We were treated to a fantastic production of Shakespeare on Trial by the Key Stage 2 children. They sang beautifully and delivered their lines confidently and clearly. Well done everyone! 

Year 6 and Year 4 have been out and about on their bikes with Marghita this week. They've been finding out how to carry out checks on their bikes, and learning about manoeuvrability and road safety. 

This week, Barn Owls had a visit from a firefighter, James, who came over from Bovey Tracey. He made sure the children all understood how to prevent fires happening, and the importance of a safe escape route from homes, should a fire start. 
The children were absolutely gripped, and left with the task of checking that their homes had sufficient, functioning smoke alarms fitted.

Our sensory garden fence is now complete- a quiet reflection space for break, lunch and any time it's needed.
Any donations of natural material wind chimes sensory boards or plants would be greatly appreciated.

The Key Stage 2 children who were in school in the later part of this week all took part in a collaborative Art & DT project. We found out about the Austrian artist & architect, Freidensreich Hundterwasser, and what features can be seen in his unique buildings and constructions. We learned that Hundertwasser was interested in the 'third skin' in which humans exist, and wanted to create places to live and work in that improved lives for people. His view was that as life can have enough problems, housing shouldn't be one of them.
Initially, we used nets to create simple 3D shapes, then the children worked in groups to design, plan and create individual homes that could be combined to create a Hundertwasserhaus (photos of finished structure to follow). Although use of the glue gun was a huge help in completing the very diverse and ambitious designs, the children were resourceful and resilient in working to complete their constructions using the initial materials they were provided with.
In addition to the homes, designs included large windows, roof terraces, sun/rain canopies, plants, swings, slides, trampolines and washing lines (much to Mrs Reid's delight).

Barn Owls rehearsed mini plays (with a few performances, and accompanying applause) using our "Street Child" text, focussing on small details in the writing that help us to use inference when reading.

What a fantastic way to start the week! Years 4 & 5 made us extremely proud with their excellent behaviour and resilient 'have-a-go' attitudes in trying out a range of challenging activities at Meeth Quarry and Great Potheridge House.

Nearly every stage of the life cycle of a frog was viewed by Barn Owls this week, as Mrs Dewsbery brought some of her garden wildlife in to visit.

Year 6 have been working on Ratio and Proportion in Maths, and finding out that it not a strange and difficult area to tackle. In fact, pupils have been finding lots of links to other areas of Maths that ratio links to, such as fractions.

On Friday 27th May, the whole school enjoyed an afternoon of celebrations. There was lots to celebrate with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and the School’s 160th Anniversary. The afternoon started with a picnic on the field and a special Jubilee cupcake kindly prepared by Mrs Berry. Later we welcomed guests from the community including parents, grandparents, the Mayor, residents from Springfields and the local vicar. We all enjoyed a delicious cream tea and ice creams in the sunshine before the traditional games began. The playground was decorated with artwork created by every child in the school. The boards displayed photographs and memories from across the 160 years of the school’s history. The atmosphere was wonderful with everyone enjoying the opportunity to join to celebrate – it is sure to be a day the children will remember. 

Mrs McKee, who had shown Barn Owls around Rexon Solar Farm on Wednesday, came in to carry out a workshop with us on Thursday morning.
We reviewed our learning from the visit, and found out even more about how solar farms provide energy to the National Grid, for homes and businesses.
We had the chance to create solar-powered circuits.

As well as all of this, we learned to use lux meters and anemometers to measure light and wind, essential in finding good places to sight solar panels and wind turbines.

Barn Owls were invited to Rexon Solar Farm, near Roadford Reservoir, for a visit this week.
After learning about sustainability in Science last term, this was a good way to add to that learning, and to recall some facts. We found out how a solar farm works, with the whole process from Sun to home being studied. It also gave us a chance to use our place value and multiplication skills to calculate how many solar panels are found on the whole farm.

Our Year 6 pupils have all taken part in the SATs tests, the first year they've been set for two years. 

The children came in a little early for a breakfast each day, and then completed the week with hot chocolate and cakes on the field in the sunshine.

All of them were calm, focused and extremely hard-working.

In Barn Owls, we've begun working on our Art for Mrs Harris' Platinum Jubilee Art display. The children started by blending shades of colours to create a vivid background.

Barn Owls enjoyed their cricket session with our visitor on the 3rd of May

Barn Owls have been drawing poppies in the style of Georgia O'Keefe, beginning with using a grid structure to enlarge smaller sketches.

This week, children and staff across the school ran their first mile towards their half marathon. It was great to see children supporting and encouraging one another to complete the challenge. 

Alex (who we met last year when she came and helped us to learn all about recycling) visited us on a very cold, but dry, day. We learned all about composting, and how this not only helps us to throw less away, but also provides a very useful resource, which is a valuable home for all sorts of creatures.
Some Barn Owls proved to have impressive maternity skills, finding a minute egg which they then managed to help hatch into a living, and very tiny, fly!

Barn Owls, along with all of Bridestowe School, abandoned the school buildings and travelled to the Eden Project for the day. Each class spent the day exploring the biomes and outside areas of Eden, and also having workshops linked to specific class learning.
Barn Owls became Great Plant Explorers, and found out how plants from all over the world are used. We learned about the Development Compass Rose and what sorts of issues affect our global inter-dependence.

In music, we've been learning songs with Mrs Joliffe. This week, the class added accompaniment in the form of xylophones to "If you dance". Barn Owls have also sung some songs in rounds, which sounds fantastic.

We've been compiling and ordering paper databases in Barn Owls. Now, using computer databases has enabled us to search and order records and fields of information much more easily.

Barn Owls have taken advantage of some wonderful dry weather to clear and prepare flower beds ready for Spring planting.