Trips and Visits

Trips & Visits

Reception Visit Brooklands Museum

On Monday 23rd September, Reception went to Brooklands Museum. This was quite an adventure as it was their fi rst school trip. All the children were very excited and could not wait to get on the minibus.

They began their morning exploring all the different cars, buses and bikes. The children particularly enjoyed a chance to sit in the racing car. Mrs Wilson relished the opportunity to go in Lewis Hamilton’s car from the 2007 Spanish Grand Prix! After lunch, the children enjoyed a workshop where they were able to go on a range of different aeroplanes, including a cargo plane and the Concorde. It was a fantastic day and on the way home there were some very sleepy children! Thank you to Mrs Triska and Mrs Wilson for accompanying the trip.

Reception Trip to Wellington Country Park

On Friday 13th March, Reception children were very excited to visit Wellington Country Park. There was lots of excitement over which minibus we were going on and lots of “are we nearly there yet?” On arrival, we started with our pond dipping session and we were the fi rst class to ever fi nd a fi sh! We then moved to the train ride and feeding the animals (goats, horses and sheep). After lunch we went to visit the dinosaurs. They were very big and the children taught me, Mrs Wilson and Mrs Triska their names. We had such a fantastic day and the children were all brilliantly behaved.

Mrs Livingston

Year 1 Trip to the Guildford Museum

On Wednesday 12th February, Year 1 visited the Toy Room and School Room linked to The Guildford Museum.

The children spent the morning learning about Victorian toys. They sorted old and new toys, played with Victorian toys and looked at the materials used to make them. They sang traditional Victorian rhymes and wore Victorian clothes.

They then visited the School Room upstairs and sat at traditional desks, boys on one side, girls on the other. They made a hat and wrote on slate boards.

The children behaved beautifully. They answered questions with great enthusiasm and showed fantastic topic knowledge. They were so well behaved and we were so proud of them all.

Thank you so much to Lexi’s mum for helping on the day.

They then visited the School Room upstairs and sat at traditional desks, boys on one side, girls on the other. They made a hat and

Pre-Prep Perform!

In October, ‘Perform’ visited Pre-Prep. With a mixture of energetic games, catchy songs and funky dances based on the theme ‘Knights of the Round Table’, the children had an amazing, magical experience. They loved the opportunity to use their They loved the opportunity to use their imagination and experience drama based team work.

Year 2 Tudors

Year 2 had a wonderful week as part of their topic of the Tudors. On Tuesday 26th November, the children excitedly boarded the coach to take them to Portsmouth Historic Dockyards, the home of the Mary Rose. The day began with a workshop, the children learned about the different roles on board ship in Tudor times and also the big differences between how the rich and poor lived at sea. There were no women on board!

Following their much anticipated packed lunch, the children returned to the purpose built Mary Rose Museum that houses the ship’s remains. Through the ship’s artefacts and interactive displays the children were able to experience the Tudor story.

As they made their way back to the coach, there were defi nitely a few tired legs, but a fantastic day was had by all.

Tudor times did not stop there however, as Thursday was ‘Tudor Feast Day’ for Year 2. Morning registration was full of excited children as they admired each other’s costumes. During the morning, the children joyfully created their Tudor houses and then enjoyed a real Tudor feast for lunch, complete with chicken drumsticks and rustic bread. The children rounded off their day making scented Tudor pomanders to take home. Friday bought the Christmas workshop hosted by the BHCC - this week could not have been any more exciting! Thank you to Mrs Kilgannon, Mrs Hawkins and Mrs Platt.

Year 2’s Mary Rose Memories

We went to a workshop and tried on Tudor clothes. Some were itchy and some were smooth. Mateo

We went on the coach and I sat next to Bea and we played an animal game and we played for a long time and it took a long time to get there. Delilah

We went to the Mary Rose Museum and saw the wreck of the Mary Rose. Beatrice

We got to try on the rich clothes and poor clothes. Thomas B

We went to the museum and tried on some clothes. Ellis

We went on the coach to Mary Rose Museum. We went to try on Tudor clothes. Maxime

We went to a workshop and looked at fi ve hundred year old Tudor things. We tried on Tudor clothes which were poor clothes and rich clothes. Edward

We went to look at the old things that were on the Mary Rose. Laura

We went to sort out the Tudor items and tried on Tudor clothes. Ethan K We tried on Tudor clothes. Kit

We had lunch and I had two sandwiches.

