazingly tolerant, given how uncomfortable it has been for everyone. Today has felt lovely by comparison!

Sports Evening

Just a reminder that our summer sports evening has been rescheduled for Thursday 2nd July at 5pm. We hope to see you all there next week.

Class 4 have coped incredibly well with the hot weather this week and have shown great resilience in the classroom. A big thank you to Mr Thomas for kindly providing ice lollies, which have certainly helped us to stay cool and refreshed! Despite the heat, we have continued our learning with enthusiasm. In Science, we have been classifying living organisms using key vocabulary such as "warm-blooded" and "invertebrate". In swimming, the two groups who have successfully completed their 25m have been developing important water safety and rescue skills and who knew a football could be such a useful tool for helping someone in trouble! In Maths, Year 6 have been focusing on area and perimeter while Year 5 have been working hard on adding and subtracting decimals. In English, we have been exploring how to write persuasive commands to sell a resort and using adverbials of time to show when events might happen. We are all looking forward to a cooler classroom tomorrow!

First of all, thank you Class 2 families for joining us on Wednesday for our Art Show and to celebrate the children's amazing artworks. It was a joy to see you all and watch the pride with which each of the children showed off their creations.

The highlight of the week, however, has to be the virtual session with the Royal Ballet and Opera House, London on Wednesday. We were joined by Class 1 to meet ballet dancers from the RBO and learn about the history of ballet, whilst learning some very beautiful ballet moves along the way. We also went backstage to meet the teams who help put the many ballet shows together. Please look at the image for some of the photos from this session.

In Maths, we have completed our unit on Position and Direction. In Literacy, we have learned to use coordinating and subordinating conjunctions and used them to write the next paragraph of our diary entries. In Science we recapped our understanding of habitats and have begun exploring a variety of different habitats and the animals that live in them. In Geography, we have begun a new unit on what it is like to live by the coast. This week, we looked at the different bodies of water that surround the UK and used the cardinal points to describe their locations. We ended the week with a very interesting Computing lesson where we learned about the ISS and learned to use an interactive map of the ISS to navigate its many different modules.

Finally, a very well done to:
> William for getting the Ready Award for his amazing effort at learning his times table and moving up to France in his AtW Challenge.
> Emily for getting the Respectful Award for her amazing effort at using her inside voice in the classroom.
> Darcie for getting the Safe Award for being always being a kind friend and being a super helper.
> Finley, Harriet, Theo and Lilly T for getting their London Achievement Award.

Class 4 Trip

Yesterday, Class 4 visited The Box Museum in Plymouth in support of their history learning. They participated in a workshop learning about the legends and landmarks of Plymouth.

Bridge School Games

This week children have been competing in the Bridge School Games; an  annual sporting event that gives children the opportunity to compete against the other fourteen schools in the Trust. Whilst the children may not come together in one place, each school submits their scores once every child completes the five sporting challenges that have been set. This year, because it coincides with the FIFA World Cup, all the activities had a football theme. Events included:

·       Futboll Fun

·       The United Gates of America

·       Toron - Toe Tap

·       Goalkeeper Throw

·       Football's Coming Cone

For more information on what these events entailed, please ask your children.
Our scores have now been submitted. We will have to wait and see if Harrowbarrow has come out on top!

Barrow Beats Performance

On Wednesday, our wonderful singers delivered a surprise performance for Jenny Snuggs, a longtime resident of Harrowbarrow who has played an active role in many of our local community groups. Jenny is leaving the area and a thank you tea was organised in her honour. As a former teacher and Harrowbarrow School governor, I am sure Jenny welcomed the children's little surprise.

Art Exhibition

Thank you to all those who were able to attend the art exhibition after school on Wednesday. We hope you enjoyed seeing what your children have been learning about.

Landrake Fun Run

This afternoon, lots of our children will be competing in the Landrake fun run. Traditionally, this race has been held earlier in the year, when conditions underfoot would have been very muddy - sometimes, children would cross the finish line having lost a shoe in the boggy conditions! Hopefully, all footwear will make it across the line this year.

