Petrospheres

31st March 2020C Whitehead

Year 3 completed some inference work around these carved stone balls that were found by archaeologists many years ago. We discussed where we thought the object had come from, how long ago, and what it might have been used for.

After making our own inferences, we completed some research to try and find out a little more object these strange objects. We found that they are known as petrospheres, which is the name given to any round man-made object made of stone. They are around 4,000 years old and date to the late Neolithic or Bronze Age. No one knows for sure what these petrospheres were used for but we came up with lots of excellent ideas! We then used clay to make our very own petrosphere.

National Literacy Trust- Family Zone resources for parents and carers

27th March 2020P Mullea

Morning everyone,

We hope that you are well and finding things to keep you busy during these unusual times.

We wanted to share with you all a fantastic resource created by The National Literacy Trust for families to support with home learning. As Harton Primary is a ‘Puffin World of Stories’ school, we have been invited to use The Family Zone. This website has been designed with you in mind and gives a range of activity suggestions, online resources and things to keep your children busy (and learning).

Simply follow the link  below and select the age range of you child to find out more!

https://literacytrust.org.uk/family-zone/

 

 

Coronavirus Update – Closure to Almost All Pupils

19th March 2020M Noble

Dear Parents/Carers,

 

Re: Coronavirus update – school closure to most pupils

 

Following on from my last update, I’m now writing to let you know that we have now been instructed to close the school to almost all children after this Friday until further notice.

As advised by the government, we will do all we can to stay open for the children of key workers (e.g. NHS staff, police, others in frontline services) and children with certain needs.

We are waiting for the government to publish more information on what this means, but it would help us in the meantime if you could let us know if you think your child may fall into one of these categories. Please contact school by telephone 0191 4562150 or email [email protected] giving your child’s name and class if you think your child will be attending school from Monday. We’ll be in touch again as soon as we are sure who this does apply to.

All other children will need to stay at home, so we ask that you do not send your child into school from Monday onwards.

Please note that this is a national closure – as you may have heard in the news – so while it is a challenging situation, we are not alone. We’ll re-open fully as soon as we can and will let you know when this is by ‘Marvellous Me’ and the school website.

 

What we’ll continue doing while your child is at home

Your child’s learning is of course important to us, so we’ll continue to help your child to learn.

You should have received a pack of work (if not it is available to collect in school)

Staff will be in regular contact via ‘Marvellous Me’ and please check the school website regularly.

If your child usually receives free school meals we will also be in touch with more information about how we will continue to provide this, with support from a scheme that the government has just announced.

 

What we won’t be able to go ahead with

School trips

After school clubs

Any SATs or other planned assessments

 

This is as much as we know right now and we appreciate your continued patience with as we deal with this ever-changing situation. We understand that this latest news will have an impact on you and your family and it’s far from ideal, but we’ll continue to keep in touch with any updates as the situation develops.

If you want to get in touch to share any concerns, please don’t hesitate to do so via the school office, [email protected]

 

And remember: if you or your child feels ill and you want to know what to do next, please use NHS 111 online.

Thank you again for your continued support, and we will be in touch with more information when we can.

 

K Ratcliffe

Head Teacher

Junior Lego League!

17th March 2020C Whitehead

Junior Lego League have been thinking about different buildings and architecture around South Shields. We discussed the different features of buildings and chose some buildings that we liked . We sketched out the building and discussed the structure. We then used Lego to start to build our chosen building!

ROCKS!

12th March 2020J Devlin

Y3 enjoyed their visit from Durham University – We learned a lot about the Earth and its layers then moved onto looking at rocks in detail.
We used magnifying glasses to look at the different rocks. We found it fascinating how many different types of rock there were and how many different uses rocks have. We grouped rocked into different categories.

We even tried out making our own type of rocks with crayons and foil!

Science Week Investigations!

12th March 2020J Devlin

Y3D are enjoying lots of different investigations this week for British Science Week!

One experiment was to use a non-Newtonian liquid to make Cornflour Slime. We discussed how the slime was different to normal liquids and used scientific vocabulary to describe its properties.

Another experiment was to investigate which material would protect an egg best when it was dropped from a height. We discussed the materials properties and made predictions about which materials we thought would protect the egg so that it did not crack when it was dropped.


We also took part in a magic milk experiment which investigated how dish soap can cause the fat and protein in the milk to separate and spread apart.

We have also looked at different light sources and carried out a fair test to see which material is most reflective and were challenged to design a new book bag for school with a reflective strip so that we can be seen in the dark. We had lots of fun and used some interesting scientific vocabulary such as: reflective, illuminate, visible and shadow.