The children have enjoyed playing games (such as Eagle Eye), den building, making lemonade, building rope swings and spending time together outside in nature! It has been lovely to hear them reflect on how much they have enjoyed the different practical activities and how they have had to consider how to work together to achieve different goals. We look forward to more exciting outdoor opportunities next week! Thank you to all the amazing adults that help make forest school a possibility!

The children were great at identifying different habitats invertebrates could be found in, and used the key to answer a series of questions that helped them to identify what type of invertebrate they had found. The children used their scientific skills to determine different features of invertebrates and could explain what made them similar or different. Excellent job Years 5 and 6! 

After looking at the work of Henry Ford and using his ideas about the production line to work more efficiently as a team and ensure everyone had a role/job, the children had a really good go at creating balloon-powered cars that were streamlined and took into consideration air resistance and friction.

It was so lovely to see them working so collaboratively as a team and hearing their discussions around how they could adapt their designs to overcome challenges. AMAZING team work Years 5 & 6! We loved watching you race your cars and our friendly competition was a great way to bring our unit to a close. Great job!

The children have been amazing at using different techniques to create sculptures by manipulating different lengths and thicknesses of wire and have shown their amazing creativity when adding to them using Modroc and other mediums. What AMAZING sculptures you have produced Years 5 & 6! The element of movement and attention to detail is phenomenal. Fantastic job!

It has been amazing to hear the children critically evaluate information and use their empathic natures to explain why different people may have different views and opinions about the way the world began. The children have discussed their ideas in such a sensitive fashion and it has been lovely to hear how supportive they are of one another in debates. Keep up the great work Years 5 & 6!

A HUGE thank you to FOBs for organising the leavers hoodies for our amazing Year 6 children. We LOVE seeing them wear their hoodies around the school with pride and look forward to sharing their excitement over them across the rest of this year! 

The children looked absolutely amazing and it was fantastic to hear their enjoyment over their dressing up challenge! Years 5 and 6 really put their all into their outfits and showed their competitive spirits when completing their Red Nose Day quiz. Incredible effort Pioneers and Inventors! A big thank you to all the family and friends that helped the children with their super outfits, red hair and red make up today!

This year, the BSW focus was all centred around curiosity and asking questions. To commemorate Science Week, Year 5 and 6 did a few different experiments which really pushed them to ask their own questions, and to work scientifically to think of ways they could answer them. 

We explored ecosystems, looked at how they are interconnected, and considered what happens when different elements of ecosystems worldwide face increasing pressures - either natural or caused by mankind.

We then, along with many other classes, asked the question, 'What is the best design for a paper aeroplane?' The children thought very carefully about how to ensure this was a relaible scienfic test, which would end up with a set of results that we could measure. They worked sensibly and collaboratively in their teams and all reached the same conclusion, which they agree meant that their tests were most likely very trustworthy!

They have been mastering defensive and attacking shots using the 'thumb' grip and 'V' grip and learning how to apply the correct force when returning the shuttle over the net. It has been lovely to see how enthusiastic the children are to develop these new skills - especially as the grips don't always feel completely natural! They have also shown excellent care and collaboration when supporting one another to build upon on their learning and make improvements. Super work Years 5 and 6, we can't wait to see you in game play at the end of term!

World Book Day aims to inspire every child to enjoy the benefits of reading and this year we have seen LOTS of inspiration from different books through the children's incredible costumes, conversations and work around reading. Our children have thoroughly enjoyed sharing their favourite stories with one another and we have loved creating extra pockets of time throughout the day to see the children immerse themselves in different worlds! The rich conversations they have had around authors, characters and storylines has been so lovely to listen to and they have been incredibly reflective about the importance of World Book Day.

"Reading is so important because it helps your mental health and keeps you calm and takes you into characters worlds where you can relax, zone out and not feel overwhelmed."

"Reading improves your vocabulary, spelling and understanding of punctuation and means that we can read and learn all day everyday."

"World Book Day inspires people to read and we’re looking at inspirational people our 'Get Inspired' Topic, so World Book Day is inspiring us too!"

"This years World Book Day really links to our learning because, when I read a book, I take things from stories that I like and make everything into my own story with the best bits. It’s like that in school because I take all the things I’ve enjoyed and learnt every day and share it with others, it's like a story of my school day."

