March

Today, Year 6 were able to join in with a fantastic online learning experience through our online resource, TTRockstars.

Gareth Metcalf, famous for his work in mathematics education, especially through the initiative, 'I See Maths', led a live Maths lesson, where the children were taught personally by him.

The objective of the lesson was to help the children to unpick mathematical word problems, with a particular focus on Key Stage 2 multi-step multiplicative word questions. Gareth showed the children how to eliminate unnecessary information, how to draw bar models to help to understand the various steps and how to make sure that the right operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication or division) were chosen.

The children also had the opportunity to create their own multi-step word problems, using given operations, aiming for a particular answer.

Year 6 really enjoyed the session and hopefully these new-found skills will add to their confidence when they do their SATs papers in May!

As we approach the end of term, there is a race to complete lots of activities before starting again after Easter. Here are a few of the things that have kept us busy:

Design Technology
Class 4 children have been finishing their model playground structure designs. From measuring, cutting and joining materials to thinking about the aesthetic quality of different finishes, there has been a lot of learning over the last couple of weeks. Meanwhile, Class 3 have been designing model cars with the design brief that they must be able to assemble it from a kit.


Bridge Trust Singing Event
On Monday 16th, Year 6 pupils attended a Bridge Trust music event in Liskeard. Working with Canadian folk musician Luke Wallace, who writes songs about the environment, the children learnt and performed some songs before singing their own song, which they had been learning in the build up to the event. The Harrowbarrow song, Easy On The Earth, was written by Melissa Pinfield. She also accompanied the children on her clarinet in St Martins Church.

Songfest
Barrow Beats children joined pupils from lots of other schools to enjoy  singing together at the Sterts Theatre on Wednesday. This annual event is always popular with the choir.

Space Dome
To conclude our science learning for the term, the children enjoyed a visit to the Space Dome at the village hall today. Classes 1, 2 and 4 participated in a space workshop, whilst Class 3 learnt about light and sound. This fantastic resource brings science to life and adds an awe and wonder element that can make learning so magical. Thank you to the Parent Staff Association for kindly funding this brilliant learning experience.



Parenting Support
For a better quality version of the poster below, please see the noticeboard at the front of the school or pop into the school office for a copy.



Last day of term
A reminder that next Thursday is the last day of term and so children will need collecting at 1.30pm. We look forward to seeing everyone for the start of the summer term on Monday 20th April.

Welcome to the Vicious Vikings!

Welcome back after Half Term - we hope that you had some lovely family time and a chance to relax and chill; ready for new, exciting learning in Spring 2.

Our new History unit is based upon the Vikings. This week we have begun by learning at where they fit chronologically within history. The children worked in groups to order historical events, in and around the time of the Vikings, on a timeline.

Our new science topic is 'Changing Materials'. We started by considering changes of state. The children were set a conundrum: if they were to find two unlabelled bottles of water on a desert island (one sea water, one fresh water), how could they find out which was which? They successfully came up with a solution to the problem and identified that bottle A was sea water, as indicated by the salt crystals left behind after evaporation. Nothing will stop our class if they find themselves stranded in the middle of nowhere!

Smart with Switches...

This week in Science, Duckpool have been learning how electrical switches work. They also then investigated how to create their own switch using a range of given items - they could choose from things like cardboard, brass split pins, paperclips, straws and pencils.
There were some great successes and they found it very satisfying to design and create their own circuits and circuit components.

Here's a round- up of everything that's been happening at both schools in recent weeks:

Eco- Council
The Eco-council have been successful in lowering energy use in the schools. Electricity usage has reduced since their campaign to switch off more lights in rooms which are not being used has made an impact (even at this early stage.) We are using less energy this year compared to last. (January 2026 compared to January 2025.) Look out for news on battery and electronic re-cycling soon.

Mr Arnold
I will be delighted to welcome Mr Arnold into the school during the second half of the summer term for some days. This will be a great opportunity for him to get to know that staff and children better so that he can really 'hit the ground running' in September. I know that you will enjoy having him as the new Headteacher.

Valentine's Disco
Just before half term the children enjoyed a lively, fun Valentine's disco. Thank you to Mrs Wright for organising this and to staff member who helped during the afternoon/evening. £250 was raised for our school funds.

World Book Day
On 5th March we celebrated World Book Day by dressing as our favourite book characters. It was fantastic to see all of the amazing outfits- especially at the end of the day during our 'catwalk'. It was great to see so many parents supporting this event. I would like to say a special thank you to Miss Owen for organising a day full of book-related activities. Also, it was amazing that the staff all dressed as 'Golden Tickets' to match my fancy dress costume theme- what a team!

Y5/Y6 Girl's Football
On 11th March a team of our amazing girl footballers took part in a tournament in Callington, arranged by Arena. They represented the schools brilliantly, coming 5th overall. Well done girls and special thanks to Miss Jenkins for accompanying them.

Trust Music Day
On 16th March our Year 5 pupils attended a Trust music event in Liskeard. They performed the 'Copper Valley' song in St. Martin's Church for an audience of other Bridge schools. They also met Canadian singer and songwriter Luke Wallace and sang one of his compositions. Thank you to Mrs Pearce for driving the group and to Miss Gamble and Miss Jenkins for rehearsing the class.

Bag2School
Our recent Bag2School collection raised £35. Thank you to all who donated items of unwanted clothing.

Tag Rugby Festival

On 17th March a group of pupils from Y4 and Y6 represented the school in a Tag Rugby Festival, held in Tavistock.They played really well, winning two of their matches and drawing one. They represented the school very well and Mrs Hannaford, who accompanied them, was very proud of them.

Red Nose Day
On Friday 20th March the children dressed in their pyjamas and red noses and brought in a donation for Comic Relief.  Thank you, we raised £82.

My Clothing
The company which supply our school uniforms (www.myclothing.com) are having a flash spring sale. If you enter SPRING15 between 23/3/ and 29/3 you will receive 15% off your order.