We are a friendly class of children in Years 4 and 5 who are taught by two experienced teachers: Mrs Venn (from Monday to Wednesday) and Mrs Lockrose (every Thursday and Friday). We are very fortunate to also have an incredible teaching assistant, Mr Day, who supports our learning throughout the week. On Wednesdays, we also have the talented Mr Gardner from Aspire, teaching us PE and sportsmanship skills.
Please have a look through our ‘Meet The Teacher’ file and half termly 'Overviews' below, to tell you more about our exciting year ahead. We also have a range of knowledge organisers at the very bottom of our class page to support many areas of the curriculum. Please share these with your children and use them as reference throughout the year.
We are delighted that you are visiting the Rowan Class page today and hope that you will come into school soon to see our wonderful and aspirational work in action.
Overviews
Please click on the link below to view an outline of what we plan to cover each half term in Rowan Class.
Week by Week Updates
Welcome to the Summer Term!
What an exhilarating first week back we have all had!
The children in Rowan Class have used this once in a lifetime experience to inspire their writing, IT skills and art work, which is currently ‘work in progress’, and will be shared on this page soon.
In English, we have started looking at newspaper reports and in maths we continue with fractions and decimals. Science will involve studying sounds and forces this half term and in RE we are focusing on God. Please do take a look at our half termly overview for more details and to find out what we plan to cover in other subjects, too.
Next week sees the start of our new Rock Steady sessions where we will create many of our own Harting bands, just like Andy and The Odd Socks! We cannot wait for this to start and to see the bands develop.
Please take a look at all the photos and videos from our big day, below. Just look at what we can achieve when we work together as a team. We are so proud of you all.
#HartingAndTheOddSocks #TeamWork
#HartingAndTheOddSocks #TeamWork
Have a great summer term, everyone!
Signed by Andy and The Odd Socks
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Signed by Andy and The Odd Socks
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Featured on Andy and The Odd Socks’ Instagram
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Featured on Andy and The Odd Socks’ Instagram
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Harting’s Official Science Fortnight Film
A huge thank you to Mr Gibbons, Mrs Stenning, Mrs Williams, St Richard’s Hospital, Mr Grute, Nicole Stott, BBC Teach and Sublime Science for their inspirational workshops and talks during Harting’s Science Week, 2023.
Dear children and parents of Rowan Class,
It has been a busy last week of the Spring term, and the children have been absolute superstars in their Class Assembly about Ancient Greece (or was it Grease?). There was such a buzz in the run-up, lines were being memorized, costumes perfected and our two songs were played on repeat!! Mr Day was transforming humble cardboard into amazing props (including a certain Minotaur head...).
A big 'Thank You' to all of you for supporting the children by helping to learn lines and to organise costumes. A special mention goes to Mrs Wreford for making our beautiful Spartan capes and to Mrs Stennings for making all those fabulous Greek beards.
On Friday, the children tasted traditional Greek foods, with quite a few of them trying new dishes, such as Baba Ganoush and Tzatziki. Pitta bread dipped in olive oil and pomegranate seeds proved very popular!
Afterwards, the children rated each food item on appearance, aroma, flavour and texture, as well as nutrition. It was a great end to our topic about Ancient Greece and will hopefully be a feast to remember.
Have a lovely Easter weekend and enjoy the second week of the Easter break; don't forget to send the children to school with odd socks on Monday, 17th April, ready to rock with Andy and the Odd Socks!
Greece is the Word - Class Assembly
Mother’s Day 2023
The children have created two videos for Mother’s Day to recognise and thank some of the special figures in their lives. Please note, the two videos are split into Y4 and Y5. However, some Y5s will also feature in the Y4 video and vice versa for whole class elements. Some pupils chose not to speak on camera but feature in some other way. For many, speaking on camera took them out of their comfort zone but they were desperate to do this for their mums. We are super proud of Rowan Class and all they continue to achieve. Wishing you all a lovely Mother’s Day 2023.
BRITISH SCIENCE FORTNIGHT 2023
Innovative Designs - The Harting Bus of the Future
Pupils were tasked with designing a minibus of the future as part of a local competition for The Harting Minibus Community Interest Company. Winning designs will be incorporated into the new branding of The Harting Bus.
Have you heard our exciting news? #HartingAndTheOddSocks only went and won the FIRST PRIZE for their Odd Sock Day film:
a visit from CBBC’s
Andy and The Odd Socks!
W/b 06.02.23
This week marked Internet Safety Day 2023. Pupils in Rowan Class participated in a hands-on Police workshop as well as a live BBC Teach lesson both focusing on staying safe online. PC Phillips and PC Ford from West Sussex Police taught us about staying safe in general, the role of a Police Officer and e-safety. Mr Gibbons from Foxtech, led an inspirational afternoon on cyber security, networks and working in IT.
