YEAR 5 FILM PERSUASIVE ADVERTS WITH MR AUSTIN!

Lucky Year 5 got to work with Mr Austin today to film their persuasive adverts for their very own Superhero cereal bar!  They have designed a recipe  for their bar (which they are making in DT next week) and also designed the packaging and they wrote and produced a script for their advert in groups of 6.  They each took on a role; director, sound engineer, actor/actress, set design or cameraman/woman and worked together to produce their advert - learning all about media techniques and special effects from our expert Mr Austin.  He will now edit the footage into each advert and return to us when they are complete.  We can't wait to see them and will be inviting our friends and family in for the "Premier"!  A big thank you to Mr Austin, who gave up his free time to come and work with us.  The children were more than excited to see him!

SCHOOL CLOSED TODAY! (Friday 13th)

We have been advised to close the school today due to a serious fire at a local premises causing huge disruptions as emergency services attempt to deal with it. We will update you with further details as they become available. We obviously hope everyone is safe and sound today and we are sorry that we are unable to open.

From the Daily Echo:

RESIDENTS have been evacuated after a fire at a fireworks factory this morning.

Ten crews have been called to Bitterne Road West in Southampton after the fire set off dozens of fireworks and left a huge pall of black smoke hanging over the surrounding area.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service says residents in the surrounding area have been evacuated while motorists are being urged to avoid the area.

A spokesman for the fire service said they got the first call at 5.06am saying a large warehouse used for firework storage was on fire.

He added that crews were assisting with evacuations of residents in local area.

They had received at least 50 calls alerting them to the blaze.

URGENT APPEAL #BringGilbertHome

Message from Marwell Zoo:

We are devastated to share our loyal Marwell's Zany Zebra fans and friends that Gilbert was STOLEN from the Bassett area, Southampton, in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

We desperately want our poster boy back and we are looking for any information about his whereabouts. Help us #BringGilbertHome

He was due to visit London Waterloo Station yesterday to promote both the event and the Southampton region but sadly, at around 4am on Wednesday May 11 the Marwell team were devastated to find that he had been taken from their truck. Security tags are planned to be added to all the sculptures next week as a deterrent against future thefts – unfortunately, Gilbert was taken before his could be installed.

Gilbert’s theft is heart-breaking. He’s not only much loved by the Marwell team and local community, but also a beautiful work of art and flagship for Marwell’s Zany Zebras – an event which is certain to put Southampton on the map as a hot spot for tourists this summer.

If anyone has any information please email zanyzebras@marwell.org.uk or telephone 01962 770503. Help us #BringGilbertHome

National Oceanography Centre Open Day

The National Oceanography Centre in Southampton is hosting its annual open day on Saturday 21st May 2016.

The world leading science undertaken at the NOC focuses on marine science “From Coast to Deep Ocean”. To enable this to take place they work with many other national centres and partners.

For the first time, they have invited these centres and partners to join them and show visitors the varied and exciting world of SCIENCE.

Rooks meet creatures from 'The Deep'!

Today, Rooks were able to meet some real-life vertebrates and invertebrates from the Twilight part of the ocean.  Dr Horton (Frank's Mum) visited the class with a number of amazing specimens.  The children were enthralled by the different creatures on display.

The class favourite however, had to be the amphipod - both the cuddly and preserved.

Here are some photographs of our afternoon to share with you.

Thank you again Dr Horton for sharing your knowledge with us.
Rooks Class

DRAGONS' DEN!

Year 5 children are taking part in Virgin Bank's "Grow your money" project, where they have been given £5 each to  invest in a product to sell at the School Summer Fayre in their teams.  They pitched their ideas to our 3 visiting "Dragons" who gave them some help and support to fine-tune their ideas into something that will work to make the best profit.  Look out for their stalls at the up-coming Summer Fayre in July.

ROCKET SEEDS HAVE GERMINATED!

At Bitterne Manor we are taking part in the "Seeds from space" project growing 200 rocket plant  seeds - 100 that have been in space and 100 that have not.  We don't know which is which until the experiment is complete.  We can now report that we have had lots of seeds that have germinated!  Our space biologists calculated last week that 60% of the red seeds germinated, but only 47% of the blue seeds have germinated.  We are now looking for the first "true" leaves to grow to make the next set of recordings.