Last term, Class 5 pupils entered the BBC Radio Two 500 words, story writing competition.  This is a national competition entered by hundreds of thousands of children each year.  This year one of our pupils has been shortlisted into the top 5000 stories…What a fantastic achievement.  The successful author is Imogen Wills.  Her story ‘The Empty Bowl’ can be read below.

The Empty Bowl

By Imogen Wills

That morning my human left my food bowl empty, so I decided that I would have to tell my human to feed me… I began clambering and scrambling up the mighty staircase that I had experienced my human carry me up many times before. As I reached the top a sense of victory and pride overwhelmed me. I had conquered the staircase without human assistance! I walked forward with a renewed sense of confident bubbling up inside me. I swiftly slid into the bedroom through the door that my human had left open. Using my agile legs I sprung onto the bedside and went to claim my space on my humans ignorant, sleeping face  Finally. my human woke up she didn’t seem to appreciate me being her furry alarm clock. But I needed to be fed. As she walked into the kitchen I was happy she was finally going to feed me but she didn’t. She walked past oblivious to the fact that my food bowl was empty.  That night, my human invited more humans into my territory, this was the perfect time to wreak havoc on the house and the inhabitants. I squeezed through the open window on the first floor and jumped onto the dew covered lawn. I let out a long pitiful meow and to my joy they came.

Sadly, our entrance plan had been foiled by the humans shutting the window. So we decided to beg for entrance, we began scratching the window and making pitiful meows. Finally, one of the humans came and opened the window. Granting access to the house. We lunged into the house crashing through the open window, knocking everything off the windowsill. Our first victim was the pitiful human who opened the window for us, we decided to make her one of us. When she emerged from underneath the kitty pile she , she now possessed whiskers After the humans had just seen a stampede of kittens come flowing into the house they were undoubtedly shocked, let alone the fact that they had seen their friend be turned from human to feline.

My human sprinted up into the dreaded bathroom dragging her ice cube companion across the floor We all knew the bathroom, was a place of pure evil. It was the watery depths of hell. But we were determined to conquer the humans. We charged into the bathroom and saw the humans in the shower. The satanic shower. Some of our troops fainted in panic but we were ready to fight, to take a stand against the humans, to serve them revenge for not serving us our food. We pounced, lunging through the water…Everything went black for the humans… The girl woke up, covered in cold sweat. She realised it was a dream and swung her legs out of bed and walked to the kitchen. Just to be greeted with the sight of an empty food bowl…

Today, some of the Year 6 children took part in an orienteering competition at Marches. It was a really challenging day which involved 3 activities. We finished in a very respectable 3rd place. Well done to all the children who took part.

Miss Hyde

Today in Class 4 and yesterday in Class 5, we looked at the causes of pollution in the UK. We had 2 samples of water: A was from a pond in the countryside and B was from a puddle near a main road. Everyone practiced using a pipette to add the reagent to each sample. Sample B turned black/brown because the reagent reacted with the pollutant.

The children enjoyed using the scientific equipment.

Miss Hyde

On Tuesday 5th March, Bryn Offa’s girls athletics team took part in the County final held at Shrewsbury Sports Village.  The girls had won two previous rounds and earnt the right to represent North Shropshire.  The standard was incredibly high, but the girls produced some amazing displays to finish in a very credible 6th position.  Well done to all!

Mr Jones

Following their huge success in the Oswestry Area competition, Bryn Offa’s athletes represented Oswestry in the North Shropshire competition.  Both our boys and girls team performed amazingly well.  The boys finished in joint 1st position on points only to narrowly lose out  to Market Drayton Junior School in a sudden death relay.

The Girls however, went on better.  They won the overall competition and will now represent North Shropshire in the County final on MArch 5th.

Well done to both teams – They were brilliant!

On Thursday 7th February, Bryn Offa’s Netball team produced an incredibly high quality display to finish in second position in the Oswestry area competition.  Well done to all of those involved.

This week Class 5 will be debating a number of topics in class.  These include:

• School uniform should be banned for Year 6 pupils;
• Children should take part in one hour of P.E daily;
• Packed lunches should be banned at Bryn Offa;
• Children in Class 5 should have one hour of homework daily;
• Children in Key stage 2 should have an afternoon break.

Keep posted for the results of the motions on Friday.

All the Year 6 children are now fully back into the swing of the new academic year.  It started in the best possible way, with a visit to Arthog.  All of the children had a great time on each of the activities, working as a team and preparing themselves for the challenges that lie ahead.  All of the staff who accompanied them from school and the Arthog instructors were incredibly impressed with not only their behaviour but also the way in which they supported each other throughout the week.  Please see the photos below.  A great time was had by all.

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On Friday 15th June, Class 3, Class 4 and the Year 5s from Class 5 all went on a trip to Chester Zoo. It was a really enjoyable day and each group also attended a workshop related to our current science topic of animals and humans. The pictures below are from the ‘Survival in the Wild’ workshop the Year 5s attended. This focussed on how animals are adapted for survival and food chains. Some of the objects the children got to touch, which can be seen below, were confiscated by customs agents and donated to the zoo.

The trip was such a success, we hope to repeat it in a couple of years time.

Miss Hyde

A huge thank you to everybody who supported our stallholders during last week.  The class 5 children have raised just over £600.  Which, I am sure that you will agree, is an amazing achievement.  As promised, the money will be going on a script for the end of year play; a leavers gift for the school and the remaining will be put towards the end of year trip.  It was such a huge success that we have already decided to run it next year.  Well done to all of class 5 who made last week so successful.

Mr Jones