And with that, January comes to an end... well, almost. Class 2 have had an amazing week of learning and exploring. 

In Literacy, we have completed our key learning for the unit and are applying them to write our draft 'triumph over terror' stories. In Maths, we have moved on to multiplying and dividing by 10. We have also started our journey into the world of Around the World Challenge, and most of us are fast working our way through the UK cities.

In Science, we have continued monitoring and collecting data from our experiments. We have also looked at the difference between a seed and a bulb by closely examining different seeds and bulbs. We really enjoyed watching time lapse videos of seeds and bulbs sprouting and discussing how they differ. This led us ultimately to a discussion about the life cycle of a plant. We can't wait to visit Haye Organic Farm next week to explore the hedgerows and see what plants we can find there.  

In RE, we learned about 'ibadah' as a way of life for Muslims. In History, we watched some amazing videos of Amelia Earhart's first solo flight across the Atlantic and discussed what it might have been like to witness such an amazing event. In Art, we explored Vincent Van Gough's art and making a lot of -ish art inspired by his brushwork and colours.

Finally, we ended the week with a wonderful visit from the library van. All of us got the chance to look through some wonderful books and choose one to take one home to read. Lilly R came back super excited and said, "I wish that was my room!"
 
And, a very well done to:
> Jimmy for getting the Ready Award for his amazing hard work in the past few weeks and completing all his tasks.
> Lilly R for getting the Respectful Award for her kind and considerate nature and always greeting everyone with a smile and a cheer.
> Isla for getting the Safe Award from the Positive Potato Police for sharing during break time.

As mentioned earlier, please find attached below the PDF of the number bonds homework for the week.

Our class has had a wonderfully busy week, exploring a mix of creative writing, maths mastery, and scientific discovery! In English, pupils have been using a range of sentence types to describe the world of Pandora, adding detail, mood, and excitement to their writing. Year 5 have been working hard on subtracting fractions, while Year 6 have taken on the challenge of dividing fractions-both groups showing great perseverance and progress. In Science, we've been investigating how the Earth's movement creates night and day, sparking lots of curious questions and thoughtful discussion. A quick reminder: we'll be planting at Cotehele on Monday 2nd February, and with showery weather forecast, pupils will need waterproofs and wellies.

It's always busy at Harrowbarrow and this week is no exception. Here are some examples of what the children have been up to:

Science in Class 2
Class 2 have been investigating the difference between seeds and bulbs.


Art in Class 3
After looking at the work of artist Rachel Parker, the children designed a tile which is going to be transformed into a repeating pattern using a clever trick of quartering it, rearranging the sections and using technology to repeat their design multiple times. We look forward to sharing the final work at the end but here are a few of tiles ready for the next stage of the process.


Writing in Class 4
The children have been using a text about the fantasy world of Pandora as a stimulus for their own writing. Here are some lovely examples that show how hard the children are working to create some quality pieces of writing.:

In the terrain, foliage sprawls in every direction, only stopping when it meets one of the rivers that winds through the land. Beneath the misty sky, trees stand guard and under  the vines that trail from their branches a wilderness teems with life, above which slivers of moonlight shift and shimmer. Pandora is well known for its deadly environment. Lurking beneath vast trees with dangling vines is the camp where the humanoid inhabitants of Pandora hide. Wrapped around the branches, long, shiny vines with spikes dangle, ready to ensnare anything that touches them. All around, the small but glistening fauna float, spinning slowly. Pandora has amazing features and one of them is the Hallelujah Mountains. Hovering above the ground, the Hallelujah Mountains float over the surface of Pandora. Silky vines connect the Hallelujah mountains. Above the silky, glossy vines that to the Hallelujah mountains slide through the mist. Lurking beneath the mist, the Hallelujah Mountains meet together. Hiding beneath the vines, lay the Hallelujah mountains vailed in silver mist. By Leo

Finally, here are a some opportunities for your children outside of school:

This week in Class 2 we have been working as a team to try and understand multiplication and division, and the relationship between these two operations. We learned that division as an operation is nothing but the simple task of sharing or grouping. There were oodles of counters and cubes strewn all around the classroom during our Maths lessons this week. In Literacy, we have looked at special words that tells us more about verbs called adverbials. Today, we also investigated different sentence types and the punctuations associated with them.

In History, we have continued our enquiry into the history of flight by learning all about the first African American woman to earn a pilots license - Bessie Coleman. We looked at a reproduction of her license and became history detectives as we tried to figure out some details about her life from it. We ended up with more questions than answers this time. Below is an image of Sofia's observation and notes from this exercise. In RE, we learned about some of the teachings from the Qur'an and discussed how they applied to our own lives. In Art, we used our experiments with mark making using primary colours to create our own collages in our sketchbooks, while in Computing we continued learning how to use a word processor by learning how to select a text and change some of their attributes.