Plant Donations

Thank you to our Forest School children and to parent Hannah Fox who have been sorting out our overgrown and rather weedy wellbeing garden at the front of the school. If anyone has been growing flowering plants or herbs or has something they can divide and donate to the school, we would be very grateful. Our children will enjoy planting them up.

Royal Ballet Workshop

On Wednesday, the infant classes engaged in an online workshop with the Royal Ballet. It was a 1-hour virtual session with dancers and production team members at the RBO, where the children travelled through time and learned about the evolution of the ballet. They also met four of their dancers (two Americans, a Japanese and an Italian) and learned some ballet moves, finally improvising and creating their own moves. They went backstage to meet set designers, costumer makers, people from the lighting department and prop makers. This workshop challenged gender stereotypes that were aired by some of the children in advance of the session. It was also noticeable how some of our more active children, who can struggle to sit and sustain attention for long periods of time, became completely absorbed in the dance moves and demonstrated higher levels of concentration than we would ordinarily see - perhaps we have some future dancers in our school!



Sports Evening

We look forward to seeing everyone for our summer sports evening next Thursday 25th at 5pm. In the event of rain, the reserve day is Thursday 2nd July.

2026-2027 Classes

Please note the following class structure for the next academic year:

Class 1: Reception

Class 2: Year 1 & Year 2 (the current Class 1 children will all move up together)

Class 3: Year 3 & Year 4

Class 4: Year 5 & Year 6

The teachers for each class will remain unchanged.

During the Year 6 residential trip to the Brecon Beacons, on the week beginning 13th July, we will hold a whole school transition week. The children will experience their new classes and teachers. This should help children adjust to the changes in September.

I look forward to sharing more of your children's achievements next week.

Class 4 have had a wonderfully busy and exciting week! We enjoyed a fantastic visit to The Box in Plymouth, where we discovered fascinating local legends and explored how Plymouth has changed over time, all the way from the Iron Age to the present day. One of the highlights was meeting Mildred the Woolly Mammoth, who certainly sparked lots of curiosity and conversation! Thank you to all the parents who came to our Art Exhibition on Wednesday to admire the children's brilliant chair designs-it was lovely to share their creativity with you. In English, we have been exploring the features of persuasive texts, focusing on how alliteration and assonance can be used to make writing more memorable and impactful. As if that wasn't enough, we also had a great swimming session this week, with most of our Year 6 pupils confidently swimming 25 metres on both their front and back, and some even achieving an impressive 50 metres in the Olympic pool-well done! Finally, a reminder that Sports Evening will take place next Thursday-we hope to see you there for what promises to be a fun and active event.

This week in Class 2, we have begun a new unit of learning in Maths - Position and Direction. We have had a lot of fun finding our lefts and rights, and  learning about clockwise and anticlockwise turns. In Literacy, we have continued editing our draft paragraph by adding adverbials of place and identifying sentences we can join using coordinating conjunctions.

In Science, we completed our first unit on living things and their habitats with an excrete-tremely amusing experiment. We had 3 alien visitors who came to visit us for the term. However, we did not know what they ate, and neither did we speak their language. However, we found their "pellets" (very much like the owl pellets we found at Hay Farm) in their spacecraft. So, we dissected their pellets to find out what they ate. We found that one of them was a carnivore, the other was a herbivore and another an omnivore. Look below for a quick photo record of our experiment.  

In RE, we explored places that are special to us and our community. In History, we completed our end of topic Big Write, while in DT, we started a new unit on Balanced Diets. We also found time to complete a whole host of Hot Tasks as we have finally completed several units from the previous half term.

We ended the week with a fun afternoon of creating our explorer field books. Please look at the photo on the left for some samples of the journals we created today. We are looking forward to filling them up with animal and plant facts and sketches which we hope to learn during the term.

Finally, a very well done to:
> Roux for getting  the Ready Award for always doing his very best no matter the task.
> Freya for getting the Respectful Award for always being polite, kind and gentle.
> Isabella for getting the Safe Award for always holding the door for her friends.


