Class 3 Blog W/E 31st January 2025

Class 3 have had a busy and productive week with a variety of activities both in and out of school.

Earlier in the week, we went on a school trip to Plymouth’s Immersive Dome, where the children enjoyed a rainforest experience and learnt lots about the life cycle of bugs. A memorable part of the visit was being placed inside a giant lemon, which caused plenty of smiles and curiosity.

Back at school, we’ve been preparing for our performance at Cotehele which will take place on Tuesday 4th March. The children have been working with the group Perghenegi during singing rehearsals, and a trip letter with further details was sent out yesterday.

In art, we’ve been creating pieces inspired by the work of Henri Matisse, focusing on his use of bold colors and shapes to ‘paint with scissors’. The children have approached this with creativity and as you can see the pieces are starting to come together well!

Our PE sessions this week have continued to develop skills in netball, with the children practicing passing, movement, and getting away from a defender.

Overall, it’s been an interesting week with lots of opportunities for learning and exploration. Well done to Class 3 for their hard work! Next week, there is plenty to look forward to including a cross Country race on Friday afternoon!

Wider Curriculum

In Science, Class 2 have also continued their enquiry into the world of Everyday Materials by going on a material hunt. We concluded the lesson with a very heated class discussion around why we use certain materials to make different objects. Some of these opinions and comments have been captured on our Science wall for everyone to read.

In RE, we summarised our learning about Islam so far by discussing what we thought God meant to a Muslim based on our understanding of the Shahadah and the 99 names of Allah. On wednesday,  we continued our enquiry into using music to create mood and pictures with Mrs Lane.

Year 1s from Class 1 joined us again for another afternoon of Computing. We reviewed our rocket design and have begun to look at what digital softwares can help us with our design. We are all really excited about using Sketchpad to design our rockets next week.

Outdoor learning


We also enjoyed some outdoor learning in the sunshine. In science we are exploring materials so we went on a material hunt around the school to see what properties we could find. We then came back and completed our findings onto a table. We then discussed about what the children know about the different materials from previous lessons and what is the difference between materials and objects? Why are some materials used to make certain objects? - Why can we not make roof out of cardboard? - Why is a chocolate teapot not practical? - What if we made our coats out of wood? There were some lovely conversations and vocabulary used around all the different materials. 

This week we have been looking at writing newspaper reports based on our class novel, The Coming of Dragons. Here is flavour of what we have been doing with orientations by Lexi in Year 6.

Yesterday night, storm Hermia hit the coast of Looe. As the storm was thundering, ship Spearwa was heading out to the coast of Bodmin. Halfway there, the ship sank. The next day, a box covered in sea brine was washed up on the shore. A bystander, who was minding his own business walking their dog, stabbed his toe on the box, causing him to notice.

Well done for the Year 6s taking part in bikeability this week.  You did brilliantly out on the roads despite the cold!

We are continuing to add fractions with denominators that are multiples of each other for Year 5 and adding any fractions for Year 6.

Here are the spellings for this week for my group: disconnect, dishonest, immature, immortal, impatient, imperfect, unlock, invisible,  independent,  incomplete
Here are the spellings for Mr Watt's group: superglue, superhero, superhuman, superman, supermarket, supersize, supersonic, supertanker, superwoman

Here are some quick maths questions you could try with your child.
Year 5 quick maths
1. 9 x 6
2. 90 x 6
3. 7 x 6
4. 70 x 6
5.5 x 6
6. DL
7. 7,321 – 355
8. 5,689 + 489
9. What are the factors of 18?
10. What two prime numbers make a square number?

Year 6 quick maths
1. 9 x 60
2. 90 x 60
3. 7 x 600
4. 70 x 6
5. 5 x 0.6
6. DL
7. 77,321 – 355
8. 505,689 + 489
9. What are the factors of 18?
10. What two prime numbers make a square number?

As we speed towards half term here are some of the exciting things that have been happening at Harrowbarrow:

Year 3/4 Multi-skills Tournament
Last Thursday, children in Class 3 joined classes from Calstock, Callington and Copper Valley at Callington Community College to participate in a range of sporting challenges. These activities were designed and run by the GCSE sport leaders. Children had to work with pupils from the other schools to undertake challenges using a range of different equipment. It was great to see children having so much fun and, after some initial hesitation, start to engage with young people from the other schools.

Year 3/4 Football Tournament
Well done to our footballers, who secured their first victory last week. Following an 8-3 thumping at the hands of Menheniot Primary School, you might forgive the team for feeling a bit despondent going into the second match. However, their attitude was tremendously positive and as a result they bounced back to beat Copper Valley 5-1. Well done to all the players.

Bikeability
Class 4 children have been participating in Bikeability sessions, a road safety programme for cyclists. The sessions involve learning how to maintain a safe bike, how to keep yourself safe on a bike and how to ride safely on the roads.

Our curriculum continues to evolve and a new programme for art is producing some very exciting outcomes. The children are enjoying learning about different techniques and how they have been applied by a variety of artists. Below are some examples from across the school. 