Thomas N

We got into partners and went on the coach. My partner was TB but he went to sleep. Anthony

We went to a workshop and Clare told us some good facts. Then we put on poor and rich clothes. We went on a coach it was big. George

We walked to the Mary Rose. We saw two ships. We saw some Tudor objects. Alec

We went to the museum and I saw a skull. Ethan S

I saw the Mary Rose. I went on a coach and a person told us some facts. Then we had lunch and it was yummy. And then it was time to go home. Elliot

We went to the coach and I sat next to Bea and Delilah and then we went and we got to try on some Tudor clothes. Rosie

Zoolab

On Friday 28th February, Pre-Prep had an exciting day. They had some visitors of the exotic animal form. They had a corn snake, a tree frog, an African millipede, a hissing cockroach, a dumbo rat and an African giant snail join Barrow Hills for the day. The children could not wait to meet the exotic animals. They took part in an age appropriate session handling the animals. They were all fascinated by all the different facts about them and everyone was very brave with the snake particularly. Thank you to Abbie Peterson from Zoolab for a fantastic day.

FUN FACTS!

1. Shelley the African land snail

Shelley had four things poking out of her face which are tentacles! The top two are her eyes - she can’t see very well so she has two noses at the bottom to feel her way around. The shell is her home and her protection.

She has 10,000 teeth (more than a great white shark!) and they’re all on her tongue. Teeth are shaped like hooks. Her favourite food in the whole world is cucumber. Whatever she eats, her poop is the same colour - if she were to eat something rainbow coloured, this still applies!

2. Charlie the Madagascan hissing cockroach

Charlie can hold his breath underwater for 45 minutes. He can run so fast he can run through fi re and if he was put in the freezer he could survive for two years. Charlie can eat everything we can eat and lots of other things we can’t eat - soap, carpet, smelly socks, paint, glue... The main thing he likes to eat is bat excrement.

He’s called ‘hissing’ because he doesn’t breathe through his nose and mouth like we do; he has holes (spiracles) down his back and breathes through them. If he’s scared he forces air out through the holes to make a hissing sound like a snake, so that mice (which like to eat cockroaches) are frightened away.

3. Maura the giant African millipede

She has 272 legs.

She has two antennae poking out of the top of her head - she can’t see very well either on the rainforest fl oor. When she was put on the fl oor we saw how slowly she moves - her legs aren’t built for speed. When she’s scared she curls up into a spiral; she looks like poop and covers her body in a smelly liquid to stop other animals wanting to eat her.

4. Claire the white tree frog

The white tree frog was discovered by Dr Henry White who named her after himself. The children couldn’t hold her because she breathes in a funny way - through her skin. When Abbie got her out of her tank this morning she was brown. She can change colour to blend in to her environment. She can turn green to camoufl age herself among leaves; brown on the wood.

She blinks her food into her stomach - her eyes disappear into her stomach and pushes the food down into her stomach.

5. Sidney the corn snake

There are three things that defi ne reptiles: scaly skin, laying eggs and being coldblooded. The children met Sidney - a corn snake who comes from America. They were able to stroke him down his back in the same direction as his scales. Sidney has 450 bones in his body - we’ve only got 206 bones.

What do you think he’s doing when he’s hissing? He is sniffi ng.

Sidney liked being on the fl oor so he could wiggle. Where does he live? In a cornfi eld. Farmers like having snakes in the fi eld, because they eat the mice that eat the corn.

He opens his mouth to three times the size of his own head and swallows whole. If we could do that, we could swallow a watermelon whole.

He eats once a week, on Fridays! He could go six months without eating.