"World book day is so important because it boosts your imagination and encourages everyone to read for pleasure".

A HUGE THANK YOU to all the family and friends that supported our lovely children with their incredible costumes and WELL DONE to Years 5 and 6 for your fantastic attitude towards reading today and every day!

The children were incredible at creating their step-counter code, identifying patterns from previous codes they had created, debugging their building blocks and collaborating in such an encouraging and nurturing way to make their devices work as they wanted them too. After lots of practice walking, marching, jogging and sprinting on the spot, we can safely say that it was a successful project! Great perseverance Years 5 & 6 - you did a fantastic job.

They were SO excited to share all they had learnt with Explorers in our final lesson and LOVED having the opportunity to teach their younger friends the routines. The children had a great time trying to keep up with the music, and it was an absolute joy to see the smiles and hear the laughter in the hall as they all came together - what a wonderful afternoon! Thank you very much to all of the Explorers who threw themselves into our Ceilidh with such enthusiasm, and a huge well done to Years 5/6 for being such considerate, patient and kind dance teachers. What a fab way to end a great half term of dancing!

They explored the impact of AI on all of our lives, reflected on how AI can be used for good and gave advice and guidance to their classmates around how they felt they could use AI safely.  Pioneers and Inventors were amazing at role playing , acting out different scenarios where they may encounter AI and discussing how they would respond to the misuse of AI. It was amazing to see the children throwing themselves into the acting and describing (in detail!) how they would prevent and resolve any issues that they encountered. AMAZING job years 5 & 6! 

The children have been tinkering with different physical inputs and using conditional statements to change variables in 'Make Code' to develop codes that will complete different tasks on the Micro:bits. Our focus this week was on making a step counter. The children showed excellent perseverance with developing their code, creating different blocks and debugging errors. What an amazing job they have done! Great use of technology Years 5 & 6! 

As part of their learning, the children carried out an investigation to see which tools were best for a specific purpose (picking up different objects). The children were able to apply this to their learning and identify that, in the case of Darwin's studies, finches have different beaks to help them eat different foods. The children were very clear that these adaptations happen over a long time, and could apply this understanding to a variety of animals to explain how evolution works and why it is down to the 'survival of the fittest' in the animal world! They had great fun replicating how birds from the Galapagos Islands would feed and showed excellent collaborative skills (as well as working hard to identify patterns and explain similarities and differences with their findings). Great job everyone! 

Pioneers and Inventors have spent time scrutinising sources to find out what legacies have been left by the Greeks and analysing the reliability and validity of sources used. The children have used a range of evidence to offer clear reasons around interpretations of events and used our historical enquiry skills to identify similarities and differences between Ancient Greek times and the modern day, carefully considering the long term impact and consequences of this time period.

The children have made some excellent links between things that have changed and stayed the same and remembered LOTS of facts about events (such as the Olympics) as well as sharing their opinions around changes in areas such as education and democracy. Impressive stuff Years 5 & 6! Keep it up! 

In the book, some strange occurrences take place and many characters storylines intertwine. This week, the children have worked really hard in our hot-seating activity, pretending to be the Royal Physician, asking Dr. Kalmenius questions to get to the bottom of what happened to poor Prince Otto. The children have been amazing at coming up with imaginative questions to solve the mystery and have worked really hard to adapt their writing styles to use language that shows a good awareness of the reader. AMAZING work Years 5&6! We can't wait to read your own gothic fantasy stories further along in our unit!

They've learnt lots of different dances from the Virginia Reel, to the Military Two Step to the Canadian Barn Dance. The children have been amazing at putting the steps to a variety of music, from more traditional Ceilidh pieces to more modern songs and even managed to develop their technique to the point where they can change partners as part of the dance! It has been amazing to see the children's enthusiasm for this unit and see the control they are developing with the dances. Great job Years 5 & 6!

They have LOVED joining in the warm up exercises and worked really hard on forming their letters and making different joins. It has been great to see them so focused, ready to write by following the 4 Ps (posture, pencil, paper, pressure) and so keen to develop their presentation in all lessons - not just in Literacy! Keep it up Years 5 and 6! 

Our Year 6 pupils took part in some fantastic CPR and defibrillator training today with the charity ‘Jay’s Aim’.

