On Wednesday, the school had a visit from RNLI lifeguards. The children listened very carefully and explored how to be 'water smart'. The children learnt that to stay safe near water they need to take the following steps:
1. Stop and think
2. Stay together
3. Float 
4. Call 999 or 112. 
Each child was given an information leaflet which explain the steps in detail. Please take time to read the information with your child - it could save a life. 

The whole school sang “To The Sound of Trumpets” for the new King, all dressed in red, white and blue! The sun decided to shine, so we took the opportunity to end the day by singing the song on our way out to our parents. Some children waved Union Flags and others wore crowns as they paraded around the playground.  We have also made a recording of the song which can be found here:

https://youtu.be/oyIa7F1wtAI

The children have had a busy morning learning about the life of King Charles III ahead of his Coronation this weekend. They then had the opportunity to write letters to the King, which are going to be posted later today. The pupils also made silhouette portraits which we hope the King enjoys looking at when he receives his letters!

The children had great fun in Science this afternoon, exploring how solid shapes can be changed. The children became scientists, asking questions, making predictions and then gathering data through conducting an investigation. 

The Tawny Owls have been learning the names of different keys and their uses to write text. 

The Tawny Owls enjoyed their first music session with Mrs Jollife. They started to explore British songs and compose music about the seaside. 

In forest school the children used wooden mallets to hit leaves and plants against a cloth. This created some fantastic patterns. 

This week, the year one children have been enjoying learning practically about the difference between volume and capacity.

​This week, children from across the school took part in an assembly and follow up activities to mark World Autism Acceptance Week.  The key message was that everyone is different. We learnt that people with autism are not ill but instead see the world in a unique way. We explored ways in which we can be a good classmate to people with autism - we discussed a number of scenarios and how we could support and help one another in these situations. 

For tips on how to talk about autism at home with younger children visit: www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/joinin/pablo-talking-to-your-child-about-autism 
For more information on autism visit: www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/what-is-autism

What fantastic homework the Tawny Owls shared this half term! It was lovely to see the wonderful home learning. Thank you to all parents/carers for supporting your children to complete these activities. 

We were treated to a visit from a medal-winning athlete this week, as Maddi Tarrant, Team GB Double Mini Trampoline gymnast arrived at Bridestowe.
In an inspirational assembly, Maddi told us about her journey from starting gymnastics lessons at an early age (in an attempt to outdo her brother) to becoming a European champion in her sport. Maddi showed us videos of her training and successes, as well as some occasions when her jumps and twirls had not gone to plan. Sadly, Maddi could not give a live demonstration as she is nursing a back injury, which she is hoping to recover from in time for her next competitions in May.
All of the children took part in some challenging activities which Maddi led and demonstrated. Many congratulations to the children at Bridestowe for their impressive athletic work, and thankyou for the wonderful fund-raising by so many of you.

It was lovely to see so many relatives in the class this week, sharing the children's learning from this half term. They are always so proud to show you all what they have achieved!

The Tawny Owls have planted seeds this week to grow flowers and vegetables for the sensory area. This is linked to their PSHE lessons, where they have spoken about how to care for their environment. The children have set up monitors and rotas to look after the plants. They are all looking forward to watching them grow!

In the Tawny Owls, the children designed smoothies this half term. As you can see from the photos, they got to make them this week and had great fun using lots of healthy ingredients.

The Tawny Owls continued learning their musical vocabulary unit today and explored pitch by creating upward and downward glissandos on the glockenspiels. These represented a diver swimming into and out of the ocean. They then created a variety of rhythms using an instrument with a contrasting sound (timbre) which symbolised the diver taking underwater photographs. These were then put together to create a melody.  

To support the learning of habitats. The Tawny Owls had an online workshop from the Seal Life Trust today. It was an interesting and engaging talk which discussed the ocean habitat, food chains, pollution and much more. The children showed great understanding of the importance of protecting our oceans and asked many thought provoking questions. 

Children had the chance to learn more about events in the run-up to Easter in the Open the Book Assembly on the 10th of March. We heard about Palm Sunday, and re-enacted Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, using palm fronds 

The Tawny Owls celebrated Comic Relief in style with their wonderful, wacky hair!

The Tawny Owls ventured outside of the classroom to explore natural habitats. The children worked in small groups to find minibeasts in their microhabitats. They found woodlice, worms, snails and slugs and spoke about why their microhabitat was important for them and how it helped them to survive.

The Tawny Owls were excited to share their words during World Book Day today.

The Tawny's enjoyed an afternoon in the rain with Ranger Rob this week. They looked at how to make a shelter from severe weather, which could help save their life.

Emily from the Dogs Trust came to visit the whole school today. The Tawny Owls workshop taught them the 5 rules to keeping a dog happy and them safe. The children all enjoyed taking part in role play scenarios and learnt a great deal.

The Tawny Owls had a great DT session this week, learning about the differences between fruit and vegetables. They got to sample some foods that they may not have previously been able to, which they all enjoyed! This learning will lead on to them designing, making and evaluating smoothies.

This half term the Tawny Owls are learning about why the Easter story is important to Christians. This week they role played The Last Supper. The children were the disciples, eating bread and wine (squash) which was a symbol of Jesus' body and blood. Jesus (Mrs Lammas) then washed all their feet to show how important it is to lead by example. The children loved the lesson and were asking, 'can we do RE like this every week?'

Today, the Tawny Owls started their unit on ball and racket skills. Mr Pugh encouraged the children to use the agility skills they learnt last half term to warm up. They then moved to using the rackets, balancing a tennis ball on it to move from cone to cone.