6. Peanut the dumbo rat 6. Peanut the dumbo rat

Peanut is only fi ve months old and her Peanut is only fi ve months old and her hearing is twenty times as sensitive as hearing is twenty times as sensitive as ours. ‘Dumbo’ rats are names as they ours. ‘Dumbo’ rats are names as they have ears like the well known elephant. have ears like the well known elephant. Peanut has still got her baby fur; she is Peanut has still got her baby fur; she is lovely and soft. Peanut likes to stay awake at night, she is ‘nocturnal’. She has big eyes for seeing, big ears for hearing and whiskers. She uses her whiskers to feel her way around and uses her tail to cool herself down and to balance. She can even wrap it around things. Her species are classifi ed as the seventh most intelligent animals on the planet - she could do every trick a dog could do (sit, fetch, come to her name). Rats like to have friends and can’t be kept on their own; they would get too sad.

Year 3 go back in time to Butser Ancient Farm

On Friday 22nd November, Year 3 enjoyed an exciting trip to Butser Ancient Farm. The children gathered around a huge open, albeit pretty smoky fi re, inside a very impressive Roman house. Sitting on fur rugs, the children listened intently to Eleanor, our leader for the day. They learned about life in ancient times, including the building of houses and considered if they would prefer living in a Celtic round house or a Roman construction. Opportunities to experience life Roman construction. Opportunities to experience life as a Roman were in abundance. From constructing wattle fencing with strips of wood strategically woven and stacked on top of each other, to jewellery making of rings and bracelets. The children jewellery making of rings and bracelets. The children became archaeologists as they carefully used small trowels to excavate part of an ancient site revealing a spur, nails, mosaic, pottery and various metal objects. The children were quick to remember that these metal objects were made of iron. As Year 2 walked through the ancient site they noted plants and animals around the settlement. Do you think it would have been fun to live in those times? We wonder...

Mrs Miles and Mrs Peek

Carols at The Clockhouse

Year 3 had a wonderful time singing Christmas carols at The Clockhouse. They made Christmas cards and handed them out afterwards to the elderly whilst chatting to them. It was wonderful to see the young and the ‘not so young’ all having a lovely time together. Mrs Peek and Mrs Miles were extremely proud of their behaviour and thought they all sang like angels!

Year 3 Visit the Natural History Museum

If you happened to be in the bowels of London’s Natural History Museum on a chilly February morning you may have been startled to spot 24 Barrow Hills Year 3 children acting as budding palaeontologists for the day. Excitedly participating in the uncovering of hidden treasures beneath the soil, the children carefully brushed away the layers to reveal what lay beneath...

We were incredibly proud of these fabulous ambassadors for the school. The Year 3 children were highly motivated, focused and superbly mannered. Congratulations to you all.

Mrs Peek and Mrs Miles

Junior Prep Head to Twickenham

It was a chilly Thursday morning as Junior Prep headed to Twickenham Stadium to watch the men’s and women’s teams from Oxford and Cambridge Universities go head to head in the annual Varsity Match.

The weather was wet and the playing conditions were tough but the Barrow Hills crew stayed warm and dry under the shelter to watch the ladies game fi rst before exploring the museum. The children had great fun reading the facts, as well as testing and playing on the tactile displays where they measured their speed, agility and reactions, along with power and strength.

The men’s match was very exciting, even though there were many handling errors due to the weather.

The children were amazing, very well behaved and hopefully enjoyed the experience of visiting a sporting stadium, but the home of England rugby.

Many thanks to all the teachers who came along to help and to Mr Hatcher for organising.

Year 4 Ecology Trip

On an autumnal October morning, Year 4 enjoyed pond dipping and walking in the Witley woodland on a bug hunt. The squeals of delight could be heard back at school, as the children found, amongst other things, slug eggs, earwigs and centipedes, water boatmen, snails and dragonfl y nymphs. It defi nitely sorted those who were brave enough to use their fi ngers and those who preferred a stick to collect the creatures and put them in their magnifying pots!

Historical Haslemere

On Wednesday 13th November, Year 4 headed to historical Haslemere. The fi rst part of their trip included a visit to the Victorian town well, the original Haslemere police station, the infamous Town House, as well as the green Penfold post box. The children then attended a workshop at the Haslemere Museum, where they were shown how Haslemere had developed through the ages, as well as having the opportunity to explore the incredible museum artefacts.

Children from 4G provided a recount of the trip.

