Camera trap project continued...

After a busy and successful live film shoot at the log circle, it was only fair to put the fire pit to good use and crack open the marshmallows...time to give the cast and crew a treat for working so well together.

Camera Trap Project

Pupils are taking part in a camera trap project run by SNH.  They set the camera up along at the canal and Strauss Avenue and leave it for a couple of nights and then it is retrieved and the footage is examined. Lots of creatures of different shapes and sizes have been spotted. Here is a little taster below.
Now all that the children have to do is create and edit a film using their footage which demonstrates their learning about the wildlife they have observed from the camera.

Upstream Battle Conference

Rebecca and Kiera were chosen from the Eco Committee oto be our two representatives at WDC's Upstream Battle Conference on November 5th. They went along to the town hall with Mrs Park and saw some of the work other schools had done and took part in workshops arranged by WDC.

Both members of the Eco Committee were keen to share their new knowledge on return to school.

Good News and Some Bad News

Good news: our Eco Committee has met and formed a plan to combat the increase of litter. More details to follow once the plan is in action. The committee are full of excellent and practical ideas and are keen to make out school a cleaner place.

The bad news is that the poly tunnel has had more unwanted “attention” over the October break. Soil has been thrown about the interior which has been upsetting for the children to discover as Mr Hay has kept the inside pristine since he has been helping us out. We hope to tidy it up soon.

This is what we discovered this week. The children are really upset to see their polytunnel being attacked so often and they have also found that their bug hotel has been vandalised too. They found it hard to understand why vandals are targeting their school and wrecking the places which bring joy to young children. 

Biodiversity

A toad was spotted and observed closely by curious members of P2 today. This large amphibian was released safely after being christened “Berrybum”!

Many worms were dug up in attempt to give the toad a snack but by the time they’d been unearthed Berrybum had toddled off.  

Primary 2 and Primary 1 Forest School

Wednesday means one thing for me:Forest School!

Primary 2 have their session in the morning and Primary 1 come out to the woods in the afternoon.

This week both classes started with a scavenger hunt which was to let me see who would persevere with a tricky task; e.g. finding something blue growing in the woods and also to see how well out meeting cry worked.

After they shared their findings, both classes chose to build dens or do some digging in the mud (apologies for the grubby nails!)  

Some of P2 got to help cut down a tree (coppicing) and then sawed tree cookies from the freshly felled timber! The children were aware of how sharp the saw was and all took great care to stay safe when working with it. The rest of P2 will get the chance to try using a saw next week.

John Muir wildflower garden

This has been blooming over the summer break and it was such a delight to discover upon the return to school. Isn't this just glorious? Well done to the last year's P6 John Muir group who cleared this overgrown flowerbed of weeds and put new top soil in before scattering this colourful selection of wildflowers.