During my morning 'meet and greet', I think I have managed to see most parents and carers since the start of the new academic year. If not, welcome back and I look forward to catching up with you next week. A special welcome to our new children and their families; we hope you have been made to feel welcome and the children have enjoyed the start to their primary education. Within days of our new reception children starting, I began to give tours of the school for prospective new families for September 2026. If you know of anyone looking for a school place for next September, please feel free to share my contact information so they can book a school viewing if interested: head@harrowbarrowprimary.co.uk

We start all new school years with a period of settling the children back into routines and setting expectations. After a six week break, I am always surprised at how quickly the children settle into the rhythm of school life. This year has seen an especially good start across the school, with smiley, happy children bounding into class, enthusiastic to learn at the start of the day. We look forward to celebrating the children's successes and achievements at our weekly celebration assemblies on Fridays. Please look out for praise certificates and ask your child to explain why they were awarded them.

We welcomed new teaching assistant and lunchtime supervisor Sarah Marley to our team last week. Whilst there are no other new members of staff, some staff are working in different roles. A reminder of the staff organisation for this year:

Class 1: Teachers - Tom Ottewell-Taylor, Abi Flashman & Jo Walker (Wednesday afternoons). Teaching Assistants - Angela Bushell, Stacy Vinson, Sarah Marley
Class 2: Teachers - Ati Charlesworth & Jo Walker (Tuesday afternoons). Teaching Assistant - Lesley Connell
Class 3: Teachers - Sam Watts & Andrew Hunt (Thursday afternoons). Teaching Assistants - Jo Cocking, Sarah Marley, Jo Walker, Brendan Thomas
Class 4: Teachers - Melissa Pinfield & Andrew Hunt (Monday & Tuesday afternoons). Teaching Assistants - Heather Thomson, Brendan Thomas

Lesley Connell is no longer working in the school office but remains as Breakfast Club and After School Club lead. For all office queries/communication, please now direct emails to Elaine Moyle: emoyle@harrowbarrowprimary.co.uk

Elaine does not work in the office on Fridays, so if your query or communication can wait until another day, please avoid calling into the office. I will be covering the office on Fridays but am also often involved in meetings or cover teaching.

In my role, I am fortunate enough to work with all the classes. This week, I particularly enjoyed teaching an art lesson to Class 3. The theme for their work this half term is 'drawing stories', with the aim of illustrating a piece of text at the end of the unit. The children started by looking at a tableaux and imagined it as a scene from a story. Here are some examples of their charcoal and chalk sketches:




We have lots of exciting learning opportunities planned for the term ahead and look forward to sharing these with you in the weeks to come. One of our new developments this year is the work we plan to do through our climate action plan. A copy of this can be found in the information tab on this website: www.harrowbarrowprimary.co.uk/Information/Climate_Action_Plan
If you feel you might be able to contribute to our work in this area, please contact us as we want to involve our whole school community.
I look forward to sharing more of the children's learning achievements in the coming weeks.

What a great start to the Autumn Term Year 3/4a!

We've started on our Learning Adventure to Ancient Egypt, looking at artefacts and their discoveries, the importance of the River Nile and how our lives are very different to those in ancient Egypt. We've discussed key vocabulary and the difference between primary and secondary evidence.

We've had great fun retelling the traditional tale of Red Riding Hood using a 'Story Piano', discussing key events, characters and setting and how traditional tales can be exaggerated over time to make them more exciting to the listener.

We've revised our knowledge of Place Value, discussing the importance of a place value holder (0) in reading and writing numbers. We're currently thinking carefully about the value of digits and using manipulatives to support our learning. We've also been busy practising our KIRFS.

Today we were visited in KS2 by Carly who works with the Cognition and Learning Team for Cornwall. She led us through the workings of our unique and specialised brains - with the children's help of course. Carly has left us with a challenge and a promise of rewards which sparked our interest. We will be exploring this further next week and I am looking forward to seeing what the children can come up with! Watch this space!

Welcome to Lansallos Class

Lansallos Class is taught by Ms Porter (class teacher), Mrs McLaren (teaching assistant) and Mrs Dan.

There are 26 children in the class from Year 5 and Year 6.

If you would like to look at what we have been learning each term, please look at our 'knowledge organisers' below. 

What a lovely start it has been to the term.  It has been great to welcome back the Year 6 and to see the new Year 5 get settled into the class. 

The spellings for this week are silent letters.  They are: gnarl, gnash, gnome, knead, knight, knuckle, knock, knot, know

The KIRFs below to practise with your child

Welcome to Class 2

Class 2 is taught by Mrs Askew (class teacher), Miss Stephenson (PPA teacher) and Mrs Hughes (teaching assistant) and Mrs Barrett (teaching assistant)

The class consists of 30 children from Year 2, 3 and 4.