The children learned how to help someone in cardiac arrest and had the chance to practise CPR using their own manikins. The session was hands-on, engaging, and potentially lifesaving!

Feedback from staff was that the children were fantastic, listened well and understood the importance of the training they were doing.

A big thank you to Jay’s Aim - a South West charity set up in memory of Jay Osborne- for delivering this important training free of charge to schools.

It was fantastic to see the children creating their own stained glass window cards and tree decorations to share with their families and friends and hear their excited conversations about the holidays! The children have worked exceptionally hard across the autumn term,  so it was lovely for them to stop and enjoy some creative festive fun with their friends. 

Pioneers and Inventors would also like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We hope everyone has a wonderful time with friends and family and we look forward to more fun in 2026! 

The children had a fun-filled afternoon learning about key scientists (Alhazen and Newton) and used their scientific skills to investigate different properties of light. They came up with some fantastic theories, that they explored and tested, involving experimenting with prisms, looking at how light refracts and seeing how far they could bounce rays of light around the room. It was amazing to see the children working so methodically, yet creatively, to explore their ideas. Well done Pioneers and Inventors!

The children have been absolutely incredible during rehearsals: learning lines and songs, practising dances and perfecting their acting skills. Their energy and enthusiasm shone through every performance and we are in awe of their talent! 

The children showed excellent collaboration and were determined to share a fun and memorable show with their friends and family. They were involved in every aspect of the show, from acting, to prop making, to technical support and we are so proud of their determination and their passionate approach to delivering such a successful show. A MASSIVE well done to everyone in Years 5/6 - you are such a fun and talented bunch! Oh yes you are!

A huge thank you also to all of our amazing TAs who have worked round the clock to create props and costumes and to all the families and friends of Pioneers and Inventors who came to support our show with such fantastic audience participation! 

They were brilliant at using different resources to identify different biomes and explain what the climate, weather, plant and animal life was like in each. They were able to compare and contrast the environment in different biomes and showed great empathy when discussing threats to life in each. It was lovely to see the children discussing the content with such passion to make a change. GREAT WORK!

We spent lots of time looking at how to identify the key parts of questions to understand what the questions is asking; how to draw out calculations to make the calculations easier to visualise; applied questions to more relatable, real-life scenarios and discussed how many different ways we could find to solve the questions. This was a really lovely lesson that allowed the children to work creatively in Maths and explore different ways to solve problems and understand questions. Our lovely Year 6's were amazing at using their oracy skills to agree, disagree and build on one anothers ideas in a mature and considerate manner and it was incredible to see how many different ways the children could come up with to answer their problems in their groups. WELL DONE Y6! Super Maths!

Completing these activities proved more of a challenge than a lot of the children initially expected, but they showed incredible perseverance and resilience and were determined to succeed to do their bit for charity. The children were so encouraging of one another and it was a delight to see them spurring each other on and talking with so much excitement about the money they had raised for children in need. After hitting so many steps, a big group cheer was needed to signal the completion of their challenge! What an incredible bunch you are Pioneers and Inventors! WELL DONE! 

The theme for Anti-Bullying Week 2025 was 'Power for Good' and the children thought about how they could use their personal power to make changes and prevent bullying from happening. It was lovely to hear their thoughtful ideas around how they could stand up for themselves and others and how they can create a safe and inclusive environment where everyone feels seen, valued and heard.

The children had great fun role playing different scenarios and were confident they could identify 'ringleaders', 'reinforcers' and 'assistants' in incidents involving bullying. It was great to see how positive the children were about making changes to become upstanders instead of bystanders and how they were all so determined to make sure those more vulnerable were advocated for. AMAZING job Years 5/6! What amazing individuals you all are! 

The children had great fun this week proving that light travels in straight lines. Building on their previous learning, they planned and set up an investigation in which they could observe how light behaved.

They also worked like scientists to spot patterns when they changed a variable, such as where the torch was positioned.

Using materials such as large cardboard boxes and dark sugar paper, they were able to make small dark spaces where they could look closely at the beams of light and see the shapes they cast, proving how light travels. 

They were brilliant and worked collaboratively to plan their method and construct everything for their investigation.

