Kingshill Church School Barn Owl 2023 to 2024
Barn Owl Class
Barn Owl Class Pathway Spring 2026.docx
Teacher: Mrs Mackie
Adults in Class: Miss Grainger (Mon, Wed) Mr Pellow (Tues, Thurs, Fri)
Welcome to Barn Owl Class. We are a Reception and Year 1 class and we love learning! Please keep visiting our class website page as we will update it regularly. Our most recent learning will be at the top of our page.
Please see the documents below for our yearly overview and our planning pathways.
The Barn Owl class had an amazing trip to Gemini Gymnastics, where they dived into a day full of fun and active challenges! The children practiced forward and backward rolls, leapt confidently off the pommel horse, and swung and balanced on the bars. Everyone had a blast trying new skills, building confidence, and cheering each other on. It was a day full of laughter, learning, and energetic adventures!
Barn Owl Class had a fantastic time taking part in Think Fast Fitness! The children loved testing their reflexes by pressing different coloured lights in a fast-paced game of quick reactions. It was full of energy, laughter, and friendly competition – a brilliant way for them to stay active while having great fun!
Recently, children in Barn Owl class have been taking part in the Big Brush Club — a national initiative designed to teach young pupils how to brush their teeth effectively.
Each day after lunch, Barn Owl pupils brush their teeth for a full two minutes under supervision. The routine is simple but purposeful: correct amount of toothpaste, careful brushing of all surfaces, and building consistency through daily practice.
What stands out is how quickly this has become embedded in the school day. The pupils approach it sensibly and confidently, demonstrating that even small daily actions can support long-term wellbeing.
Barn Owls had a fantastic time taking part in the first aid workshop. We learnt how to help people who are very unwell. We learnt how important it is to know our address and the number 999. The first aider showed us all of his kit and Mrs Mackie was his patient. We loved watching him bandage her up and use the blood pressure reader on her. After our workshop we really enjoyed using the bandages and slings in our own doctors role play. We really enjoyed using the knowledge we had of what to do when someone is in trouble.
We also really enjoyed learning new age curling with Mr T. We learnt how to control our pushes to make sure we could score points. We had a great time.
In our roleplay we have been exploring the doctors surgery. We have taken turns being the doctor and the patient. We’ve had broken legs, sore feet and lots of other ailments. Luckily our doctors are very skilled at wrapping bandages!
We have really enjoyed learning about Diwali in Barn owls. We created sparkling firework picture, beautiful Rangoli patterns and colourful Diva lamps as part of our learning. We enjoyed learning about why the festival of light is celebrated.
As geographers we received a message from an alien asking for a map of our classroom to help them find their way around if they ever visited us. We looked around our classroom and made a list of all the important areas that don’t change and noticed things like where they were and how close they were to other areas and if they were a different colour. We used this information to make maps of our classroom.
In our writing lessons we have begun to explore instructions and how we use instructional language. We experimented by giving Mrs Mackie instructions on how to butter a piece of bread. We found we had to remember every step to make sure she was successful, like taking the bread out the packed so the butter doesn’t go on the packet! We will be using what we have learnt to write instructions on how to make Gruffalo crumble.
In PE this term we have been exploring our gross motor skills and building strength in our bodies to help us balance and climb. Each week we have challenged ourselves to climb a little bit higher or use a narrower beam in the hall. We especially enjoyed climbing to use the slide.
In Barn Owl class we have been exploring transient art using signs of autumn such as leaves and twigs from the trees. We especially enjoyed collecting conkers! We have been inspired by the work of Andy Goldsworthy and created some art work based on our learning.
We have also been experimenting with printing and made our own number blocks in class using cubes and paint.
The highlight of the last two weeks was our first buddy session. We really enjoyed meeting our buddies and sharing a book with them. We can already see what fantastic buddies Eagle class will be!
In our first week Barn Owl has really enjoyed exploring our classroom as well as getting to know our new friends. Our reception children have settled in really well and have enjoyed becoming part of Barn Owl class. We have been practicing fine motor skills as well as testing our gross motor skills outside. We went on a tour of the school to show our new reception children where everything is and supported each other in sharing books in the library. We learnt our poem Ferns from the book of lost words and presented it confidently to the school, to make sure it looked like fern leaves we experimented with fork printing.
