It has been wonderful to have the class back this week, and they have made a fantastic start to the new term. The children have quickly settled into new routines and have approached all of their learning with enthusiasm and determination.
In PE, we have been developing our handball skills, and the class have been demonstrating some excellent throwing techniques during lessons. It has been great to see their teamwork and growing confidence as they practise the key skills needed for the game.
In Maths, Year 6 have been working hard on ordering and comparing numbers up to 10,000,000 as well as exploring negative numbers. Year 5 have been adding 10, 100, 1,000 and 10,000 to numbers and investigating the value of digits in numbers up to 1,000,000. The children have shown a positive attitude and have been keen to explain their mathematical thinking.
In English, we have begun planning our outlaw characters and thinking carefully about their appearance, personality and backstory. The children have come up with some imaginative ideas and we are looking forward to developing these further in our writing.
In History, we have been investigating the trading routes used by the Vikings and learning about the goods they traded with other parts of the world. The class have enjoyed discovering how far Viking traders travelled and the impact trade had on their lives.
Overall, it has been a super first full week, and I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the class. I am very proud of the effort and enthusiasm they have shown already and am looking forward to seeing what next week will bring. Have a lovely weekend!

We have had the most amazing first week back!
It was so lovely to see all the children come into class, excited and so very eager to start the new year in Class 2. Everyone has settled beautifully and we are well on our way to embedding class rules and routines. Here are a few highlights from the fun week we have had learning in Class 2.

Class 2 is a group of 21 Year 1 and Year 2 children. The class is taught by Mrs Ati Charlesworth, along with Miss Jo Walker and Mrs Lesley Sammels. Miss Jo Walker covers Mrs Charlesworth's PPA on a Tuesday afternoon.
Some key dates to remember for the Autumn term are:

• TUESDAY: PE
  (Please make sure that the children come into class in appropriate PE kit.)
• FRIDAY: Forest School
  (Please sent your children in clothes that are appropriate for an afternoon outdoors. Please also sent in a pair of wellies that they can change into for the afternoon session.)

If you ever need to get in touch, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Charlesworth at acharlesworth@harrowbarrowprimary.co.uk or ask to speak to her via the school reception on 01579 350576.

Please find above the Curriculum Overview for Autumn Term 2026. You can also download this as a PDF document by clicking the PDF icon below <Curriculum overview Autumn 2026.pdf>. Also find below, a link to download a copy of the KIRF focus for Autumn Term 1 <Year 1 Aut1.pdf for Year 1 KIRFs and  Year 2 Aut1.pdf for Year 2 KIRFs>.

Today we said farewell to our Year 6 pupils. We wish them all the very best for the future in their new schools and thank them for the many contributions they have made during their time at Harrowbarrow. Thank you to those families who are leaving us; we wish you all the very best for the future too. To sign off for the summer, I share some photographs from the Year 6 residential to the Brecon Beacons last week. We had a glorious week of weather and had a huge amount of fun. Hopefully, this will leave the children with some lifelong memories of of their time at Harrowbarrow. 



Thank you to the all the staff and pupils who have worked so hard over the last year. It's now time to relax, unwind and recharge ready to go again in September. I wish you all a very happy summer holiday break and look forward to seeing everyone for the start of term on Monday 7th September.

What a super week it has been!

This week, Class 2 had all the Year R and Year 1s in for transition week. We have had a most fabulous time getting used to being Year 1s and year 2s - getting to know each other, finding our way around the new classroom and making the most awful mess all around. In between all this, we have also managed to get a lot of learning in too. Everyone has settled into our new routine as if we have been together in Class 2 for months.

Both Year 1 and 2 have started their new unit on Place Value in Maths. Year 1s have been sorting objects into groups, counting out objects and matching correct numerals (up to 10) to a set of objects. Year 2s have been counting up to 100 in 10s and learning how to recognise "ten" and understand its value relative to the corresponding one. In Literacy, we have completed our diagnostic test for our new unit on writing recounts which we will start in September.

We also made time for Forest School sessions where we learned how to recognise trees by looking at the shape of their leaves. In PSHE we had a lot of discussions around what kind of a classroom we want to come into in September, and how we can all make sure that we all make Class 2 the best class in the world.

Finally, a very well done to:
> Freddie for getting the Ready Award for some fabulous work in Maths and having a really good go at some really tricky Greater Depth questions.
> Charlotte for getting the Responsible Award for always remembering her "pleases" and thank yous."
> Rowan for getting the Safe Award for always being the first one to tidy up after every playtime.

Our Year 6 children have had an absolutely amazing week in Brecon with Mr Hunt and Mrs Sammels. It has been a week full of adventure, fun, and wonderful memories that will last for years to come. The children have enjoyed exploring the beautiful surroundings of Brecon, including a visit into the town where they treated themselves to a well-earned ice cream. They also took a scenic walk around a local reservoir, taking in the stunning views and enjoying the great outdoors. One of the highlights of the week was undoubtedly the white water rafting, where the children showed tremendous courage, teamwork, and enthusiasm. It was fantastic to see everyone embracing new challenges and stepping outside of their comfort zones. We have also been incredibly lucky with the weather. The sunshine has been with us throughout much of the week, allowing everyone to make the most of the activities and enjoy spending time outdoors. The children have relished the opportunity to spend time away with their friends, creating special memories and strengthening friendships along the way. Mr Hunt and Mrs Sammels have been so proud of the children, who have represented the school brilliantly through their excellent behaviour, positive attitudes, and willingness to try new experiences. We are sure that Year 6 will return home tired but happy, with plenty of stories to share about their unforgettable week in Brecon!

Whilst some of our Year 6 pupils have been enjoying their exciting residential visit to Brecon, the rest of us have been settling into our new classes ready for September. It has been a real pleasure to welcome our new Year 5 and Year 6 pupils, and we have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them and seeing what they are capable of. This week, we have begun exploring some exciting new topics for the Autumn Term. In History, we have been learning about the Vikings and discussing some of the stereotypes that are often associated with them, thinking carefully about which ideas are fact and which are fiction. In Maths, we have focused on place value, with Year 5 developing their understanding of Roman numerals, while Year 6 have been working with numbers up to 10,000,000. The children have shown great enthusiasm and confidence as they have tackled these new challenges. In English, we have started our new unit on non-chronological reports through our exciting topic of Outlaws. The children have enjoyed exploring the features of this text type and gathering information ready for their own report writing. It has been a fantastic week of learning, and we are incredibly proud of how well everyone has embraced the move-up week. We are already looking forward to an exciting and successful year ahead in September!

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.