Mr Gibbons shared a super website which is useful for checking how strong your password is. The children were particularly keen to try this at home. The website link is here:
Below, we have a short video of our exciting Internet Safety Day at Harting C of E Primary School. Enjoy!
W/b 30.01.23
Today marks the start of National Storytelling Week. Rowan Class participated in today's live lesson with Wendy Shearer and were delighted to be the first class and school mentioned during the live broadcast. If you would like to watch the lesson again, it can be accessed via the National Literacy Trust's You Tube page, below this text.
Pupils went on to use the inspirational work of Wendy to produce their own piece of creative writing which we will share on here soon. Well done Rowan Class! I am super proud of how hard you have all worked and am very much looking forward to reading and sharing all your stories later in the week.
W/b 02.01.23
Happy New Year and welcome back to the Spring Term!
Pupils have settled back into the new term with ease.
We are continuing our maths unit on Multiplication and Division and are having a science focus, learning about deforestation and the impact humans have on environments. We have used information technology to aid research skills and to help pupils present captivating and thought-provoking posters linked to our Orangutans case study which will shortly be displayed in our classroom. (A sample of finished work is displayed, above.) We have been most impressed by the children’s mature and passionate responses towards saving the Orangutans and this has ignited some super fact files along with many questions, including: What is palm oil and how are is it impacting orangutans? Should we ban palm oil? What impact would a palm oil ban have? Is palm oil to blame or is there a more sustainable way to obtain palm oil? What interesting facts can we find out about orangutans?
During Collective Class Worship on Tuesday, pupils role-played Epiphany and reflected on our new school value of the month, endurance. On Thursday, Reverend Harriet took the children outside to deliver a highly reflective and powerful Collective Worship linked to Epiphany.
Odd Socks Day UPDATE
A lovely celebratory video has appeared on The Anti-Bullying Alliance’s website, incorporating highlights from the national Odd Socks Day 2022, which incorporates three clips from our short film, ‘Calling Out’ by Harting and The Odd Socks (below). We also had an article published in The Petersfield Post during the holidays (below). We hope to hear the result of the Odd Socks Day competition soon!
Harting and The Odd Socks feature in The Petersfield Post, December 2022
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Week 10 W/b 14.11.22
To mark the start of this year’s Anti-bullying Week, Monday 14th November was Odd Socks Day. Pupils and staff were invited to wear odd socks, the whackier the better, in order to stand out and get noticed for being different. A bright clothing theme was also suggested and pupils were buzzing with excitement at what was in store for them! An upbeat morning assembly set the tone for the days’ activities which were candidly captured on camera. Pupils watched the Anti-bullying Alliance’s official ABW film, ‘Reach Out’, supported by an engaging and thought-provoking whole school discussion, encouraging pupils to consider who they could turn to if they were ever faced with any difficulties around friendships or bullying.
Children and staff rocked to Andy and the Odd Socks’ latest hit, ‘Calling Out’, which conveyed an underlying and crucial message: reach out and help each other, embracing our differences. This very much aligns to Harting’s school values of love and respect and ties in with the school’s Jigsaw approach to PSHE. Pupils and staff danced their hearts out, strumming guitars, playing saxophones, trumpets and various other instruments. Laughter, colour and excitement filled the school hall and everyone was ready for an action-packed day.
Pupils designed ‘kindness’ banners and odds socks; they sorted socks; learnt how to sign some of the lyrics to ‘Calling Out’ using British Sign Language; bopped up and down, created chain reactions, jumped, bounced balloons, created trains and circles; waved, sung, danced and created mini Odd Socks bands in the outdoor classroom (Round House); pedalled, climbed, carried and cuddled their siblings; played numerous instruments; as well as acted and performed a range of ‘bullying versus unkind’ scenarios. They had a wonderful day – one which the staff and pupils at Harting will never forget.
The school produced a teaser trailer summarising the events from Odd Socks Day and built suspense within our local community. At the end of ABW, the school released the short film titled ‘Harting and the Odd Socks’. The teaser and short film may be viewed (with an adult if aged under 13), on the school’s social media platforms: Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
To date, the film has had over 15000 views across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook with support from the Department for Education along with high profile celebrities such as Hugh Bonneville, Tamsin Outhwaite and ITV newsreader, Faye Barker, as well as Andy and the Odd Socks who also retweeted, getting behind the school’s key message: we may be a small village school but at Harting, we have big hearts; we are inclusive and reach out to support one another, embracing differences through our key school values of love and respect.