Finally, a very well done to:
> William for getting the Ready Award for persisting and not giving up during Maths learning.
> Freya for getting the Respectable Award for always being a kind and responsible member of the class.
> Darcey for being nominated for the Safe Award by the Positive Potato Police for being a kind friend and sharing her play equipment with others.

It's been another busy week at Harrowbarrow with a class trip, road safety lessons for our older cyclists and the usual range of exciting lessons. For more information on what your children will be learning this term, please look at the class pages on the website. The teachers post an overview of the learning content in each subject area for your information.

Bikeability
Well done to our Year 6 cyclists who successfully completed their Bikeability training this week. After learning some important safety lessons in the covered playground, the group took to the roads to put their skills into practice.




Cornwall Museum Trip
Class 3 visited Cornwall Museum as part of their history project, learning about the ancient Egyptians. The day started with an interactive lesson on how to mummify a body - don't worry, a doll was used for this! The museum has some great artefacts, which the children were able to explore after the workshop, including a 2,500 year old mummy and his sarcophagus. The whole day was really interesting and brought the history of ancient Egypt alive for Class 3. 



Staffing Update
Sam Watts is due to go on paternity leave in the near future. During his absence, Class 3 will be taught by Abi Flashman on Mondays and Tuesdays and by myself from Wednesday to Friday.

Attendance
We appreciate there have been a succession of bugs throughout the winter period that have impacted on pupil attendance. Thank you to all those parents and carers who notify us if their child is going to be away using the telephone answer system. It is important to phone on each day of absence so we know the reason why absent children are not in school. For mild colds and ailments, we are able to administer medication such as Calpol with your consent. If this helps your child attend on a day when they are slightly off colour, please feel free to drop the medication into the school office and complete a form authorising us to administer it. Quite a few children have missed a lot of school this winter and we are concerned they may not be able to catch-up on missed learning.

Physical Education
This half term, Class 4 are learning netball skills in PE. Here are a few nice actions shots from the lesson this week, which was all about shooting.



Year 5/6 football tournament
Unfortunately, due to the unrelenting poor weather, the team is yet to play a match. Fingers crossed for this coming Tuesday, when the team are due to play Tregadillet and then Stoke Climsland. Please can all players arrive at the college for a 4.15pm kick-off. Thank you.

This week in science, we have been learning all about the heliocentric model of the universe. We explored how scientists like Copernicus and Galileo helped us understand that the Sun, rather than the Earth, is at the centre of our solar system, and we discussed how this discovery changed the way people saw the world. In maths, Year 6 have been busy tackling some challenging fraction work: we have been adding fractions with different denominators by finding common multiples, and we have also been practising how to multiply and divide fractions with increasing confidence. In English, we have been improving our sentence writing by using relative clauses to add extra detail, giving our writing more depth and variety. Finally, a huge well done to the Bikeability group for successfully completing their Level 2 training - you showed great perseverance and cycling skills!

It was lovely to have a full week without any weather interruptions. It meant we could re-establish routines fully after the holiday break. Clubs started again this week with a record number of pupils attending the infant sports club. We also had Year 6 children start their Bikeability road safety course and today was the first cross country race of 2026.

Morning Maths

Following the positive feedback we had after inviting parents and carers in to join the children for their morning maths last term, we invite you to join us again in a few weeks time. To make it more manageable, we are inviting different year groups on different days:
Wednesday 4th February - Reception, Year 2, Year 3 and Year 5
Thursday 5th February - Year 1, Year 4 and Year 6
If you are able to join your child for this open door maths lesson, please come in with them at 8.40am and stay whilst they do their maths (until about 9am). We look forward to seeing you.

Art
Across the school, children have been engaging in their new art units. Once again, we hope to invite you in to see the outcomes at class exhibitions at the end of the unit. Class 2 have been experimenting with primary colours and mark making with different tools other than paintbrushes. Some even experimented on their school uniform!



Green Poster Competition
If your child would like to take part in this poster competition, we will collate entries in the school office and arrange for them to be collected by the Lions. Please leave entries no later than Monday 23rd February.

This week we have started our Science topic looking at Earth, space and the planets.  Today we were working out the order of the planets from the sun and finding out some key facts about each one.  This week in class, we've been diving into some exciting topics! In English, we explored the magical setting of Pandora, using expanded noun phrases to bring its lush forests and glowing landscapes to life in our writing. In Maths, we've been comparing fractions, sharpening our skills to understand which numbers are bigger or smaller and why. Our history lessons took us back to Ancient Greece, where we learned fascinating facts about gods and goddesses and their incredible myths. A big well done to the Bikeability group, who have been out on the roads learning new cycling skills and showing great confidence and determination!