Please see our Knowledge Organiser below for an overview of our learning each half-term. 

Welcome to Lantic Class

Lantic Class is taught by Mrs Forbes (class teacher Monday and Wednesday), Mrs Horn (class teacher Tues, Thursday and Friday) and Miss Milford (teaching assistant).

Lantic Class has 26 children from Reception and Year 1.

To see what we have been learning each half-term, please see our 'knowledge organisers' below.

Welcome to Talland Class

Talland Class is taught by Mr Knight (class teacher), Mrs Harper (teaching assistant) and Mrs Lee (teaching assistant).

There are 29 children in Talland Class from Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4.

To see what we have been learning each half-term, please see our 'knowledge organisers' below.

Welcome to Class 1

Class 1 is taught by Mrs Currah (class teacher Monday - Thursday), Miss Stephenson (class teacher Friday), Miss Evans (teaching assistant), Mrs Penhaligan (teaching assisant), Mrs Hill (teaching assistant) and Miss Napper (apprentice teaching assistant).

Class 1 has 28 children from Reception, Year 1 and Year 2.

To see what we have been learning each half-term, please see our 'knowledge organisers' below.

Welcome to Class 3

Class 3 is taught by Mr Hodgins (class teacher) and Mrs Campbell (teaching assistant and THRIVE practitioner).

The class consists of 30 children from Year 4, 5 and 6.

Please see our Knowledge Organisers below for an overview of our learning each half-term. 

You will have noticed additional speed zone signage in the village - this is a gentle reminder that our school sits in a 20mph zone and for everyone's safety thank you for adhering to this.

The children have made a super start to the year and are settling back into the rhythm of school. Next week in assembly, we look forward to celebrating this positive start with our first Shining Stars awards of the year, House points and Headteacher Awards (Best Seats in the House).

Term 1 Extra-Curricular Activities (ECAs)
Next week, we will be sharing details of how to sign up for our after school ECAs for Y1-6 (running from Monday 22nd September-Friday 5th December). Please note there will be no teacher-led ECAs week beginning Monday 20th October due to Parent/Teacher Consultations. We also have a number of external providers offering paid ECAs (Pro20 and Dance). Details of how to book directly with these providers will be sent out next week too.

Allergies/Health Care Plans
A reminder that we are a nut free school. Should your child have any allergies that we haven't been made aware of already or they require a Health Care Plan (or an updated plan is needed), please contact the school office for further information. As you'll be aware, our school meals are provided by Caterlink. It is essential that if your child is having a school meal, you complete Caterlink's dietary requirements/food allergies form. If you haven't completed the form previously or your child's medical circumstances have changed, please collect a form from the office to complete.

Message from Mr Smith (SENDCo and Trust Inclusion Lead)
I hope that all of your children have had a good first couple of days back. As we start the new year, please reach out to your child's class teacher should you need to discuss any SEND related matters regarding your child. If you need to discuss anything additionally with myself, please come and see me (I'm often outside in the mornings Weds-Fri) or email to make an appointment jsmith@bridgeschools.co.uk Everyone is here to help ensure your child settles back into school well and thrives. We're all looking forward to a great year ahead.

Home School Agreement
The start of the year is a good time to remind parents/carers to ensure all the details we hold are correct. Have your contact details changed? Does your child now walk home from school on their own? Do you give permission for your child's photo to go on social media? All these permissions can be found and updated via your Arbor account. If you need any support updating this information, please come and see Claire or Caroline in the office; they will be more than happy to help.

Music Lessons
Music lessons with our external teachers begin next week. Don't forget your instruments! If you are interested in finding out more about music lessons, please contact the office. Our external teachers currently provide brass, woodwind, guitar, piano/keyboard and drums.

Meet the Teacher (Years 1-6)
These are an opportunity to meet your child's class teacher, talk to other parents in the class and learn more about the year ahead. Please come along to your child's classroom on the days/times below and you'll be shown where to go.

Tuesday 9th September 15:30-16:00 Year 1 and Year 2
Wednesday 10th September 15:30-16:00 Year 3 and Year 4
Thursday 11th September 15:30-16:00 Year 5 and Year 6

Please ensure your child is with you in the classroom unless you've arranged other childcare during the session. If you're unable to make the session, the presentation slides will be emailed out to everyone afterwards. Reception families have already had their information during the transition events last term. The first parent/teacher consultations will take place on 21st and 22nd October. However, if you need to discuss anything regarding your child prior to then, please don't hesitate to contact your child's teacher.

Bridge Kids (Breakfast Club) and Lunchtime Supervisor Vacancies
We are currently recruiting for a Breakfast Club Supervisor to join Bev Young in the mornings, as well as two Lunchtime Supervisors. Please see the Vacancies page on our website for more information.