Podcast

MiniHorts podcast on school gardening with Garden Media Guild Award winner Sarah Wilson of Roots and All.

https://twitter.com/rootsandall/status/1227155316040773632?s=12

Calshot 3

Thursday

Another sunny day although very cold.  The day started with cooked breakfast and then off into the forest for orienteering. Some of the children got to see a herd of deer very close up and Ruby Kay got to see a muddy puddle very close up!  They all enjoyed map reading and found most tags. Except for Mrs Morgan's group - massive fail 😂😂

Lunch was far too much food again and then we went off to the afternoon sessions groups of velodrome, abseiling and archery.

Everyone slept well and there are lots of happy faces.

Calshot 2

All  children have slept well and eaten well. Full English was breakfast along with cereal and toast. It’s roast this evening.

We are back to skiing, team swing, low ropes and beach scavenging today. 

Everyone is well and having fun. 

Apologies for short posts and no photos. My phone won’t let me upload pictures atm. I’ll do it when I’m back. 

Calshot

Hi all.

We arrived without a hitch with the sun shining. The staff are incredibly welcoming. We had lunch on the beach and everyone skied and climbed. Evening meal was cottage pie with macaroni cheese, salad bar and jacket potato. In the evening we orinteered and ringo’ed down the dry ski slope.


Skiing was a hoot. Mrs Morgan, Mr Wildman and I have never laughed so much. Let’s just say ‘dominoes’. We have all slept well too.

Ronald McDonald House

 We spent a Thursday morning at The Ronald McDonald  

House in Southampton.  In Max’s words “It was amazing!”

 It was a fantastic opportunity for us to see how the charity

chosen by us works and the difference the house makes to

people’s lives. We found out that the house supports

families who have children who are been looked after by

Southampton General Hospital and The Princess Anne

Hospital. We saw first-hand how having a ‘home’ right

next door to their children makes a difficult time a little easier.

The house really was like a big home, with lots of rooms where people could stay over – 53 in total! There are also lots of kitchens which makes cooking and eating regularly easier – lots of food is donated too so the families don’t have to worry about shopping. There were 4 rooms where the families could relax, read, play with toys, access the internet, watch TV or DVDs and also an outside balcony where families can get some fresh air and a view.  We were all touched again by the amount of donations the house receive. Faye said “I thought it was really generous that lots of people have donated fabulous things.” We all felt that there was so much for the whole family, from baby brothers and sisters to grandparents. Isobel felt it was great that families could be close by. “I think it is good that the house has things to brighten up sad times – like Waffle Wednesday!” Some families use the house for as a little as a day, whilst their child is in hospital as a day patient whilst another stayed for as long as two years whilst their baby was being looked after. We saw lots of photographs of the families as we looked around.

 Before we left w had the opportunity to hang a disc on the Giving Tree, which recgnisers fundraisers who raise over £500 – we rasied £825. William said “I felt proud and honoured to hang the metal disc engraved with our school name.” To finish I think Emily sums up the whole experience well. “I felt sad and happy because you could see the hard time the parents have but happy because the house supports them and is right next to the hospital so they can visit their children whenever.”

The children were all an absolute credit to the school and made the trip enjoyable for everyone involved. The staff from the Ronald McDonald House also commented on the impeccable behaviour, care and compassion shown by our children. 

End of year with new beginnings...

Plastic-Free Christmas Tree: 'end of a year, start of change'

Here at Wicor, we are very aware of the damage that plastics are causing to our planet and the wildlife, people, plants and trees that are dependent on it.

One of the biggest occasions in the calendar that contributes to the discarding of single use plastic is Christmas. As part of a whole school enquiry we are looking through out a year at plastics during seasons. How can we make our school community aware of the value of materials sourced from finite resources?

This Christmas all 440 children took part in making a decoration that was made from recycled or natural materials that fits within their national curriculum studies.

Year R collected pine cones from our Scots pine tree in the orchard and decorated them.

Year 1 dried oranges and bay leaves, looking at how Victorians would have decorated their tree before plastic.




                                                           Year 4 explored how in wartime Britain's decorated their homes creatively by folding paper to make decorations.


                   

Minstead day 2 3W

An early start today with 3 courses for breakfast and a special song for Ellis. We have been lucky with the weather, the autumnal sun was glorious and apart from a power cut in the middle of the night (setting off an alarm which saw all the adults in their PJs manically ensuring everything was reset before waking up the children!) we saw no effects of the storm. 

We made 3 new friends today in Barbara, Benjamin and Betty. They enjoyed eating the crab apples and ivy leaves we found them for snacks and loved the massages so much Barbara even danced! No, we hadn’t met new centre staff, just the sheep! We then learned about how sheep helped humans and how to tell if the sheep were healthy (poo is the key) then used some sheep wool to make a felt planet to bring home. Later in the day we made ‘compost cake’ mixing soil, crispy crunchy leaves and leftover peelings to turn into compost. Working hard in teams, the children had to use gardening tools and wheelbarrows to get their ‘ingredients ‘ up the hill to where the compost was to be ‘cooked’. 

Tea was scrumptious again and having spent all day outside even the cabbage was demolished! Our final evening has been magical with a story in the roundhouse lit only by the light of the children’s homemade lanterns. A night walk up the hill in the dark with a procession of lanterns saw us gathering around the campfire to sing songs and enjoy a biscuit before walking back down the hill to the bunkhouse to get ready for bed. 

The children are very tired after a long day in the fresh air and many are already on their way to the land of nod. They are hoping to earn the coveted golden bead tonight  that only a good night’s sleep can bring...watch this space!