“During our museum visit we learnt that Haslemere got its name because the mere was surrounded by hazel trees.” Alfred

“Next we visited the town well, threw a coin in and made a wish. We read that a lady called Hannah Oakford delivered the water to the whole of Haslemere.” Gus

“We discovered that parts of the Tudor Cottage were over 600 years old. We knew it was from the Tudor period as there were beams and small windows.” Max “The Penfold post box we learnt was representative of Victorian post boxes, which were all painted green. They changed to red because the postman couldn’t see them in the dark! They are decorative and hexagonal in shape with the letters VR - standing for Victoria Regina.” Cleo

“We learnt that during the building of the railway in the 1850s, there were riots and that one policeman was killed and one was badly injured.” Hamish

Bubbleologist!

Maxwell the bubbleologist specialises in all things bubbles! He sparked joy and curiosity in our children when he visited Barrow Hills School. The premise of the workshop was that all bubbles will pop and that failure is never a problem, it is just an opportunity to regroup, take your time and have another go. He even managed to put Mr Oldroyd into a giant bubble!

Some of the techniques discovered by Years 5 and 6 included blowing joint bubbles and creating bubbles from their hands. The children also attempted more complex tasks and constructions such as bubble ladders, concentric bubbles and model solar systems.

Through the demonstrations and workshops Maxwell shared his bubble secrets and knowledge, building the children’s curiosity. In particular, they were fascinated to fi nd out that they were playing, creating and bouncing bubbles even though the fi lm is thinner than the width of a human hair. Thank you to Maxwell and to Mr Andrade for arranging such a joyful event!

Middle Prep Army Workshop

Old Barrow Hillian and former gap student Will Kriehn returned to school in early March. Now an offi cer in the army, Will led a day of workshops for Years 5 and 6. After an assembly, which outlined the opportunities the army has to offer, children were able to examine some of the equipment used by the British Army. They particularly enjoyed learning about and trying on the hazmat suit. Dressed in their camoufl age themed mufti, the children then learnt how to camoufl age themselves (with varying degrees of success) and set up a basha. Those groups who completed it with ease then attempted the task blindfolded, imaging how diffi cult this might be to complete at night. The children then practised some basic fi ring manoeuvres and fi nished the day with drills followed by a tactical game of ‘capture the fl ag’ when they put some of the theoretical skills into practice. It was a fantastic day, thank you to Mr Kriehn for his time and to Mr Andrade for organising.

Science Lecture

On Thursday 14th November, we travelled across town to King Edward’s, for a science lecture from Isambard Kingdom Brunel. He talked about all of his constructions from the Clifton Suspension Bridge all the way to the Thames Tunnel that runs under the River Thames (surprisingly!). Barnaby (7G) On Thursday 14th November, Year 7 went to King Edward’s Witley for a science lecture, delivered by a man disguised as Isambard Kingdom Brunel. He was very interesting, I learned that he was a British civil engineer and he invented the Great Western Railway. He was funny and made me and my friends laugh. At the end of the lecture he sung a song by himself with no background music. He also talked about how he constructed tunnels, ships and bridges. NJ (7G)

Geography Fieldwork

On Tuesday 8th October, Year 8 travelled to Bell Vale Lane in Haslemere and Radford Park in Liphook to complete their required geography fi eldwork for Common Entrance. They began by travelling to the river sites to conduct the investigation, and then returned to school to complete their write up. The fi eldwork constituted 20% of their fi nal mark.

Upper Prep Campout

The autumn term began for Upper Prep with a fun fi lled Friday evening camp out at Forest School headquarters. The fi rst challenge was building the tents, followed by forest school games. An evening of fun and laughter culminated in sausages cooked on the fi re and toasted marshmallows for pudding. This was a joyful way to start the term with great teamwork and lots of smiling faces.

Thank you to Mr Crisell and Mr Dean for organising such a successful event and Mr Conway and Mrs Burnett for camping out too!

Rugby Masterclass

Our Prep rugby players were delighted to meet Old Barrow Hillian and England sevens player, James Cordy-Redden when he came to Barrow Hills for a rugby masterclass this week. His career has seen him move from Surrey to the West of England and play for Cross Keys. The versatile back has appeared at centre, wing and fullback for the Trailfi nders.

