Year 6

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First few weeks back and straight into projects of their choosing.

Amazingly intricate knife work and so safe: our first skulk of foxes – huge well done!

Others are working together to create a hazel arbor, using clove hitches and lashings to join rods together.

Amelia brought in a machine to show us, “It’s a rock tumbler: it smooths and cleans. It takes two days to fully polish.”

Alex: Today I started to whittle. I started to make a dome shape, which is a bevel cut.

Yasmine: I accidently cut the head off my fox. I felt disappointed and like giving up but then decided to turn it into a pencil. I sharpened it a bit and coloured it. I am pleased.

Ronne: We’ve been making an arbor. We gathered materials, measured and sawed the hazel. Once we figured out the order we started to lash the rods together.

Year 3

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It’s been a great first few weeks back for Year 3:

*Teamwork and laughter

*Exploring natural treasures and developing descriptive language

*Games to develop collaboration, co-ordination and trust

*Enjoying books and reading for inspiration and explanation

*Visiting our chickens and finding a toad

*Maintaining our grounds, learning to use loppers, shears and secateurs safely

*Harvesting tomatoes and preparing the allotment beds, ready for manure

*Planning and starting woodworking projects

Connie: The snail trail looks like stardust!

Lois: We found a toad!

Isabelle: It was a common toad because it had orange eyes and warty skin.

Evie: I enjoyed using the loppers and shears to cut back all the stinging nettles and stuff.

LJ: I liked using the rake to level the soil in the allotment beds.

Teddy: We picked the good tomatoes and took out the rotten ones. We worked as a team.

Spiridon: The female pincers of an earwig are straight.

Alfie: The male are curved.

Year 5

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Badges this term: foraging, whittling (continued) and photography

What a talented bunch!

Some photographs taken after learning some key tips: know your subject; know your camera; patience; golden hours; up close; eye level; rule of Three; creating lines; take lots of shots and be quirky and creative.

We used a variety of cameras and kindles.

Year 4

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The first few weeks in photographs.

Badges this term: naturalist, advanced gardener and conservation.

Class links: physical health and mental wellbeing (with a focus on yoga, mindfulness and meditation)

Year 2

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Year 2 have been busy learning more about woodland creatures and their habitats.

What do they eat?

What eats them?

We spoke about our most valuable habitats: pond and hedge.

Why are they so important? 

We looked in detail at an oak tree (some living to be over 1,000 years old), with over 3,000 living things depending on it for food, shelter, protection or warmth.

Last Sunday's episode of David Attenborough's Wild Isles focused on woodlands and included some amazing footage about oak trees and the wood wide web.

Child voice

Isabelle: The cloud cover is like a big, fat duvet keeping in the warm.

Cooper: I was inspired by Connie because I liked how she made her bee and especially its sting.

Teddy: We made birdboxes together!

LJ: First we had to sand them, to prevent splinters and make it smooth.

Teddy: Next we had to see how it was built.

Harley: Then we had to line it up and nail it together. After that we made a hinge.

LJ: Finally we painted it.