Day 2 Wet, windy and wild

Day 2 brought weather which wasn't pleasant, especially for the hill walkers.  The mist was hanging low, the winds were cutting and rain was in the air.  The cavers and canoeists fared a little better as the canal has sheltered parts and that day it was probably warmer underground than overground.

All of the groups were up early having had a good night's sleep and they breakfasted well.  Beds were made, briefings held, kit collected and we were off again.

Sometimes sliding down is the easiest way.

It's a little wet!

In the evening we all showered, sorted out kit in the drying room and started to write our diaries.  A quiz followed this with the scores at the end being very tight and two teams drawing for second place.  Staff were pipped in the last round much to the children's delight.

Well we've arrived at the beautiful Brecon Beacons and all is well. First stop was Big Pit where we learnt how hard life was for children working in the coal mine. After that we traveled to the farmhouse where we unpacked, kitted up, had a fish and chips supper than went on a night walk. Luckily the clouds cleared and we enjoyed fabulous views of the night sky.

They are now all tucked up in bed fast asleep ready for tomorrow's adventure. 😀

#standby to switch off...for Earth Hour

Earth Hour

We talked with the children about what we might do to mark Earth Hour this year which falls on Saturday 19^th March at 8.30 pm.  Last year we looked at issues around the potential over-consumption of chocolate and we ran the campaign to sign up to abstain from eating chocolate for a few weeks.  This year, the children came up with a great idea.  They had been researching ways in which we currently waste energy and, therefore, the ways in which we can save energy.  One of the things which none of us had really thought about was the way we tend to leave our devices on ‘standby’.  The children quickly unearthed some worrying pieces of information.  For example:

Did you know?

We waste the equivalent of around two power stations' worth of electricity each year by leaving TV sets and other gadgets on standby. That means if we leave electrical equipment in sleep mode it emitted around 800,000 tonnes of carbon into our air.

The number of TVs in the UK is estimated to reach 74 million by 2020, meaning that there will be more televisions than people to watch them and most of them are left on standby!  And the amount of electricity being consumed by all the new TV sets will also go up.

Did you know?  

It has been calculated that the CO2 emissions from electrical equipment being left on standby are equivalent to 1.4 million long-haul flights.  To put it another way, the entire population of Glasgow could fly to New York and back again and the emissions from the plane would still be less than the emissions from electrical devices left in sleep mode or standby.

Of all the electricity used in this country in houses, 15% of it is just for electric items on standby. 

Many people leave electrical items on standby even when they are on holiday as they forget to turn them off.  So the whole time they are away, electricity is being used in the house.

So how can we make changes?

This is a really message to say it is absolutely worth turning your appliances off at the plug, there is no point allowing them to sit in standby mode.  Time for our next Earth Hour Campaign which I shared with the children in our assembly.  We are encouraging our children and their families to join many of us in school, by pledging to switch off standby on least one of the electrical items in your house – STANDBY TO SWITCH OFF.  We hope too that the children will persuade other friends and relatives to join our campaign too. 

Earth Hour 2016

“Standby to Switch Off”

We………………………………………………………………….

pledge to switch off……………………………………….

NHS joins forces with Wicor

One of our former pupils, Dylan Ayling, was a keen Green Ambassador and gardener.  In fact he was so keen on the natural world that his dad (a paramedic) told a colleague, Brian Miller, about our work at Wicor to inspire the next generation of naturalists.  Brian heads up the regional NHS green team which aims to green NHS premises across the south. Brian visited our school a few months ago and was impressed with our environmental work and he thought it would be a valuable opportunity to offer to donate some trees to the school and give a hand in planting them too.
So, with the help of some Year 1 pupils we planted six native trees: field maple (x2), black poplar, guelder rose, hornbeam and small-leaved lime.

Brian and Y1 plant a black poplar

John Ayling explaining how to plant a field maple

Job done

  A big thank you must go to the NHS for the very kind donation of 6 native trees.