Our gallery of creative art

The infant art explores simple print making using their hands and everyday objects. This week they have been pressing objects into plasticine and using the plasticine to print with.

Class 3 are exploring a unit called 'Painting with Scissors'. This is all about collage and is inspired by the art of Henri Matisse and Claire Willberg.

Class 4 will be making monotype prints, after exploring the work of Syrian artist Kevork Mourad and how to make a range of different marks. At the end of the unit they will create a visual poetry zine.

We look forward to sharing more of the children's amazing outcomes with you later in the term.

If you would like to know more about the exciting units of work your children will be exploring, here is an overview of our two year rolling programme created by art subject leader Tom Ottewell-Taylor:

 

Finally, here are some dates for your diary:

4.2.25: Next round of matches at Callington College for the Year 3/4 football team
4.2.25: Vision screening for reception children
6.2.25: Viking workshop in Class 4
6.2.25: Bridge MAT dodgeball tournament for a Year 3/4 team (details to follow)
7.2.25: Next cross-country race after school (details to follow)
10.2.25: Year 6 Brecon Beacon parent/carer briefing at 3.25pm in Class 4
13.2.25: Last pupil day before half term
14.2.25: Bridge MAT training day - school closed to pupils

Advance Notice
Please note, all Bridge MAT schools finish at 1.30pm on the last pupil day of each full term. This is to give school staff time to organise and prepare for the term ahead. Harrowbarrow hasn't previously adopted this policy, although many schools now do it. To align Harrowbarrow with our partner schools within the Trust, we will be adopting this practice at the end of this term, on the last pupil day before the Easter holiday (Friday 4th April). We will send a reminder nearer the time.

This week we have been looking at add fractions in Maths.  You can find out more here https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zhdwxnb/articles/z9n4k7h#z4y97v4

Here are some of the Kirfs questions that we have been looking at if you would like to try them at home.


The spellings for this week for my group are: ambitious, cautious, fictitious, infectious, nutritious, scrumptious, superstitious.  The spellings for Mr Watts's group are: antibiotic, anticlockwise, antiseptic,  anticlimax antifreeze, antisocial

We have also been looking at newspaper report.  Read some example ones here: https://www.firstnews.co.uk/sample-issue/

This week in Class 3 has been packed with exciting learning activities and achievements!

In English, we’ve been diving into biographies, learning how to write about inspiring individuals. The children have been researching Queen Victoria, creating fantastic drafts full of fascinating facts and great detail about her incredible life and achievements.

In Maths, we’ve focused on improving our multiplication and division skills, including multipliying and dividing by 10/100. Everyone has worked hard on solving problems and expanding their maths knowledge.

Science this week was a real highlight. We coded a micro:bit volume meter and used it to measure noise levels around the school. The children loved using their coding skills for a real-world investigation and discovered that the field was the noisiest place at the time!

A special shoutout goes to the Class 3 football team, who lost their first game on Tuesday but came back strong to win their second match 5-1—great resilience and effort!

On Thursday, the class took part in a multiskills tournament. The whole class showed fantastic teamwork and enthusiasm throughout and by all accounts it was a brilliant afternoon.

Lastly, a reminder that our school trip to the Immersive Dome in Devonport is next Tuesday. If you have any questions about this trip, please get in touch with Mr. Watts.

It’s been a brilliant week in Class 3. Bring on next week’s adventures!

Here are the spellings for Mr Watts's spellings group for this week.  It is the re prefix.  
reappear, rearrange, rebuilding, reconnect, recycle, redecorate, redo, refresh, reheat, renew, replace, replay, rewrite

This week we have been performing our Tyger, Tyger inspired poems in assembly.  We have been learning about improper fractions and converting between improper factions and mixed numbers.  You can find more about this here at the BBC website. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zyxsf82

The spellings for next week for my group are words ending with -cious.  Here is the list that we will be looking at in class: 

atrocious, delicious, conscious, precious,  ferocious, malicious,  spacious, suspicious, vicious

We will also be looking at recapping the 6x tables.  You can practise these here: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button or by logging on to TT Rockstars. 

For those who would like more of a challenge:
a) think about how many number in the 6x table are before or after a prime number.  For example, 18 is one more than 17.  Can you think of any others?
b) do you notice anything if you add the digits of any number in the 6x table together?  
 

Wider Curriculum

In Science we continue investigating different materials around us, while in Art we tried our hand at making dry rubbings of a variety of objects and textures. We had oodles of fun (mixed with some real frustrations and amazing learning) in ICT when we had a go at using our I-pads to create and print a list. 

Happy New Year and welcome back after the festive period; it already feels like it happened months ago! This weekly blog post will replace the newsletters, sharing information about all the wonderful learning experienced by the children and highlighting future events.
In addition to my weekly blog, teachers will complete a blog relating to their classes. They will also use these to share relevant class information. Please try to check these blogs once a week but, to begin with, we will email you a notification and link to new posts.

