Happy Campers!

Class 3 love school so much they refused to go home this weekend. Instead they all pitched their tents on the school field and spent the night!

We had a fantastic time playing games together, including a special game of hide and seek in a dark and shadowy school building. Mr Madeley added to the mood by telling us the eerie tale of Egbert!

For dinner, Mrs.Watts and Mrs.Wadeley cooked up a fantastic feast of bangers and mash.

The camping showed us the importance of working as a team especially when it came to packing up the tents.

'This has been the best trip ever!' grinned Bobby.

Our Salvadorian Friends Return

Once again we hosted a visited from our Salvadorian friends. The group of 36 year six pupils and their six teachers are completing a two week trip taking in the highlights of the UK including the London Eye, Oxford, Mount Snowdon and .... Harewood C of E Primary!

Mr Madeley organised games that got us talking to each other. We found out that we have a lot in common even though we live many of thousands of miles apart.

We all enjoyed playing outside. The girls taught us some traditional clapping games, whilst the boys proved that the English reptuation for dismal penalty shoot-outs is well deserved!

It was a great morning full of laughter. We can't wait for their return next year!!

Year 6 at Malham (liveblog)

Rain? What Rain?

Despite the torrential rain, Year 3 completed their Yorkshire Adventure! Mr. Madeley braved the weather conditions to treat us to a guided walk on Otley Chevin.

We scrambled through rocks, brushed up on our tree identification skills and studied how water had carved the earth around us. The highlight of the day was our den building activity. Working in small groups we gathered fallen sticks to build some sturdy shelters which, given the conditions, were very useful.

Year 3 were so busy have a good time that they hardly noticed the rain. We returned to school drenched, exhausted and very happy!

 

Class 4 curators at Harewood House!

This afternoon Class 4 went to Harewood House to meet a real curator of the house's collection of artefacts, who showed us their new exhibition all about Princess Mary. We looked at a range of objects from the collection, including several gardening tools and tiny plant pots which were taken from Mary's doll's house.  

The children were shown photographs which were details from artefacts and they had to match these to the artefacts in the collection. One of these was a muzzled bear symbol taken from a horse's cart, which the curator explained is the Lascelles' family crest - the pupils were amazed to realise it was the same symbol as on their school jumpers!

The second session involved looking at the toolkit of a curator. The pupils were given special paper to rub in their skin to show how the skin can be quite oily which can have a damaging effect on the artefacts.

We then had the chance to try out lots of different types of curator's gloves which all served slightly different purposes.

Here we see some brush cleaning - the curator explained that you have to brush away from the spine so that the dust doesn't get clogged up near the spine.

Overall it was a fascinating session that the pupils all seemed to thoroughly enjoy.

"It was very interesting and I learnt a lot about the history of Harewood House and Princess Mary." Brandon

"I really like seeing what it is like to be a curator." Gea

"I found it very interesting to learn what a curator was." Taylor H

"I enjoyed looking around at all the artefacts they had there." Oscar L

"I didn't realise the Chinese wallpaper would be so valuable!" Jacob

"I found it very informative and I really enjoyed myself." Bella

A Right Royal Relay!

What a fantastic day! The whole school joined in the celebrations and welcomed Princess Beatrice and the olympic torch to Harewood today. It was a once in lifetime experience and one that we will remember for a long time to come!

Year 4 on Ilkley Moor (liveblog)