The Department for Education, who shared the film ‘Harting and the Odd Socks’ across all their social media platforms commented,
“Brilliant video from @harting_primary for Anti-bullying Week.”
Support from the Anti-Bullying Alliance, Brass Band England and numerous schools and parents from up and down the country also flooded in. In a rewteet from Andy and the Odd Socks, they expressed how impressed they were with Harting’s work on ABW:
“Harting and the Odd Socks this is absolutely AMAZING!! Me and the band have no words! Thank you so much for supporting Odd Socks Day and Anti-Bullying Week. Can you make our next video please? Andy”.
Week 9 W/b 07.11.22
On Monday, Rowan Class experienced being part of a LIVE Science Lesson with BBC Teach, focusing on adaptation in animals and climate change, fitting in perfectly with our current unit on Living things and their habitats.
On Wednesday, as part of an enrichment initiative between the Rother Valley schools, two pupils represented Harting and were invited to spend the day at Midhurst Rother College undertaking exhilarating science experiments involving Bunsen Burners and exploring states of matter.
(There will be further opportunities for other pupils to represent Harting throughout this year and next, as part of the same enrichment scheme, covering all subjects.)
On Thursday and Friday, the Tudor-based story of 'Treason' by Berlie Doherty got underway, and the children soon had many questions about the main character William Montague and his family, as well as predicting what will happen next.
Rowan pupils also excelled in writing 'What am I?' riddles about various everyday objects and animals.
On Friday afternoon, the children showed resilience and perseverance when learning how to use cross-stitch to create embroidery in the style of Tudor tapestries. There was an air of determination in the classroom as needles were threaded and the cross-stitch pattern repeatedly practised.
REMEMBRANCE DAY 2022
This week in Rowan Class also saw a focus on our new value of the month, RESPECT. Pupils found out about Remembrance Day, purchased and wore poppies with pride, and on Friday, marked the two minute silence. In English and Music, they analysed the meaning behind the lyrics of ‘Wherever You Are’, sung by the Military Wives Choir, together with the impact of this powerful track. This then inspired pupils to create beautiful poppies in Art and thought-provoking dance moves in PE. Rowan Class were asked to learn the song and despite some incredibly high notes and only a few days in which to learn the lyrics, they rose to the challenge. Pupils had their first taste of film-making as a class and I am delighted to present their short film, Remembrance Day, to you all. Enjoy! (Well done Rowan Class! I am SO proud of each and every one of you!)
Homework
In preparation for Odd Socks Day to mark Anti-Bullying Week, during Week 10 (w/b 14.11.22), I would like you to learn the Andy & The Odd Socks song below. (There is a shorter clip with the lyrics included in the second video below.) Remember to wear your odd socks and bright colours on Monday 14th November! The whackier, the better!
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Week 8 W/b 31.10.22
Homework
In preparation for our work around Remembrance Day during Week 9 (w/b 07.11.22), please start to familiarise yourself with the song, 'Wherever You Are’, sung by The Military Wives, with music and lyrics by Paul Mealor and Gareth Malone. I have created a supporting video below, to aid you with this task.
Week 7
This week, we have continued to focus on our value of the month: Thankfulness. On Monday, we produced spider diagrams in English using thesauruses to help us find alternative words (synonyms) for ‘thankful’. We talked and thought carefully about what and who we are thankful for in our lives and the children used these ideas to write thought-provoking prayers. Two of the prayers were shared as part of our visit on Tuesday, to The Congregational Church, where we had a delightful whole school service on ‘Thankfulness’. We sang and signed traditional hymns, including ‘Kum Ba Yah’, accompanied by a very talented guitarist and clarinetist.
In Maths, we continued to look at addition and subtraction, with a focus on reasoning and problem solving.
As part of our unit in English on instructional texts, we watched two First Aid videos produced by The British Red Cross, to help us not only learn about important life skills, but also to inspire role play and further procedural writing.
On Friday, we were invited to watch a reenactment of The Great Fire of London; images of which can be seen on Chestnut Class page.
Wishing you all a very happy, safe and restful half term.
Week 6
Harvest Festival
On Monday 10th October, children throughout the school attended our annual Harvest Festival held up at The Parish Church Of St Mary and St Gabriel Harting, beautifully led by Reverend Harriet Neale-Stevens and Oak Class.
On Tuesday 11th October, Years 5 & 6 had an incredible day launching this year's brass bands! Just three hours after being given their instruments, our new Year 5 band were ready to join with Year 6 in the first of many performances to the school and local community. A huge thank you to Brass Band England for all of their support.