The children have spent time in Literacy (building on their Geographical learning) to find out all they can about why people may choose to live near active volcanoes, how they are created, why they erupt and more! They have used various resources to research: their WCGR and Geography learning, Topic books and Chromebooks, and it has been fantastic to see them applying their understanding across the curriculum. Some of our children have delved into very involved conversations around the movement of tectonic plates and given very clear demonstrations of how they move. It has been lovely to see their curiosity grow and hear all the questions they have around how these natural phenomenon's occur.  

Today, Inventors and Pioneers finished their learning about electricity by building a game which required them to use their knowledge of circuits. They need to collaborate, problem solve and be very creative to make something which worked, but also looked like an inviting children’s game.

They reflected on what went well and if their game worked, as well as the challenges faced during the build.

We are SO proud of every single one of our Year 6s for how they have thrown themselves (often quite literally!) into every activity and challenge they have come across on their residential at Heatree this week. They have shown incredible courage and bravery, from scaling climbing walls, weaseling on Hound Tor, taking on obstacles on the low adventures course to performing in the Heatree talent show! The way they have come together as a year group and encouraged one another over the course of the week, pushing themselves outside of their comfort zones and challenging themselves, has been an absolute delight to see! We are so impressed with how much they have achieved and their superb collaboration (and how tidy they kept their bedrooms!). INREDIBLE WORK YEAR 6!

We hope all the children now have a restful weekend and enjoy sharing their adventures with friends as family as much as we have enjoyed being a part of them.

A HUGE thank you also to everyone who helped this week happen and played in role in supporting our fantastic children in enjoying themselves as much as they have.

The children were very courageous in speaking in front of a room full of children and were able to clearly demonstrate the qualities they have that would make them a great candidate for the role of House Captain. Our Year 6 children all showed what excellent leadership skills they possess, as well as the kindness, compassion and collaborative talents they have that are required for them to shine in this role. Voting was incredibly close this year and we are so proud of all children who put themselves forward. A HUGE well done to everyone who presented and congratulations to our newly elected House Captains! We look forward to seeing  you all help lead the next house assembly.

As part of our ‘History on Our Doorstep’ topic, the children spent some of this week researching Roman Exeter and producing a presentation to show others what they discovered.

The worked collaboratively to create slideshows which told the class about key aspects of Roman Exeter, how they were uncovered at various archaeological digs, and how it links to what Exeter is like today. They made great connections to other aspects of their learning about the Romans in Britain.

It has been amazing to see the super ideas the children have come up with and how they are so keen to make changes that can impact our school. All the children that have stood up have done a brilliant job of explaining why they feel they would make a good school councilor and have shown how they encompass all of our Bishop values. They have shown great bravery in presenting in front of the entire class and all responded really effectively to questions around how they could promote positive changes at Bishop. INCREDIBLE work and a massive WELL DONE to all who have put themselves forward for this role. You are all wished the best of luck in the voting at the end of the week and should be so proud of your thoughtful (and well delivered!) presentations!

They have developed their chronological awareness by placing events surrounding the Roman invasion of Britain in order; looked at similarities and differences between Roman Exeter and modern day Exeter; used their historical enquiry skills to ask questions about the past and researched (using a range of primary and secondary sources) to find their own answers to these questions ahead of their presentations next week. What an amazing - and busy! - start to the week Pioneers and Inventors have had. We can't wait to see what they come up with and  how they decide to communicate and organise their ideas to share with others! Well done Years 5 & 6!

This week, the children honed their skills behind the camera as they learned about, then practised different video production techniques using handheld cameras. They looked at some good examples of online videos, then tried to replicate some of the camera techniques used and thought about their impact on the viewer.

As we learn more throughout this unit, the children will apply these skills to plan, record and edit their own productions.

Of course, there's no better way to experiment than by drawing all over the windows and tables! Our children have looked at different ways to represent problems, and solve them, using different visuals and by finding different ways to make numbers 'friendlier' to work with. It's been amazing seeing the many different ways the children would solve some of these problems and listening to them explain their ideas so carefully and explicitly to others. The children have found some incredibly creative solutions working this way and challenged each others thinking which has been great to see. What amazing Maths! Keep up the great work Pioneers and Inventors! 

