The Tawny Owls voted to play in the local park for their bead treat this half term. It was a wonderful way to end the academic year - as you can see from the pictures, there were smiles all around!

The Owlets enjoyed spending the day in their new classroom environment with their peers. They created self portraits and used Chromebooks to write simple sentences about themselves which will be turned into a display in September. Throughout the day, the children had fun in our outdoor learning space where they displayed fantastic qualities such as, sharing. In the afternoon they all created submarines and then had some time in the shade in the environmental area to talk about their favourite parts of the day. 

This afternoon, the Tawny Owls kept themselves cool whilst learning by emptying their trays, filling them with water and dipping their feet in! 

Last week, the Tawny Owls had fun in the sun - playing a quick game of rounders.

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 year 2 and 3 children had a visit from a Taunton firefighter this morning. The informative talk taught them important messages about how to stay safe in a variety of situations, for example, the Stop, Drop and Roll technique if they ever found their clothing to be on fire. They were given homework which was to see how many fire alarms were in their house and to check them all every month. 

The Tawny Owls are having a busy afternoon, manipulating clay using their hands and tools to create the animals that will go in the diorama's.

The Tawny Owls didn't stop smiling throughout their session with Rob, even with the rain hammering down! They enjoyed working in pairs to clear logs and then trying to drink the rain water before going to the shelter to make decorations for it and roast marshmallows on the fire. 

Today, the Tawny Owls have been continuing their PSHE topic - Growing and Changing. We had great discussions about what babies need to survive and how to take care of them. 

The Tawny Owls and Owlets had a fantastic trip to Plymouth Aquarium today. They enjoyed learning about various sea creatures, their habitats, feeding and social habits. This exciting enrichment activity has been a great 'hook' for the children's learning this half term. The children were incredibly respectful to the leaders we had and also the general public that were enjoying a day out.

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. 

The children had a discussion about herbivores and carnivores today during forest school. They then drew their favourite animals within these categories on wooden discs. These were then used - alongside the other classes designs, to begin decorating the shelter. 

Between each disc, the children had the opportunity to explore the environmental area and roast a marshmallow. This enrichment activity is so popular with the Tawny Owls!

 After the whole school assembly today on the importance of bees, the Tawny Owls created fantastic tissue paper ones.  

The children were interested to learn about archaeology today and the story of how Howard Carter (or his water boy) discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun. They then had the task of trying to get a better understanding of this period by looking at pictures from this time. Good discussions took place, showing great observational skills. 

It was excellent being able to link forest school so strongly with our science topic this week. Within the classroom, the Tawny Owls were discussing the similarities between deciduous and evergreen trees. They then took this learning into our amazing environmental area and could identify many different types. When Ranger Rob asked the children what do they both need to survive - I don't think he was expecting the fantastic language that followed. The children explained that they all need water, sun, the correct temperature and carbon dioxide. Evie then went on and explained that ''a chemical reaction then happens and it makes oxygen''. 

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. 

We were lucky to have an All Stars Cricket coach in with us today. The Tawny Owls and Owlets worked together in teams to field and bat, learning some key skills. 
The coach was very impressed with their behaviour and picked out 3 children; Ethan, John and Evelyn as having fantastic, supportive qualities which are much needed attributes to be a great team player. 

The Tawny Owls completed their elicitation task this afternoon for Science. They went into the environmental area to explore and investigate plants. They were able to talk about what a plant needs to survive and grow. The children were very articulate in explaining how plants help us to survive. 

The composting workshop this afternoon was highly informative and lots of fun! The children learnt about what they should be putting into compost bins and which insects help to turn it into soil. They then learnt a song and acted out being a variety of minibeasts to consolidate the learning.

The Tawny Owls had an amazing day taking part in the Building in Brazil workshop at the Eden Project. They learnt lots about the similarities and differences of buildings within Brazil and the UK and spoke about the conditions experienced by the people who live in Manaus. 
They then got to explore the Rainforest Biome, guided by a map and photo-trail where the children observed, identified and recorded materials used in structures of different buildings. It was great to hear their prior knowledge when answering questions, due to the current Science topic. On returning to their classroom, they used their new knowledge to design and build a Rainforest shelter in small groups.
In the afternoon, they explored the rest of the Eden Project, including the Mediterranean Biome. 
It was a fantastic, fun-filled day where many members of the public commented on their excellent behaviour!

In Science we have been investigating the properties of materials. Today, the children worked in pairs to build a wall using materials that they thought would withstand strong wind. As the children were working, they were using fantastic language for example, 'we will have to make sure it's a fair test when we try to blow it down.'

Forest School was a great success this week for the Tawny Owls. They got to light fires using steel and flint. They listened wonderfully to the instructions and many of the children had a great technique to get a spark. While children weren't doing this activity they were busy creating prints, by crushing flowers and plants using mallets. 
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To celebrate the fact that Spring has begun, all of the children across the school have created a piece of art for the village display. We hope everyone in the community enjoys looking at the artwork! 

During assembly today, the children spoke about Spring and how to care for and nurture living things. All the children had the opportunity to plant a sunflower seed, which they will take home with them and take responsibility for. We can't wait to see the results!