NOTE: Please check your Showbie messages regarding our class trip and for spelling updates.
Please get in touch with me if you do not have access to Showbie so that I can email the information over.
 

The last fortnight has been exciting but very busy at Harrowbarrow, so there is lots of news to share:

Class 3 Visit Carnglaze Caverns
As part of their summer science, Class 3 children visited Carnglaze Caverns to learn about underground slate mining in Cornwall. At the same time, they learnt about one of the myths around a type of fairy, know as a Cornish Knocker. These mythical beings would make a knocking sound, warning miners they were at risk of imminent danger.



Class 4 Victorian Day
Class 4 are learning about the Victorians. To deepen their understanding, they welcomed Adrian Chapman from Blast from the Past. Adrian taught them all about Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and brought the learning to life with his role play and range of interesting artefacts. 



Class 3 STEM Workshop
On Wednesday, Andy from Cognition Creative Learning ran a Lego robotics workshop in Class 3. The children had to design and make a moving Lego device that could be programmed using coding software. We had cranes, drills and even an open and closing coffin!



Design Technology
Class 4 are currently designing a multifunction navigation device. This week, they coded their own programme, which enabled a Micro:Bit device to point to the cardinal compass points and also operate as a pedometer at the same time. The buzz of excitement when the children successfully completed the task was brilliant to see.

In their design technology lessons, Class 3 are designing and making their own torches. Last week, they created a circuit to light a bulb, manufacturing their own switch to turn the light on and off.


Parent Parking
Finally, a polite request to help keep pedestrians safe. Please note, the yellow markings at the front of the school are not for parking or stopping on. Access to the school drive should also be kept clear at all times. Thank you for your understanding.

This week in Science, we have been learning about habitats by researching the lives of two inspiring naturalists, Jane Goodall and Sir David Attenborough. We discovered that Jane Goodall was born in London and became famous for studying chimpanzees in Tanzania, where she spent many years observing them in their natural habitat. Her work helped people understand that chimpanzees can use tools, form strong family bonds and show emotions, which changed the way scientists think about animals. We also explored the life of David Attenborough, a British broadcaster and natural historian who has spent over 70 years creating documentaries about wildlife and the environment. Through his programmes, he has shown people habitats all over the world, from rainforests to oceans, helping us understand how animals adapt and why it is important to protect our planet. Alongside our classroom learning, we really enjoyed our first swimming session at Mount Kelly, where we had the exciting opportunity to swim in a 50m pool with multiple lanes. In addition, we have begun rehearsals for our end-of-term play and are already showing great enthusiasm as we learn our lines and develop our characters-there is a real buzz of excitement as we prepare for our performance!

First week back after a glorious half-term, and Class 2 have hit the ground running again. 

The highlight of the week has been our stop motion animation finale in Computing. We worked with our partners to review the animation we made before the break and corrected all the bugs we could identify in our animation. Then, after a lot of discussions and adjustments, we created our final animation. Then, we took time to reflect and self-evaluate our end product.

In Maths, we have finally completed our unit on telling Time using an analogue clock. In Literacy, we have written the first paragraph of our diary entries and edited it by adverbials of time. In Science, we continued our enquiry into living things and their habitats by looking at food chains and the importance of understanding food chain to see how everything in this world is interconnected. In PSHE, we had a very active and interesting conversation around physical contact between friends and how the definition of appropriate physical contact differs between us. In RE, we took time to reflect on our learning from the previous unit on Christian aspect of the good news to talk about how friendship, peace and forgiveness can also help us in our own lives.

In History, we continued our enquiry into the English Monarchy by comparing the two monarchs we have been learning about - William the Conqueror and Charles III - to understand how the monarchy has changed over time.

Finally, a very well done to Lilly R for getting her London Achievement Award. 

Please note that this half term, we do not have a new KIRF. Instead, we will be using the time to consolidate our understanding of counting up in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s. This was our KIRF focus in the Autumn term 1, and so please use the suggested activities in KIRFs_Year 2 Aut1 sheet to practice these skills at home with your children.

We have had a busy and exciting week in class! We were delighted to welcome Adrian Chapman from Blast from the Past, who delivered a fascinating workshop all about Brunel. The children learned about the incredible tunnels, railway stations and boats he designed, and had great fun putting their engineering skills to the test by building their own bridges. They also enjoyed investigating a range of historical artefacts and working out what they might have been used for. In science, we have been exploring the different parts of an egg, learning about the role of each component, including the albumen and how it protects the yolk. In English, the children have now completed their final write-ups of their Oliver Twist-inspired stories, and it has been wonderful to see their creativity and developing writing skills. In maths, Year 6 have been focusing on substituting numbers for letters in algebra, showing great problem-solving skills, while Year 5 have been building their understanding of equivalent fractions, percentages and decimals. What a fantastic week of learning!

This week in Class, we have been busy developing our writing skills as we began drafting our own stories inspired by Oliver Twist. The children have worked hard to incorporate speech into their writing, focusing on how to use punctuation accurately and make dialogue engaging for the reader. In Maths, Year 5 have been exploring percentages and developing a stronger understanding of how they relate to fractions and real-life contexts, while Year 6 have been tackling two-step function machines, applying their reasoning skills to solve more complex problems. In Science, we have been learning about the fascinating life cycles of amphibians and insects, comparing their stages of development and spotting similarities and differences. Here is a wheel we used to compare the life cycles.  It was fun researching how butterflies develop and comparing their development to how amphibians metamorphosis.  It has been a productive and enjoyable week, and we wish everyone a lovely half term-hopefully with plenty of sunshine to enjoy!

And in a blink of an eye, another half term is done! And what a glorious day to finish a great half term!

This week, albeit a day shorter than normal, Class 2 have learned oodles. In Maths, we have continued learning to tell time using an analogue clock. This week, we have learned to tell time to the hour, half past the hour and have begun to grasp the idea of 5 minutes past the hour. In Literacy, we have bun planning our diary entries. We will begin writing our draft diary entries when we get back after the break.

In Science, we learned about the difference between herbivores, carnivores and omnivores, while in History, we continued learning about the reign of William the Conqueror by looking at the different castles he built. In Computing, we have worked really hard to plan our stop motion animations and cannot wait to create them when we come back.

Finally, a very well done to Roux for getting his London Achievement Award. 

Have a lovely half term break and see you all again back here for more learning adventures on Monday 1 June 2026.

This week we finished our bird sculptures. This was a culmination of lots of careful studying of images of birds, still life drawing and stamping of feathers. Plus, exploring the texture of birds inspired by artist, Andrea Butler. This week, we put all of this together to create a stunning flock of birds. Each one is filled with wonderful texture and quirky personality. 

First of all, thank you to all the Class 2 families for making time to come into class this morning to share in the amazing writing the children have been doing this term. It was really lovely to see you all first thing in the morning to celebrate the progress that each child in Class 2 has made in the past year.

Class 2 have had another full week of amazing learning adventures - so many new facts discovered, so many new skills learned and so many more memories made. In Literacy, we have finished writing the neat copies of our setting description. We have had some awesome sentences and imaginative use of words. On the left is an image of one such writing. We have now started a new unit on writing a diary entry.  In Maths, we have completed our unit on Fractions and have just completed our Cold Task for the next unit on telling time.

In Science, we used all our knowledge of mini-beasts and their microhabitats to help us design our own microhabitats for our outside area. In Computing, we have begun experimenting with the Stop Motion app to make our own stop motion animations. In History, we learned about motte-and-bailey castles and stone keeps. In RE, we have begun exploring how Christians bring Jesus' good news to others.

In Art, we have finally assessed our structures and explored different ways to make the structures more stable before using our creativity to decorate them. We have had some very creative structures. Please check below for a photo illustration of the process we followed to get to the end result. You will also be able to see a photo of your child's creation if you check their Showbie portfolio.

Finally, a very well done to:

> Jimmy for getting the Ready Award for the amazing progress he has been making in Maths.
> Jane for getting the Respectful Award for taking really good care of her equipment.
> Harriet for getting the Safe Award for being an amazing team player.
> Isabella for getting her London Achievement Award.