The boys had a memorable and inspiring lesson on counter attacking. James spent some time talking about kicking, passing and decision making. The children then took part in a range of drills that put these skills into practice.

Mr Conway said, “This was a fantastic opportunity for the boys to be able to hear from a player with James’ experience. The children enjoyed hearing him talk about his career when he represented the England sevens, the Great Britain Students sevens and about how he’s helping Ealing push for promotion into the premiership. I would like to thank James for sharing his time and inspiring the next future Barrow Hills rugby stars.”

Wisley Trips

On Tuesday 1st October, Years 5 and 8 spent an exciting day at RHS Garden Wisley. The children climbed trees, learnt about the crisis that faces bananas, made (and used!) clinometers and created Andy Goldsworthy style sculptures. It was back to Wisley on Thursday for Mr Andrade as Year 6 enjoyed their day out. Activities included wicker weaving, making clinometers and being an RHS judge for the afternoon.

Tree Climbing by James H (8G)

On Tuesday 1st October, Years 5 and Year 8 went on a school trip to RHS Wisley Gardens. One of the events we did was tree climbing. The tree we climbed was called a sweetgum tree (also known as the liquidambar tree). The tree was roughly 20 metres high and we climbed about 17 metres of it.

Everybody did really well at least getting in the harness and climbing a bit of the tree. Some people even made it to the top including Alexander (8G), Isobel (8G), Edward (5G), Heidi (5G) and many others. Whilst we were climbing, it was pouring down with rain making the branches very slippery and hard to climb. This meant we had to really grip on tightly to make sure we didn’t fall off.

Andy Goldsworthy Sculptures by James D (8G)

As our last activity after an exciting day at Wisley, the Year 8’s challenged the Year 5’s to a sculpture building competition. We had half an hour to build our sculptures out of only things we found on the fl oor in the arboretum, based on the ideas of Andy Goldsworthy. There was a wide range of sculptures ranging from leaf pictures to a mud hedgehog and even a fi re made of sticks and red leaves.

Bananas face extinction... by Sascha (8G)

There once was a time when there was a banana that tasted even better than they do now, but why did we stop eating those? First of all let me tell you this, banana trees are clones of another banana tree that grows from its roots. Us humans found a perfect tree which grew delicious bananas, so we started to clone this tree and sell its fruit. One downside to cloning a specifi c tree is that they will all be vulnerable to the same diseases. This is how the most delicious bananas became extinct from the world! So we resorted to a less tastier banana which is the ones we eat now, the cavendish banana.

But wait, if this is a clone, that means that there is a chance that they could become extinct. Yes and that is exactly what is happening now because of the panama disease. This disease originated in Panama (in central America) and it is capable of wiping out the cavendish banana, it has wiped out all of the population of banana trees in Asia, so far. The majority of commercial banana trees are in South America and the disease has just arrived in Columbia (country in South America) but they are desperately trying to prevent it, so don’t worry. They will be safe, Hopefully...

Emerging Athletes Programme

On Monday 18th November, the Barrow Hills and King Edward’s sports scholars and games captains headed to the Surrey High Performance Institute at Surrey Sports Park as part of their Emerging Athletes programme. The day consisted of various anatomy and physiology lectures and fi tness testing. A huge well done to James D (8G) who volunteered for the Vo2 Max test and achieved some very impressive scores, pushing himself to his absolute limit. scores, pushing himself to his absolute limit. A fun morning was had by all.

Prep to the Panto!

“Oh no they didn’t!” “Oh yes they did!” The fantastic Prep staff took nearly 130 children to see ‘Aladdin’ at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking. With Christmas jumpers and festive headgear, the atmosphere was certainly jolly! “Oh yes it was!”

“On the 10th of December the whole Barrow Hills Prep department left school at 11:45 am on three coaches to go to The New Victoria Theatre in Woking. The panto was upbeat and comical, everyone was dancing and singing and not even the staff could be stopped when the kangaroo song came on. It was great to see them out of their seats hopping like marsupials. Everyone enjoyed themselves and we were all now fully in the Christmas spirit of the season. Thank you Mr Andrade for organising the trip, it was fantastic.” Nicholas (8G)