#showthelove

Y6 have started to turn their attention to climate change with the recent campaign of #showthelove.  As a result we wrote poetry which outlined some of our concerns for the future.  Here is one poem which I'd like to share - it is thoughtful stuff:

The World's Death

The last teaspoon of oil;
it takes one action to destroy,
but one action to save.
You could save it for millions,
or save it for future generations -
Give them the choice to destroy it.
Year by year
someone gets closer to making more,
but the Mother Earth would slowly die,
dreaming that a humane being would notice,

One last tree seed,
worthless,
or you can plant another -
create a forest of your own,
give one seed to the future.
Will they care?
Year by year
someones gets closer to making more,
but the Mother Earth would slowly die,
dreaming that a humane being would notice.

This I scream at you:
this planet is irreplaceable.
You don't have a lot of time -
there will be a scary year.
More plastic in the sea than fish,
no oil,
which means no electricity.

It's your choice.
Will you save the Mother Earth?

by Max Wiltshire, Year 6

Harvest Festival at Boarhunt

Sometimes something magical happens in teaching and the harvest festival at St Nicholas Church, Boarhunt this week was just one of those occasions.  Class 5C made their own cakes and bread from flour purchased at the water mill in Winchester, as part of their study of the River Itchen.  Next, a lovely homemade soup was produced using fresh vegetables from the school allotment.
Now for the challenge...to carry this harvest feast from the school, up over Portsdown Hill to the church - a journey of 2 miles or so (and of course the walk back too).
The views from the hill are magnificent and the children learn a great deal about their local area.  Fort Nelson provided a handy stop before heading across the fields to the church.

"It's beautiful," said Hollie. And it was.  We stood admiring the charming gate into the green, shaded churchyard where we were met by the now retired Reverend John Franks.

Heading into the church

Rev John Franks delivers the harvest sermon

The churchwarden explained the architecture and the children headed round to the west door and into the church.  The children were introduced to six parishioners who had been invited to share the harvest supper, which was put together during the service.

The main focus of the service was a prayer book in which every child had written a harvest prayer.  They had been studying harvest prayers from different traditions, including Christianity; they picked up the patterns and language of prayer and then wrote their own.  Every single children wrote a prayer and 'performed' it during the service.

The church looked beautiful and the autumn displays were the perfect setting for the harvest service and the prayers.

If you want to see some of the prayers you can read them shortly on our poetry blog.  The children gave the prayer book to the church before setting off back over the hill to Portchester carrying a bag of cooking apples and oranges.  Harvest certainly works its own little miracles.

Celebrating British Food Fortnight

On Wednesday 30th September, Wicor played host to a variety of guests all of whom had a common goal: to educate our children about food.

In Year 6 we were lucky enough to have Paul Watts, Executive Chef from the Meon Marriott Hotel, work alongside our children.

The dish to be prepared and cooked was rainbow trout with salsa and sauteed potatoes.  He brought along the rainbow trout and we supplied the rest from our allotments: garlic, potatoes, onions and tomatoes.

Each session started with Paul explaining that the fish had been caught locally and that they came from chalk streams.  He then showed them how to fillet the fish by cutting along the spine of each side,  remove the ribs with tweezers and square it up by trimming the edges.  This process fascinated everyone and even the slightly squeamish got caught up in the precision of the filleting.

After this we were on slightly more familiar territory and children were grouped dependent upon the job to be completed.  We had some cleaning, peeling and chopping potatoes; others chopping tomatoes or onions and some learning how to crush garlic with salt.  We then watched while Paul quickly pulled together the dish, and listened while he explained some of the intricacies of producing good quality food, such as holding the fillet down in the frying pan to stop it curling due to the contraction of the fish's flesh when it touched the hot pan.

The smell of the ingredients cooking was amazing and we couldn't wait for the tasting session.

Paul then arranged the food on three plates and everyone tucked in.  Even the non-fish eaters amongst us were tempted and the verdict was that it was wonderful.

 

Yum, yum, yum!