Weeks 1-7
In English, we spent the first 4 weeks studying The Little Island, a picture book text with a focus on fiction. This unit included work on:
- extracting and applying vivid vocabulary (eg. liberty, harmonious & tension)
- story writing
- drama, role play and hot seating
- character demeanours and profiles
- exploring emotions
- writing and illustrating escape plans with accompanying rationales
- writing happiness declarations
- letter writing to the fictitious mayor
- holding class debates.
Friendship was a key theme to this text which also created many opportunities to develop links to PSHE as well as SPaG related tasks, too.
Since then, we have written ‘thank you’ letters to Goodwood and have been identifying and comparing the key features of instructional texts. Additionally, we have carefully followed a traditional Tudor recipe to create a delicious Vegetable Pottage. If you would like to create this Tudor dish at home too, please find the recipe we used (along with a few others from the same era), in the resources, below.
Weeks 6 and 7 will focus on developing our SPaG skills, culminating in several opportunities to write high quality sets of instructions. Our work will continue to be inspired by our practical experiences including learning to carry out basic First Aid skills.
In Maths, we have started our new block on Addition and Subtraction (with Mrs Venn) and Measures (with Mrs Lockrose).
In RE, the focus for the month of October is on the school value, Thankfulness. As part of this, pupils in Rowan Class wrote notes thanking staff around the school for all they do, accompanied by a small edible gift of thanks. Children are also learning about Harvest and will enjoy our annual festival in the coming weeks.
Previous work in RE included making and writing prayers for the year ahead as well as a focus on the school value for September, Trust. We continue to have daily Class Worships, sometimes class based and other days as part of the whole school, in the Hall, with Mr Tidey and regular visitors from the church.
Our topic in Science is Living Things and their Habitats. So far we have learned about the seven life processes and how to classify and group living things.
In Computing, pupils have used the laptops to translate English into Ukrainian, to research information and to play Times Tables Rock Stars. Some pupils have also used the laptops to access NESSY. The unit we are studying this half term is Computer Systems and Networks. Children will explore how a network can share messages with another network to form the internet. They will consider some of the network devices involved in this, such as routers, and will also discuss what should be kept in and out of a network to keep safe.
JIGSAW, our new PSHE scheme, is going very well for pupils and staff. The class enjoy the mindfulness approach to promoting wellbeing and are currently working on the first piece of the jigsaw: Being Me In My World. This unit sees pupils answering questions such as “Who am I?” and “Where do I fit?”. We have created and agreed a Class Charter which is displayed in our classroom as a useful reminder for all.
Y5/6 Residential
Week 4
At the end of September, pupils from Rowan and Oak Classes had a wonderful two night/three day stay at Goodwood Stables.
Homework
Please continue to read regularly with and to your child. When reading to your child, we recommend selecting books which are slightly beyond their reading ability so as to immerse them with more challenging, rich vocabulary, which in turn, they will begin to use in their writing. There are some great recommendations for books to read here: Reading Lists, including graphic novels for which appeal to reluctant and able readers alike.
Times Tables
Please continue to work on times tables. BBC Super Movers Times Tables have some fantastic routines which the children enjoy using in class. There’s also some great apps out there including Times Tables Rock Stars (TTRS), Hit the Button and Twinkl’s Multiplication Check Practice games, which all help develop rapid recall. Pupils in Year 4 will be sitting the statutory Multiplication Check in June 2023. Further information on the Multiplication Check for parents and guardians may be found here.
Learning Conversations
The following Learning Conversations are set on a Friday and the aim behind them is for pupils to discuss and answer the key questions with a grown up at home, taking time to find out anything they are unsure of. At least one of the three questions will involve an element of pre-teaching, whereby the pupils are expected to do a little research so they bring new learning (verbally) to share with the class the following week. They are generally not expected to record or produce anything, although they may of course do so if they would like to.
Knowledge Organisers
Please also remember to share and refer to the Knowledge Organisers (below) with your child, particularly at the beginning of each half term, and throughout as needed to keep feeding their thirst of knowledge.
Spellings
New spelling patterns are taught weekly at school. Pupils are not formally tested on their new spellings but instead are expected to demonstrate their new words in written work at school. Additionally, there are Statutory Spellings which may be worked on at home to support class work. (See links below.)
We thank you for your continued support.
Learning Conversations
Knowledge Organisers
Please find below the knowledge organisers linked to your child's learning this year. These documents provide details of the key knowledge the children are expected to learn across the sequence of learning. We would encourage parents and carers to look at these with their children and regularly spend time discussing the facts on the sheets.
Science
Geography & History
Spellings