This week, they have experimented by creating their own circuits, recording symbols for components and using their pattern seeking and comparative and fair testing skills to identify links between different power sources and components. The children have shown great enthusiasm for this topic and we can't wait to see what they create over the course of the half term! WELL DONE YEARS 5 & 6!

We're so proud of all their hard work and effort over the last couple of years and we are confident that everyone in Y6 has an incredibly bright future ahead of them! We are so lucky to have spent time with such a talented bunch and we are so grateful for all the fun and laughter they have shared with us. You are AMAZING Y6! Well done on such a successful time at Primary School and we wish you all the luck in the world on your next steps to Secondary School! 

Everyone in Years 5 and 6 have been looking at how they can make the best profit by creating a cost-effective product or service to sell or provide at the Summer Fayre. We are so proud of the creativity and resilience our children have shown throughout the process and of the superb collaboration we have seen between all the children in their groups. The children have worked really hard to market their products and ensure they are appropriate for the target audience. GREAT WORK Years 5 & 6 - we look forward to seeing your super sales skills and seeing how much money you can make for FOBS! 

They've made excellent progress in such a short time and have shown phenomenal water confidence! We are so impressed with how fearless all of Years 5 and 6 have been in the water: jumping in, learning self-rescue floats and swimming lengths of the pool. It was lovely to finish our lessons off with a fun session and see the children enjoying playing games, chilling on floats and spending time splashing about together. INCREDIBLE work Inventors and Pioneers! 

Everyone has really enjoyed their activities so far!  Children have developed their journalistic and photographic abilities to create detailed newspaper reports, refined their embroidery skills, created stunning artwork – using both pottery and printing techniques – and discovered surprising facts about orienteering when they investigated trails around the school. Everyone is now looking forward to a creative day of drumming, song and dance, before demonstrating their talents to parents and carers later on. A HUGE ‘thank you’ to everyone who helped to organise and facilitate these fun activities, which the children have loved taking part in!  Great job Pioneers and Inventors!

A huge well done to all the children on their excellent sportsmanship and willingness to give everything a good go. We have some very talented athletes in years 5 and 6 and it was lovely to see everyone being such a supportive teammate. Thank you to all who made it happen and to all the family and friends that came to support our incredible children! 

We have LOVED seeing the children's water confidence grow week on week and watching them have so much fun together in the pool. We were particularly lucky with some lovely, sunny weather today as we practiced different swimming strokes and self rescue techniques. We are already amazed with the progress the children have made in just a few short lessons and we can't wait to see how they get on with our remaining sessions. AMAZING job inventors and Pioneers! 

We've seen crazy hair, amazing make-up, giant teddies and some incredible outfits in support of 'Break the Rules Day'. The children all looked amazing and had a great time seeing which rules were broken and playing games; a MASSIVE thank you to everyone who helped make today happen.

DAISI is a leading arts education charity working throughout Devon (and beyond). They recently sent one of their very talented artists, Jess Carvill, to Bishop to work with our lovely Year 5 students. She helped them create a design for a banner for our school that aims to encompass exactly how the children feel about Bishop. We then had a follow up work shop were Jess taught the children how to create pre-felt; the children had so much fun (getting very soggy and soapy in the process!). The pre-felt will be used when Jess returns in a few weeks to bring our design to life. We can't wait to see our final felt banner! A big thank you to Jess and all at DAISI for providing this fantastic experience for our children, our super parent volunteers that got stuck into the process and a huge well done to Year 5 on your creativity and pre-felt creating!

The children have worked really hard refining their stitching techniques and thinking carefully about the purpose and audience of their product. They also had some lovely discussion around sustainability and mass production when evaluating their soft toys and we are thoroughly impressed with the time and care that has gone into creating their cuddly companions - a HUGE well done Years 5 & 6!

We had some super Year 6 volunteers join in with acting out the story and they really helped bring the messages being shared to life. We're always very impressed by our children's performing skills and this group kept us all thoroughly entertained. Well done guys! 

Our amazing bunch of lovely Year 6 children have been absolutely phenomenal this week! They've all been super focused and worked exceptionally hard, revising and completing their SATs papers. We are confident they have all done incredibly and we could not be more proud of them. We look forward to spending some (much deserved!) fun-filled time with everyone in Year 6 over their last few weeks here at Bishop - WELL DONE YEAR 6!