Wales finale

We have all now been home for a day and I have been working through the photos for the week.  I came across one photograph which I think exemplifies why we go.  This made me so proud.  Caving was probably the one activity which many of us were worried about and really had to push through some fears. Thank you to 6NB and our two additions from 6NA for an excellent week. 

Our last day was packed full of exciting activities with lots of us facing our fears.  Two groups went down into the caves and succeeded in many of the challenges including 'the corkscrew', 'the letterbox' and 'the toilet'.  We squeezed our way through some really tight spaces and crawled through mud and cold water.  The third group went canoeing and realised that this is the most challenging activity of them all as communication is the key to success!

After a fantastic meal of macaroni cheese, with 21 children having seconds, we packed and are now ready for the morning and to come home.

A beautiful day on the mountain.

Stream Jumping

Today the sun shone, and so we decided to take advantage of this and go mountain walking. We consolidated our science learning regarding how the Brecons were formed, and found examples of the freeze thaw process.

Lunch was stream side and we learn't about the medicinal properties of sphagnum moss.

Caving and canoeing on Thursday.  Looks like it'll be fun.

Another good day up in the mountains.  We split into three groups with one going off into the mountains, one canoeing and one caving.  The weather has been claggy and drizzly but it didn't stop us from completing our activities.

Chicken curry, jelly and ice cream tonight - with nearly everyone having seconds!  We have written our diaries and are now writing poetry with Mr Wildman.

A fabulous start at Big Pit.
Everyone happy.
All eaten dinner.
About to go out on the night walk.
Lots of happy faces.

Winter Grounds Day - Year 6

 Winter Grounds Day was another fantastic affair and the sun shone making it perfect for some hard labour and learning outside.

There were various jobs for us all - from general ones helping to look after our beautiful grounds and some of the expensive equipment within it such as the camera obscura through to sketching and identifying the plants in the Jurassic Bed which links to our science learning on evolution.  So we washed and scrubbed, brushed and carried, picked and sketched.


It was good to see everyone bringing in their outdoor shoes, and this enabled us to make sure everyone could get outside and access all of the activities.

We also helped Year 1 with their learning.  Part of the Year 1 curriculum is to learn about the different habitats around the grounds so a log pile was built using the logs which had been recently left behind by the tree surgeons.  Together with Year 1 we moved all of the logs to inside the Fairy Area and stacked them according to size and shape.   Year 1 really appreciated the help and the muscle power of Year 6!


Miss Moreton helped us with the Jurassic Bed, and we started to look closely at the difference between the leaves of native English trees such as oak, sycamore and horse chestnut, and junipers and pines.  We looked really carefully at the Cycad.  These plants grow very slowly and can live a long time with some specimens being a 1000 years old.  They have changed very little from Jurassic times unlike many other plants - sycamore leaves have five distinct lobes which have become wider over time.  Fossils of Cycads have been found and dated to the Jurassic Period which is  300–325 million years ago.  In particular they were so widespread during the Jurassic Period it is sometimes known as the Age of the Cycads.

A sycamore leaf now on the left.

On the right a fossil of a sycamore leaf which was found in Utah, USA about 60 million years ago.

This fossil was found in Germany

We also compared pine cones in the grounds with fossil pine cones from the Carboniferous period 310 million years ago.







Within our grounds we also have two Gingko biloba trees which are very special indeed.  The Ginkgo or maidenhair tree is the only living species in the division Ginkgophyta, with all others being extinct. It is found in fossils dating back 270 million years.  Unfortunately as it is a deciduous tree it has lost its leaves, but we will be back out there in the spring to study them.  Next week we will be looking at the bark and twigs of some of these plants to help us identify them when they are bare.

Christmas comes to Carleen Nursing Home

It was a huge privilege to accompany a group of Year 6 volunteers on their visit to Carleen Care and Nursing home yesterday. Over 40 children volunteered to give up their morning in order to sing Christmas songs to the residents. The aim of the visit was to spread some Christmas cheer and to encourage our children to have empathy for older people.




Both aims were achieved in abundance! Not only did they sing with gusto, they also spent a long time afterwards chatting. They made genuine connections with the old people and were full of stories afterwards about their conversations.

An impromptu sing song breaks out

One of the ladies came down late and missed the singing, so a small group showed initiative and compassion as they gathered round her chair and sang all the songs she'd missed! Another group was asked to go to the room of a lady who hadn't managed to get down to the lounge. The children were rather disconcerted when she cried throughout their singing until we explained that her tears were tears of joy and were because of her happy memories.

Yet another occasion for our children to discover the true meaning of Christmas - giving to others.