Thursday 3rd April

This morning, the Year 1 and 2 children listened to a talk by our visitor, Kevin - a local beekeeper and enthusiast. He told them about bees, especially the Red Mason solitary bee.

Last April, he had delivered us some Red Mason bee cocoons which we put in the Beyond the Gate site. Throughout the year we have observed the successful life cycle - even harvesting our own cocoons in October (see the posts on our Forest School blog!). Mrs Dear has looked after the cocoons in the shed over winter.

After the talk, Kevin helped Mrs Dear place our cocoons in a new release box.

The children are learning so much about solitary bees; their lifecycle and importance. Last year was a poor year for pollinators nationally (because it was such a wet summer), so the fact that we had such a successful harvest of cocoons was lucky. Our site must be a great habitat. Let's hope these hatch successfully again this year!

Wednesday 2nd April

It was the turn of our Year One and Year R Eco-Committee members to go litter picking this morning. Before leaving the school site, they discussed the risks associated with litter picking and how they would stay safe - including their road safety.

They cleared around the fence of the play park and discussed the effect of the wind on litter and where it gathered. They also identified that a lot of the litter in the park was from our school Spring Fayre at the weekend, and they talked about how this should be considered in the future.

They then went across to the shop area and cleared round some of the bushes outside Sainsbury's. They noticed all the chewing gum on the floor and the cigarette butts.

In just 20 minutes, so much litter was collected, but sadly there is so much more of it.

Wednesday 26th March

Today, Mrs Dear and one of our lovely mummy volunteers took the Year Two Eco Committee children litter picking in the local area. Before starting, they discussed the risks and how they would stay safe.

They went to the play park first and then started clearing some of the areas around the local shops opposite school.

The children were shocked at the amount of litter they collected in just 20 minutes! They discussed what kinds of litter they found and came up with ideas on how to reduce litter. 

At lunchtime, Mrs Dear also spotted the school's "tidy team" litter picking on the school field and playground.

Wednesday 19th March

This lunchtime, a few children from the Eco Committee asked Mrs Dear if they could feed the birds. They pushed suet pellets into pine cones and then hung them on the trees. This idea was given to them by our RSPB visitors.

Friday 14th February

The arborists from Heckfield Place returned to our school to add some stakes and wire around the trees to help protect them. They also, kindly, delivered some wood chip which they advised us to put around the base of some of the other trees on the field, and we put some inside the gate of the Beyond the Gate site.

Tuesday 11th February 2025  - The RSPB School Birdwatch

This morning, the Eco-Committee were joined by John and Moray, volunteers from our local RSPB group, to take part in the Big Schools Birdwatch.

The children spent an hour on the school field and in the Beyond the Gate area spotting and counting the different species of birds that they could see.  John and Moray had binoculars so they could help identify birds which were far away at the top of trees or flying overhead.

The children spotted: magpies, robins, woodpigeons, jays, blue-tits, blackbirds, great-tits, starlings, crows and a red-kite circling overhead.

Mrs Dear will submit their data to the RSPB which helps with national statistics about the population trends of species across the UK.

The children asked the volunteers good questions and learnt more about different UK birds. We discussed how we could encourage more birds to our site and help look after them. We plan to put up more bird feeders, as well as ensuring they are kept clean and regularly filled up.

Taking part in this activity not only helped the children's nature connection, but also allowed them an opportunity to apply science and maths skills as they collected their data.

Friday 31st January 2025

Today the Eco-Committee met to complete the Environmental Review for our Eco-School Award. This involved them answering questions about different topics, including biodiversity; litter; school grounds; energy; marine and healthy living. They had to consider what the school already does well and the areas we could develop and improve to be more environmentally friendly. It was great to see all the positive things we already do as a school but also discuss ways we can get even better!

Mrs Dear, Miss Fewtrell and Miss Payne will now develop an action plan to see what we can achieve between now and July, and into the next academic year. We have so many ideas!

Wednesday 22nd January 2025

The newly formed Eco Committee took part in their first task today. They were joined by arborists Dom and Lottie from Heckfield Pace, who kindly donated a Japanese Cedar and a Scott's Pine to plant.

The children learnt a lot of interesting facts about these trees and discussed how they are both evergreen trees. These are a good addition to our school grounds, as we do not have any other evergreen trees. 

The Japanese Cedar has been grown from seed from the Hampshire champion at Heckfield Place (which was planted in their grounds in 1876). Mrs Dear was pleased to get a Scott's Pine because it is a native species to Britain. 

The children are excited to look after these new trees and see them grow (we told them they will have to return when they are 60-70 years old to see them at full height!).

Friday 17th January 2025

Today we announced the names of the children who have been selected to be our Eco-Committee! Thank you to everyone who applied - it was a tough decision to choose from all the applicants, and it is great to know that so many children are interested in looking after nature and the environment.

They had their first meeting at lunchtime, with Mrs Dear, Miss Fewtrell and Miss Payne. They introduced themselves and shared some of the ideas they had for improving our school to make it more environmentally friendly.