Friday 18 February 2011

All change at Lunch Time...

We said goodbye to Mrs Smith, our long-serving school cook today!

She has been dishing up dinners at the Oakwood Schools for 28 years and we reckon that she must have cooked and served over 600,000 dinners in that time to thousands of pupils and staff!



She is now looking forward to her retirement and spending more time with her grandson!

We will miss you, Lorraine! Good luck!

All change at Lunch Time...

We said goodbye to Mrs Smith, our long-serving school cook today!

She has been dishing up dinners at the Oakwood Schools for 28 years and we reckon that she must have cooked and served over 600,000 dinners in that time to thousands of pupils and staff!



She is now looking forward to her retirement and spending more time with her grandson!

We will miss you, Lorraine! Good luck!

Oakstead visit Beaulieu

A fun filled day was had by all 'Oakstead' children at the Beaulieu Tree House Study Centre. Pond dipping, Habitat games, tree identification and much much more in the beautiful forest on Beaulieu estate. All were exhausted and that includes the adults!

Thursday 17 February 2011

Thrilling Thursday at Minstead

Today at Minstead we changed from a group of children into a tribe! We painted our faces and decorated bandanas which reflected our creature or a memory of our trip. ho waAfter that, we explored the whole of Minstead's site in search of several mysterious letters, carved into blocks of wood. These spelt out an important message which summed up our time here in the New Forest - Our Fragile Earth.

In the evening, we sat around a glowing bonfire, told jokes, sang songs and Chris told us a fascinating and magical story. We might even share it in assembly when we get back!

We can't believe we are going home tomorrow! This week has gone by so quickly, probably because we have been so busy and have been having such a brilliant time.

Please see today's photo gallery!


Wednesday 16 February 2011

Bog-tastic Wednesday!

The Sun shone brilliantly today at Minstead and we saw our first glimpse of blue sky! We had another lovely breakfast and rotated so we could try a new morning activity (chickens, pond dipping or muck moving).

After lunch we went on a very long and muddy walk to visit one of the New Forest's many bogs. It was like walking on a giant sponge! We made a video to show the Thenga being pushed into the bog, it didn't even touch the bottom!

We are now drying off and getting ready to have an evening of gazing at the stars!

The Thenga goes into the bog:

Wednesday's photo gallery:

Tuesday 15 February 2011

Tuesday's adventures in the wind and rain

Hello from wet and muddy Minstead! We are enjoying our first full day here - the weather may be horrible but we have been having so much fun, we haven't even noticed!

We started the day with a very hearty breakfast of cereal, apple juice, orange juice, scrambled eggs, bacon AND toast with jam! It was a great way to give the energy we would need for such a busy day!

Today we split into three smaller groups for the first part of the day. One group became Aquatic Adventurers and did some brilliant pond dipping, another group were Muckmovers and discovered how recycle and the final group were our Egglayers, who got to learn all about Minstead Study Centre's chickens and how to look after them (they said it was tremendously eggciting....)

In the afternoon we eggsplored (sorry) Minstead village centre...



...including the church which is 739 years old. We also looked at the grave of a very famous author who is buried there. We got the chance to be creative in the evening by designing clay monsters and decorating glass lanterns. (You can go for an explore yourself using the streetview above! Can you find your way back to the Study Centre, Mrs Worley?)

Our pond dipping and art photo gallery:



Can you find out what we found in Minstead's pond?

Oakstead

So far this week, the 'Bumblebees', 'Fireflies' and 'Dragonflies' have been researching and making minibeasts, cooking bubble & squeak, drawing wasps and playing team games. Can you spot the Queen Bee?

Iron Men (and women!)

Year 4 children amazed us a second year running with their incredible home learning projects, based on the novel: The Iron Man, by Ted Hughes.

Their mission was to build an 'iron man' made with old materials and packaging from home to create a wonderful piece of recyled art.

They put on a fabulous exhibition for their parents in the hall. You might recognise one or two characters used to inspire their creations!

Environmental Artist Visit

Year 4 had a visit from a fabulous Environmental artist: Helen Adams

She spent time creating a web of nature links with the children. This helped explain how we should care for everything in our world in order to protect our local and global environment.

To promote caring for all creatures, the children painted 'Love bugs'.

To encourage small animals into our walled garden the children all took part in creating 'Bobby's Bug Hotel'. He is made entirely from old materials including flower pots, twigs, compost, plastic crates and a broken piece of furniture from the local dump.

Monday 14 February 2011

Marvellous Monday at Minstead

What a brilliant time we are having at Minstead and a fantastic start to our week!
After waving our enthusiastic goodbyes we arrived at Minstead Study Centre. When we had found our rooms and settled in, we journeyed into the New Forest.


We had a brilliant time exploring the woods and took part in some great activities:
  • We chose our animal name badges and will work very hard this week to collect all the beads we can.
  • We made a giant, long snake out of stones.
  • Our bodies were covered in leaves to make a cocoon.
  • We explored a stream and got very wet!
  • As it was St. Valentine's Day, we made hearts out of natural materials.
  • We went on a walk to see the stars.
  • Our busy day concluded with listening to stories and singing around the campfire in the roundhouse.


Please take a look at our photo gallery!

Tuesday 8 February 2011

Under Pressure!

Year 3 are working towards making some Moving Monsters as part of their "Brutal Beasts and Beastly Battles" topic.

To make the monsters move, they will be using a pneumatic system. To understand how this works, (and because air is 'invisible'), we used coloured water, syringes and tubing to investigate how pressure can create movement.

Friday 4 February 2011

A Sad Goodbye!

We said a sad goodbye to Kay, our lollipop Lady today!

She's made sure everyone is safe as they cross the road outside the schools for over three years now and we're sorry to see her go!



We send her our best wishes as she moves onto her two new jobs!

We hope that the City Council will find us a new Crossing Patrol Person very soon, but in the meantime, please take very great care as you cross the road outside school. Always look both ways and use one of the raised crossings.

Here's an important reminded about why you need to cross carefully:

A Sad Goodbye!

We said a sad goodbye to Kay, our lollipop Lady today!

She's made sure everyone is safe as they cross the road outside the schools for over three years now and we're sorry to see her go!



We send her our best wishes as she moves onto her two new jobs!

We hope that the City Council will find us a new Crossing Patrol Person very soon, but in the meantime, please take very great care as you cross the road outside school. Always look both ways and use one of the raised crossings.

Here's an important reminded about why you need to cross carefully: