Thank you everyone who made time to join us on Wednesday for our Morning Maths session. Albeit brief, I hope it gave you an idea of the kind of language we use in our Maths learning and some of the strategies we practice to help us with our calculations. Please feel free to get in touch with me if you have any questions about Maths learning in the class.

This week, Class 2 had a great time reflecting on our learning from the Victorian Day last week. We thought about our experience on Friday and compared it to our daily experiences in school. We found a lot of differences between a Victorian school and schools today. However, we were surprised at how many similarities we found.

In Literacy, we have begun writing our own stories about an animal who has lost something just like Augustus. We have everything from a crocodile who has lost his dinner to a zebra who has lost her stripes. I cannot wait to read all the stories when they are finished! In Maths, we explored adding 3 digit numbers and adding to make the next 10.

In Science, we conducted our first experiment of the term. We discussed the importance of exercise for our body (we learned about the happy chemical - endorphin - that our brain releases when we get physically active) and conducted some experiments to find out what else we changes in our body when we get physically active.

Finally, a very well done to:

• Theo for getting the Ready Award for trying his very best and for being ready to learn during RWI sessions.
• Sofia for getting the Respectful Award for always listening respectfully when teachers give instructions.
• Lilly R for getting the Safe Award for always being kind and helpful in the classroom. 

This week has been full of energy and creativity as we've been rehearsing for our upcoming Harvest Festival, with some truly impressive solo singing performances from the children. In class, Year 6 have been mastering division methods while Year 5 have been exploring inverse operations with great enthusiasm. We've also been busy writing up our non-chronological reports on the Victorians, showcasing some excellent historical research and writing skills. A big thank you to all the parents who joined us in class this morning to see our maths work in action-it was wonderful to have you with us!


The spellings for next week will be suffixes again and will be: achieve, achievement, beauty, beautiful, careful, deceitful, careless, definitely, gentle, gently.

Summer Reading Challenge
Today we were joined by Christine from Callington Library, who presented certificates to all those children who completed the summer reading challenge. Well done to all the participants.

Cross Country
At our weekly celebration assembly last Friday, I challenged the cross county runners, who were gearing up for their first race, to see if we could secure a top ten finish. Abi Flashman reported that all those who competed in the Great Trethew race did incredibly well but gave a special mention to Jacob Bloye who finished 4th. Next time, I shall challenge someone to win a race and see if this works again! Well done to all the runners and thank you to the parent carers for taking their children.

Morning Maths
Thank you to all those who attended our morning maths sessions this week. We hope this gave you a little insight into the work we do across the school at the start of the day. I'm sure your children enjoyed showing you what they do. I have had a lot of positive feedback so we will look for further opportunities for you to experience your children's learning in the future.

Art Exhibition
Just a reminder to join us for an exhibition of your children's art work on Wednesday 22nd October at 3.20pm in classes. If you have children in multiple classes, please visit each room.

Training Day and Half Term
Just a reminder that Friday 24th October is a staff training day so the school is closed to pupils. This will mean an early start to the half term holidays for the children!

Charity Haircut
Sophia Vinson is currently growing her hair to have it cut in aid of the Little Princess Trust. For further information and to find out how you can support Sophia, please see her poster below:

It has been another week full of learning, fun and discoveries in Class 2.

In Literacy, we have continued to look at book by Catherine Rayner and comparing them. Besides "Augustus and his smile," we have read "Solomon crocodile" and "Smelly Louie." We used the language in these books to help us explore similes. In Maths, we have continued with Addition and Subtraction by exploring number bonds. We have had oodles of fun using our knowledge of bonds to 10 to help us understand number bonds to 100.

In Science, we used our knowledge of a healthy balanced diet to design our own healthy balanced menu for the day. In Art, we continue to explore autumn leaves by experimenting with painting wax resist autumn leaves. In History, we continued our enquiry into how schools have changed by learning about what the school was like during the Victorian era.

To help us better understand this, we travelled back in time on Friday and had an entire day of experiencing a Victorian classroom. We had a paperless and screenless classroom. So, the children used slate and chalk for all their lessons while teachers gave / wrote instructions on a "chalk board." In the afternoon, children also got a taste of the life skills Victorian boys and girls learned at school. While Mr Hunt took the boys out for a lesson in woodwork, the girls stayed with me and Miss Connell for sewing lesson. Finally, we ended the day by playing some games children in the Victorian era might have played. Please find below some photos from this experience.

A very well done to:

• Jimmy for getting the Ready Award for his amazing efforts at writing neatly and especially for coming in early to complete his Morning Maths. 
• Harriet for getting the Respectful Award for making time to help keep our classroom neat and tidy.
• William for getting the Safe Award for trying his very best to use kind hands and for his honesty. 

This week in class, we've been writing parts of a non-chronological report using Tier 3 vocabulary to make our work more precise and informative. In Maths, Year 6 have been practising long multiplication, while Year 5 have focused on written methods for addition and subtraction. In Science, we've been investigating the best place to put a sunshade as part of our topic on light, exploring how shadows are formed and how light travels.

The spellings remain the same for this week. 

Here are the KIRFs for this week:

Writing
This week, I share some of the wonderful writing our children are producing. Writing is one of the most complex lessons for children as they have to think about spelling, handwriting, grammar and punctuation at the same time as creating work that is interesting and engaging; it takes a lot of effort to get it right. However, the Year 3 and 4 examples above demonstrate how successful the children are becoming.  They include similes such as 'the sea was as clear as crystal' and descriptive and powerful phrases like 'I went to a park with mysterious shadows lurking in the dark'. You will have the opportunity to read your own child's writing at our first parent carer consultation of the year. This will be an opportunity for you to find out how your child has settled and look at their learning books. The office will be sending a link for you to sign up to a session with your child's class teacher on the following days:

Monday 3rd November from 1pm: Class 3
Tuesday 4th November from 1pm: Class 4
Wednesday 5th November from 1pm: Class 2
Wednesday 12th November from 1pm: Class 1

We hope you will be able to join us.

Victorian Day
Today, Class 2 had a fantastic Victorian day in support of their history learning. This photo shows the children writing on slates in a much altered classroom. Unfortunately, Mrs Connell's learning was not up to standard so she was made to wear a 'dunce cap' at the back of the room. In the afternoon, the children were shown how boys and girls were treated differently in Victorian schools, with the boys doing woodwork and the girls needlework. We promise the cane was not used during the day, although I did model giving Ati Charlesworth five stripes across the hand!


Rocksteady Band
We have been overwhelmed by the response to the Rocksteady Band offer; although this shouldn't be surprising given the level of excitement it generated. As she has enough interest to make this viable, music lead Abi Flashman will now liaise with Rocksteady to set up these music lessons. We will try to schedule the Rocksteady lessons at the same time as our class music lessons so participating children will not miss out on other curriculum areas of learning. 

Wild Wellbeing
I am pleased to share this free half term holiday opportunity that may appeal to you and your children:

What an amazing end to another busy week!
We had the awesome Rock Steady in for a special assembly followed by a taster session with them. It was so much fun trying out all the different instruments and belting out some popular tunes. 

In Literacy, we have completed our first unit of the half term. Our neat copies look really awesome. Here are two of the many amazing pieces our class produced. On the left is Roux's report with his very detailed illustration of lion cubs (with their spots) and Isabella's beautifully produced neat copy. We have now begun our new fiction unit based on the books by Catherine Rayner. In Maths, we have now moved on to a new unit on Addition and Subtraction. This week, we have had a lot of fun working on our number bonds.

In Science, we had a very lively discussion about why we need to eat a healthy balanced diet. In History, we had Mrs Moyle visit us to talk to us about the school in the 1980s and 90s. We then discussed what our school must have been like in the 1800s. We can't wait for next week when we can learn about Harrowbarrow school in the 1800s. Art lesson was really fun today where we practiced sketching Autumn leaves as we plan and prepare for our final art piece. We had a really good go at drawing on a much larger scale then we are used to, with varying results.

Finally, a very well done to:

• Isla for getting the Ready Award for not only her amazing 2A sentences but how she is applying this skill into every piece of her writing.
• Isabella for getting the Respectful Award for being a super star during our Rock Steady experience - for listening respectfully to all instructions and being a super drummer.
• Darcie for getting the Safe Award for always looking out for everyone in class - always ready with a cuddle and a kind word for anyone who is sad.  

This week, Year 6 have been exploring prime numbers, factors and multiples, using their reasoning skills to spot patterns and solve problems. Year 5 have been rounding large numbers to the nearest 10,000 and 100,000, and have shown great confidence with place value. In Science, we've been investigating shadows and discovered that moving an opaque object closer to a light source makes the shadow larger. In English, we've started a new unit on non-chronological reports and are beginning to understand the features. It's been a great week of learning!

The spellings for this week are different suffixes: appreciate, appreciating, appreciation, creating, creation, cycling, faded, fading, famous, grimy

Here are the KIRFs for this week:

Rocksteady
Today, Zak from Rocksteady Music did an assembly for the whole school and then led junior and infant workshops. Please ask your child about this experience as they will be far better placed to describe their enjoyment of it than I can say through a few words - it was brilliant! We have sent out a leaflet about Rocksteady and lessons they can provide. However, they will need to secure enough children to make it viable.


Morning Maths


We have changed our morning routine this term. On arrival, Year 1 to Year 6 children do their daily maths warm-up tasks. This involves practicing their Key Instant Recall Facts, some daily arithmetic questions and some flashback tasks (revisiting an area of maths outside of their current unit of work). This morning maths is separate to their daily maths lesson. It is an important opportunity to rehearse skills and secure knowledge that will help children in their daily maths lessons. As the children are doing these tasks, the teacher will work with a small pre-teach group. This is for those children who may need some additional input before their daily maths lesson to ensure they can access their learning with minimal support. 
For this system to benefit all children, they need to be on time for school. If children arrive for 8.40am, the time we open the doors to let them in, they will benefit the most. Children arriving at 8.50am, will have less time to complete these task and children arriving late will miss out altogether. Please make every effort to ensure your child benefits from this morning maths by arriving punctually for school. We plan to open our doors to parent carers soon for you to join your children for one of these morning maths sessions, so you can participate with them to see how it works.

Parent Carer Engagement Framework
We are currently working with Cornwall Council to deliver a programme called the Parent Carer Engagement Framework. Shortly, I will be seeking contributions from parent carers on aspects of our work to see how we can improve what we do together with our families. The two principles from the framework that we have identified are Principle 4: Support for Learning and Principle 6: Raising and Realising Aspiration. For more information, I have sent an overview of this programme to everyone. Under the Raising and Realising Aspiration principle, we hope to expand our children's horizons and inspire them so they start to think about their future learning and world of work. Although this work is only at an embryonic stage, I want to signpost everyone to a brilliant opportunity on Saturday 11th October. Futures2025 are holding a Voyage of Discovery event at the University of Plymouth. This free event for families, enables children to explore the world of research, innovation and science and technology through hands-on, interactive activities in areas such as ocean health to robotics. Feedback from last years event was that it was amazing, so I would encourage you all to try and get along. Scan the QR code or use the web address from the leaflet below for more info and to book a ticket (it's free!). There are a few copies of the leaflet in the school office too.

Here is a sample of Talan's writing showing our stories with a moral based on our starting text: The Bear and The Piano.  What a fantastic effort from Talan. 

In class this week, we explored how stories can teach important lessons by including a moral, such as the value of honesty or kindness. We also practiced rounding numbers to the nearest ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand and hundred thousand helping us understand place value and how it makes estimating easier in everyday life. In science, we investigated how periscopes work, using mirrors to reflect light and allow us to see over or around objects-just like submarines do! Each activity helped us think creatively, solve problems, and understand the world a little better.

This week's spellings are going to stay the same so that we have another week to work on them. 

Here are the KIRFs to work on.

Today, at 3.20pm, Melissa Pinfield will be running the Scholastic book fair for the final day. If you haven't already done so, please drop by and browse the books available; there are books for all age groups. The book fair is in Class 4 and Melissa will be on hand to help provide information about payments and ordering online.
We are passionate about children having access to high quality texts through reading and being read to. Having access to books and reading outside of school is something we strongly encourage. Our reading provision is at the heart of our curriculum offer, with children having a healthy daily diet of reading, being read to and using a variety of texts across the curriculum. During their first week at school, our new reception children are partnered with a Year 6 'reading buddy', who share a book with them every Friday. Across the infants, children are taught phonics and early readings skills daily and junior children have access to a broad range of real books banded to match their ability. Unfortunately, this year we have been unable to sign up for Accelerated Reader, a programme that allows children to read a real book and then compete a short online quiz to determine how much of the book they have understood. We have used Accelerated Reader for many years but the cost has become prohibitive. The children still have access to the full range of Accelerated Reader books and we will still be assessing them to determine when they are ready to progress, but we are no longer able to provide online quizzes. Apologies to those children who enjoyed the quizzing, but hopefully there may be a time when we can afford Accelerated Reader again. In the meantime, please read to your children, hear them read, visit the local library to borrow books and visit the book fair later today to buy some great reads if you haven't already done so.

Next week, our music lead Abi Flashman has arranged for a group called Rocksteady to run infant and junior music workshops. This should be an exciting introduction to music beyond our usual curriculum provision. The following week, on Thursday 9th October, school photos will be taken at the village hall. Further details will be provided by the school office. 

Thank you everyone for making time to join us for the Reading Together session in Class 2. It was lovely to see all the parents and carers, and to share some of our amazing adventures with reading in our class. 

In Literacy, we have completed writing our draft copy of our report on lions. We spend this afternoon editing it using our toolkit. In Maths, we have been comparing numbers. We have also been having fun counting in 2s, 5s and 10s. We used a series of very amusing songs to help us remember the tips on counting up in 2s, 5s and 10. You can also share in the fun by following the links below and singing along to the video.
Counting up in 2s: https://youtu.be/GvTcpfSnOMQ?feature=shared
Counting up in 5s: https://youtu.be/EemjeA2Djjw?feature=shared
Counting up in 10s: https://youtu.be/Ftati8iGQcs?feature=shared

In Science, we discussed the importance of a balanced diet by looking at a food pyramid. We learned a lot of new vocabulary - carbohydrates, protein, vitamins and calcium being some of them. We also had another amazing PE multiskill session with Liam from Pro20 on Thursday alongside our regular Tuesday PE with Miss Walker where we developed our skills for dodging and changing directions.

As you all know, in History we are learning about how schools have changed over the years. We have been looking at a lot of different artifacts relating to our schools history. We had oodles of questions about how our school was like in the 1990s. One of our parents who studied here in the 1990s very kindly joined us on Wednesday to answer some of our questions. We had an awesome afternoon with Mrs Blatchford who answered so many of our questions and help us identify some of the things in the pho0to album from her time at Harrowbarrow. We will now be going further back in time to the 1800s to see how our school was like. Exciting!
 

Finally, a very well done to:

• Jane for getting the Ready Award for the amazing care she took to make sure all her numbers were formed correctly.
• Lilly T for getting the Respectful Award for always taking time to keep her table and workstation clean and tidy.
• Ivy for getting the Safe Award always taking time to help everyone in the classroom.

It has been another really busy week across the school, with classes fully emersed in their autumn curriculum work following the settling period at the start of term. As well as the artwork Class 3 are doing with me (shared last week), I am teaching art to Class 4 this half term too. They are learning to turn 2D into 3D and started by scaling up a silhouette of an animal onto A1 paper using a grid method. Josh's example above is really impressive and very accurate. Next week, the children will be adding texture to their animals before making them 3D.

At our weekly celebration assembly today, alongside our Ready, Respectful and Safe awards, we introduced a new certificate. For those children who use TimesTables Rockstars, we are able to look at a heat map of their performance and award a Going Green certificate when they have demonstrated they can correctly answer times tables questions repeatedly in less than 1 second. This is phenomenal and something many adults would struggle to do!

Our after school and lunchtime clubs started again this week. Depending on their age, children are able to join football, music, art, multi-skills and cross country clubs. Our peripatetic music teachers also started lessons again, with guitar, keyboard and brass tuition on offer. For further information or to sign your child up to a club or instrument lesson, please contact the school office.
 
Finally, we welcomed Bridge Trust Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) Hannah Prinn to the school this week. Hannah will be supporting me, as Harrowbarrow SENCO, in this important area of our work. She will be visiting once a fortnight and brings additional experience and expertise. 

This week ended with a high note this afternoon with a very active and creative Art lesson. Class 2 went put on our artist heads and opened our artist eyes and went exploring into the wild that is the Forest School area. We found some amazing natural things which we brought back into the classroom to create our own works of art. We then used Showbie to take photos of our works. I can't wait to share some of the amazing creations with you!

In Maths we have continued learning about numbers by exploring number lines. In Literacy, we have finished planning our reports and are looking forward to using all the skills we have learned so far to write our draft reports. In Science, we continued our explorations of what living things need to survive by talking about the differences between the needs of humans vs other animals.

In RE, we worked with Miss Walker to try and understand what Muslims think about god. We also had a really good Decider Skills session with Hannah on Thursday, where we learned how to STOP-PAUSE-BREATHE when we begin to feel FIZZY. In History, this week we made a list of questions we have about the history of our school. To help answer some of these questions, we have decided to invite some people who used to come to school here in the past. We cant wait to meet them and have our questions answered!

Besides our Tuesday PE sessions, we are so lucky to have the team from Pro20 with us on a Thursday to teach us key PE skills. This Thursday, we had our first session (with the Year 1s). We thoroughly enjoy ourselves playing Aliens and Planets, and other team games.

A very well done to:

• Freya for getting the Ready Award for her efforts during Maths lessons and finishing her Greater Depth questions.
• Finely for getting the Respectful Award for looking after his books and his impeccable presentation.
• Emily for getting the Safe Award for helping her friends get ready for home time.