The week's spellings are: direction, explanation, competition, cautious, especially, appreciate, ancient, delicious, spacious, subtraction.  The QR codes for White Rose Infinity can be found on the parent chat on Showbie.  

We have had another week full of amazing fun learning and exploring new things.

In Literacy, we have been analyzing our WAGOLL to figure out how we use the past tense to tell stories. We have also learned how the use of exciting action verbs changes the picture we paint in the minds of the reader. In Maths, we have continued our enquiry into multiplication by looking at arrays. This term, we are learning all about plants in Science. This week, we decided to set up our own experiments to prove what we think plants need the most to grow big and healthy. While some of us are testing how plants grow without any sunlight, some of us are testing if they can grow without water or soil. You can see how we have set up our experiments in the photo below.

In RE we are continuing our enquiry into Islam this term. This week, we worked with Miss Walker to understand the importance of the Qur'an for Muslims and how that influences how they treat their holy book. We then created helpful posters to tell people about how to look after the Qur'an. In History, we learned all about the first flight in an engine powered airplane. We looked at the historical significance of this even of 1903 and discussed its impact on our lives today. In Music, we explored the connections between emotion and music. We listened to a wide range of music ranging from Bach to Joplin to understand how music evokes a variety of reactions and emotions in different people. Finally, in Art, we explored primary colours by playing with primary coloured paint and a variety of unusual tools for mark making. We are looking forward to using the finished paintings to create collages in our sketchbooks next week.

Finally, a very well done to:
> Isabella for getting the Ready Award for her amazing work in Literacy.
> Jane for getting the Respectful Award for always waiting for her turn to talk.
> Roma for being nominated by the Positive Potato Police to get the Safe Award for being a good friend and letting others join her games.

It's lovely to see the class back after Christmas and ready for a new term! In Maths, Year 5 have been learning about equivalent fractions, while Year 6 have been working on adding fractions. In English, we've started exploring example texts to help us write a setting story based on Pandora, focusing on using descriptive language to bring this incredible world to life.  Here we have been spotting for different features to understand what makes a good text.  It has helped us to understand how writers use devices such as noun phrases or figurative language.  We're excited to see all the amazing work you'll create this term!

Next week is bikeability on Thursday for any Year 6 pupils that have signed up.  

What an action packed first week back it has been, but not for the reasons we were hoping for! With snow and ice disruption for many on Tuesday and an early school closure yesterday due to Storm Goretti, it has been less than perfect. However, the children have been brilliant, taking it in their stride and settling very quickly and calmly into their learning. It was lovely to see them all this week and hopefully we will be back to normal routines from now on - fingers crossed!
Spring may be the the shortest term but is is no less action packed. Here is a flavour of what we have to look forward to:

- Year 5 & 6 football league at Callington College (Year 3 & 4 after half term)
- Rocksteady will continue with multiple band sessions
- Pro20 Sports will offer two after school sports clubs again
- Class 3 will be visiting Truro Museum
- Several more cross country races
- Class 4 will be planting trees at Cotehele as part of our involvement in an exciting project with the George Orwell Society
- Year 1 & 2 swimming after half term
- Barrow Beats to sing to Callington Luncheon Club
- Year 1 & 2 participation in a multiskills event at Callington College
- Participation in a Bridge music event in Liskeard with Canadian environmental folk singer Luke Wallace
- Barrow Beats to participate in Songfest
- Class 1 trip to the Theatre Royal

In between gritting the paths around the site and closing the school early due to Storm Goretti, I have had the more pleasurable task of wandering around the classes this week to see how children have re-engaged with their learning.  I was  blown away by the levels of engagement and progress in maths; there is some really fantastic work across all classes in this subject. Here are some examples from Ella Chapman's book in Year 2. Ella received a Praise Award in Celebration Assembly today for her efforts in maths. We will be inviting you all to join us again for one of our morning maths sessions in the weeks ahead so you can see how your children are progressing. Please remember, for your child to make this most of these short morning maths sessions, they need to arrive at school promptly for 8.40am.



Another activity I observed was the weekly reading partner session, where our Year 6 Learning Ambassadors read books to their Class 1 partner. This activity is beloved of both age groups and helps establish that love of books from a young age. Thank you to our Class 4 children, who do an amazing job with this.


Finally, we welcomed a new member into our school community this week. This is Bob the positive potato!

Each week, Bob will be joined by members of the Positive Potato Police (members of Class 4) who will be looking for examples of positivity from a child's perspective. He will then feedback what he has seen to teachers so they can reward identified children appropriately for their contribution to the school. Today, Seth was nominated by Eli and Josh from the Positive Potato Police for his positive contribution at playtime. Well done to Seth and thank you to Eli and Josh for a positive story to share in our Celebration Assembly. I look forward to sharing some more positive stories as identified by Bob and the Positive Potato Police in the term ahead.