At the end of last term I had hoped to share this image of the Cotehele flower garland but ran out of time. Last year, we worked with Cotehele gardener Hannah Milburn to plant flowers at Harrowbarrow, which were then dried and used by some of our Year 6 pupils to make the amazing garland you see on the left. This was hung in the restaurant at Cotehele over the holiday period.

It was lovely to welcome the children back last week and I have been really impressed by the way they settled seamlessly back into their lessons; perhaps, like me, they needed some order and routine after the festive period. We have a very busy term ahead with some things having already started. This week a Year 3/4 football team played two matches as part of a five week tournament against other schools at Callington College. Despite clawing two goals back to draw level with Bishop Cornish, the team eventually lost the first game 5-2. By the second game, against Copper Valley, they really started to find their feet and managed an excellent 2-2 draw. Well done to Jack, Archie, Spencer, Abigail, Max, Sophia, Seth V and Jacob.

Securing funding for resources that enhance teaching and inspire young people has become increasingly challenging in recent years. However, I am delighted to share some exciting news on successful grant applications that are going to enhance our curriculum offer. Sam Watts, as science and computing lead, has secured funding through the Enthuse Partnership at Cornwall Spaceport for science equipment to support investigations and also funding from our local Community Chest to purchase a class set of programmable Bee-Bots (below) and a Sphero Indi. In addition, Abi Flashman secured support through Tesco's community fund to resurrect the polytunnel after Storm Unis flattened it. There will also be a new forest school storage space and covered area to support our outdoor learning provision.  

We have lots of exciting opportunities to look forward to in the term ahead:

- Class 4 have a Viking day planned with a visiting historian.
- Class 3 are visiting the Immersive Dome in Plymouth.
- Members of the choir will be participating in Songfest.
- Bikeability road safety lessons will be held for older junior children.
- Class 3 are competing in a multi-skills sporting event at Callington College.
- Cross country league races continue for junior children.
- Class 4 and then, after half term, Class 1 will be having gymnastics lessons at Copper Valley Junior School.
- The Lego club will be competing at the First Lego League county final at RNAS Culdrose.
- Class 3 are participating in a Farm & Country day at Cornwall County Showground.

There will be other activities shared as plans are finalised but it will, as always, be a busy and exciting term.

Finally, I would like to share an exciting accolade secured by Rachel Lane, our music lead. Harrowbarrow Primary Academy has secured a Music Mark accreditation. This recognises all the high quality music education at Harrowbarrow, including weekly lessons, singing and instrument clubs, peripatetic music lessons and performance opportunities. Well done to Rachel. 

Welcome to Class 4.  

Here you can find information about the class, weekly homework and the latest on what we have been covering.  PE this term is on a Thursday afternoon and we are going to Copper Valley Juniors for gymnastics. 

This term we are looking at the Vikings.  We are looking forward to a visit from "Blast from the Past" on Thursday 6th February to make Vikings shields and talk to us about all things Viking.  

Here is some information that might help you but feel free to get in contact either by catching me at the start or end of the day or by emailing me.  My email address is mpinfield@harrowbarrowprimary.co.uk

Key Links
Accelerated Reader: https://global-zone61.renaissance-go.com/studentportal/
TT rockstars: https://ttrockstars.com/

Looking for a good book to read?  Try here for some recommendations https://schoolreadinglist.co.uk/reading-lists-for-ks2-school-pupils/year-5/

Here is the curriculum map for the term.  We are starting the term by looking at the Vikings before moving on to think about the oceans after half term.  

Class 3 is a mixed Year 3 and Year 4 group with 24 children. The class is taught by Sam Watts and teaching assistant Lesley Connell.

Key Links

Accelerated Reader: https://global-zone61.renaissance-go.com/studentportal/ 
TT Rockstar: https://play.ttrockstars.com/auth/school/student/71179

Key Email Addresses

swatts@harrowbarrowprimary.co.uk
lconnell@harrowbarrowprimary.co.uk
 

Key Dates

Tuesday 28th January - School Trip to Immersive Dome in Plymouth
Wednesday 19th March - School Trip to Farm and Country Day at Wadebridge County Showground

Around the World Challenge

Please see below the order for the Around the World Challenge:

Edinburgh - Adding up to 10. 
Belfast - Subtractions less than 10.
Cardiff - Additions and subtractions up to 20.
London - Additions and subtractions up to 20. 

United Kingdom - 2x and 10x table
France - 2x and 5x table
Spain - 3x and 5x table
Italy - 3x and 4x table
Egypt - 3x, 4x and 6x table
Kenya - 4x, 6x and 8x table
South Africa - 6x, 8x and 9x table
India - 7x, 8x and 9x table
Australia - 7x, 9x, 12x table and square numbers
China - Division for 3s, 4s, 6s, and 8s
Canada - Division for 6s, 7s, 8s and 9s
USA - Division for 7s, 9s, 12s and square roots
Mexico - Random multiplication facts
Brazil - Random division facts

Please see attached our curriculum overview for the Spring Term 2025.