Class 3 and 4 have been very busy over the last two weeks preparing for the Bishops Nympton political party election. This is very much connected to what is currently happening in the UK politically. With a general election potentially looming, the children are gaining first-hand experience on how  political parties are formed and run. So far, the children have formed their parties and decided on one key issue, their party line, which will be the basis of their campaign. Collaboratively in their groups, they have designed their party logos and experimented with printed them using a tri-colour mono printing technique. On Friday we will carry on with our campaign creating propaganda posters to persuade others.

The parties that were formed cover a wide range of issues which party will you vote for?

Well done to all the children for creating wonderful businesses for Business afternoon. Thank you to all of you who attended to support the children. The children were able to raise £141.95, as a group, we will decide what the money is going to be spent on. Have a fantastic weekend everyone.

Ms P

This year the London trip was superb. The children experienced that hustle and bustle of the city during jam-packed two days. Thank you, class of 2019, for making the trip enjoyable. Ms P

Class 4 have been hard at work today learning about street dancing. We talked about B-boy battles, that originated for from the Bronx, and how it changed modern dancing. The children really showed off their skills, wowing class 3 and 2 in an impromptu performance. Well done class 4, I am very much looking forward to watching you all take risks to next year. Ms P

What a day of adventure the juniors have had today. In the space of a day, we have managed to experience all weather climates ranging from rainy Devon storms to the Mediterranean microclimate and finally the Rainforest tropics. Upon our arrival at The Eden Project, the children had a brief history of on how Eden was developed from a quarry into the fantastic sustainable place that we know. After this, we had a quick lunch followed by a walk around the Mediterranean Biome where the children discovered the plants that grow in the warm climates such as lemons, limes, tomatoes and olives.

When we returned to the education centre our ranger Chris was waiting eagerly to start our workshop. The children were transported into the rainforest of Papa New Guinea to meet the Kombai tribe people. For the task, the children were members of a research team who have been sent to locate the Kombai tribe in Papua and learn how they live. The children first prepared for their expedition by considering what kit they would need. Upon making contact with the Kombai we divided into ‘tribes’ each with their own unique tribal symbol and face paints. Accompanied by adults (Mrs Jones, Theresa and myself ) the tribes journeyed into the rainforest and identified how to use the rainforest and its plants for food, shelter, water and health.

This was a fantastic trip as most of the children had not been to Eden before. I hope the children have been inspired as all the learning we have been doing in class has built up to this. Thank you for enabling us to go. A huge thank you to Theresa Selley for coming to support on very short notice.

Twelve children from Bishops Nympton and East Anstey had the amazing opportunity to take part in the Met Office Science Camp that took place on Friday night and Saturday morning. Upon arriving at the Met Office Exeter base the children were split into two teams – Team snowflake and Team Aurora – to start their meteorological journey.  After some delicious dinner, the activities were well on the way. The children learned about the sheep forecast, which is a real thing, used by farmers in the Falklands island to determine when to bring their sheep inside. Following this, they went on to learn about wind and how significant it is to the weather. They discovered how scientists at the Met Office tacked it and even go the chance to make their own anemometer to help them calculate wind speed. At around 8:15 we stopped for a quick snack and then ascended to the second floor to learn about how clouds are formed and how to identify them. The most exciting part involved making our own clouds in the bottle which everyone got to do.  Another highlight from Friday was getting to see the supercomputer which weight the same as nine double-decker buses some of us even got the chance to go inside the closely guarded room.  As the night drew to a close we learnt what a seagull, the sea and supercomputer had in common using some complex but fun chaos theory. Fundamentally, impressing upon us the enormous maths that happens to be able to calculate the weather. At 10:30pm, it was time for a very poignant bedtime story about looking after our unique planet.

On Saturday we continued on our learning journey this time looking at the customer services operations of the Met office. The children had the opportunity to practice what they had learnt the night before to help a real-life client that wanted to know whether to cancel a flying troop display show as he suspected it was going to rain at 3pm when the show was scheduled. From tracking the wind pressure and looking at data from the previous night the children were able to calculate that the show would be able to go ahead however that client would need to warn crowd they might need to bring umbrellas for later. In order to report their finding to the client, the children got to use a green screen to provide a client-specific weather report.

I can only say how proud I am of the children, they had a tremendous amount to knowledge which they shared with each other and others there. Thank you to Mr Huxtable for coming along on the trip.

As the Met Office is a world leader in weather and scientific research photos were not permitted, luckily they had their own photographer circulating so we should have photos very shortly.  

Due to the success of the Christmas crackers, Junior class have been busy tinkering again. The children in Ks2 have used their screen printing skills to create these on-trend – reuse, reduce and recycle – tote bags for everyone in our community to help them reduce single-use plastic. This is in connection with our topic for next term, rainforests, where children will learn about conservation and earth guardianship.

The tote bag will be available for you to buy at the Easter assembly for only £3.00 a bag! There are only 50 bags available, get yours whilst you in stock.

Ms P

The children sampling their loaves of bread to see whether their choice of flours provided the best rise.

This week class 4 were set a very important task by Warburton’s master baker to find out which flour would provide the best rise for a bread range which they would like to sell in stores across the UK. Our keen food scientists started their research by finding out about wheat and gluten and used this knowledge to design their own bread.

Today arrived the time to test whether their choice of flour was going to produce the best bread to meet the client’s specifications. I can say based on what they looked like coming out of the oven there are many contenders for the title of best baker. The ranges of flour used were rye, whole wheat, gluten-free, strong white and self-raising.

In amidst all the cooking, there was time for a couple of experiments. The scientist filled bottles with sugar, yeast and water and covered the top with a balloon and observed how yeast works in action. The balloons soon filled with carbon dioxide as it was released as the yeast budded. There was also the chance to wash flour to help them understand what gluten is. By washing the flour, the starch is removed leaving an elastic dough called gluten.

Due to lack of time, the sampling of bread will take place during the morning tomorrow.

Ms P

So far this week Class 3/4 have been learning about their bodies. On Monday we learnt all about how we taste and how sometimes our senses deceive us. We conducted a range of experiments which involved tasting different mixture that helped us to draw our own individual tongue maps- identifying the sweet, sour,bitter, and salty. To follow this, we blocked the sense of smell and tried to see if it impacted on how the food tasted. The children tried two samples of food (potato and apple) and tried to distinguish the difference.  Many children were unable to tell the difference between the two, proving how important taste is to a good food experience.

Today, the class were joined by nurse Steve who came in to help us with some first aid skills. The children had a chance to bandage each other’s injuries and ask a lot of interesting questions. As a treat Steve let the children have a look at his transformers Chevrolet Camaro.