Friday 4th July - a child initiated litter pick

One of the boys in Otter class had heard all about the Eco-Committee's recent litter picking and last week told Mrs Dear that she "had to see the skate park as the litter is terrible!".  

We believe it is important to listen to our pupils, respect their views and ideas and allow them to take ownership. Therefore, Mrs Dear took him and one of the Eco-Committee children to the skate park this morning - with one of our lovely grandparent volunteers.

In less just 20 minutes, they picked up a bag full of rubbish! They discussed the type of litter they were finding (mostly sweet wrappers, crisp packets, fast food packaging and soft drink bottles) and what that told us about the people predominantly using the skate park (children). 

On the walk back to school, they continued picking up litter from along the edges of the path.

We are really proud of how this child noticed a problem, highlighted it to us and has been able to help to improve the situation. We will now add this area as a place to pick litter in the future.

 

Wednesday 1st July - more litter picking

Three of our Year One Eco -Committee children were able to litter pick this week. We looked around the Sainsbury's car park, and (like the year 2's last week) they were really pleased to see the difference in the area as a consequence of the management company increasing their schedule.

We still managed to pick up some litter and discussed what we were finding, and what that told us about how the area is used.

We explored magnetic and non-magnetic materials as some metals were attracted to our litter pickers and some were not. What a great opportunity for unplanned science learning.

Full Bee Habitats - continuing the lifecycle of our solitary bees!

During their Beyond the Gate sessions, the Year One children have been noticing how the tubes in our bee habitats are full! Female solitary bees have filled up the tubes with eggs, mud and pollen.

We are intrigued as they have only used the tubes that have brown cardboard on the outside and have not used the ones that are totally white.

 

 

We will leave them where they are, ready to harvest the cocoons in October to be stored in the shed until next Spring.

Weds 27th June - the roof went on our Minibeast Mansion!

Mrs Dear had managed to source some old, unwanted roof tiles, so the Eco Committee children added these to the minibeast mansion for the final finishing touch!

They filled up the bug drinking bowls and hope that some minibeasts will soon be seen using this habitat!

More litter picking - Weds 27th June

Mrs Dear, and our dedicated mum volunteer, took the Year 2 and Year R Eco Committee children out litter picking again today.

They started in the Jubilee play park next to school, where they noticed lots of rubbish on the floor. Whilst they were picking it all up, a lovely person was emptying the bin. So we discussed with him his role and the issue of litter. One of his jobs for the Parish Council is to empty the bins weekly - a role he offered to do many years ago. He explained how he now empties 72 bins here and on Elvetham Heath.

The children were shocked to collect nearly a whole bag of rubbish just in the play park!

However, they were very pleased when they moved across to the Sainsbury's car park area. Having been informed that the management company had agreed to increase their litter picking in the area (as a consequence of us picking litter and raising the profile of the issue), the children were very impressed with what has been done. They noticed that the bushes have all been trimmed, so less litter can get trapped in them. And, there was no litter piled up in corners, along the edges or over drain covers. It was a transformation from our previous picks!

Most of the litter they collected was directly outside Sainsbury's and the vets. 

And, in school, one of our some children had independently asked to use the school litter pickers to pick up the litter on the field and playground. They did this at break and lunchtime, without being asked - what amazing Eco Stewards!

Creating our Minibeast Mansion

Over the last few months, the Eco-Committee and other children across the school (in Forest School sessions and Forest School lunchtime club) have been helping build a Minibeast Mansion for our Beyond the Gate area (we already have the established Bug Skyscraper which was created 2 years ago, so the children wanted to create a second minibeast habitat!).

We discussed where it needed to be located and decided that it needed to be in the sun and South East facing - as that is the direction our successful bee boxes face.

The children have been adding a variety of materials to create the different layers in the pallets. Whilst they have been doing this, they have been predicting which types of minibeasts might choose to live in the different materials and why. 

They have also discussed the phrase "reduce, reuse and recycle", as we used plastic bottles and filled them with bamboo, bee tubes, leaves and sticks. This was inspired by a Year One boy who had found a plastic bottle in the undergrowth during a Forest School session, and we discussed whether we should put it in the recycling or try and reuse it.

Children had the opportunity to saw bamboo sticks to put in the habitat. The bamboo had been donated by a member of staff who had found lots in her garage and decided it could be put to good use!

The Eco Committee all helped paint a sign so the minibeast will know where to go!

It looks comfy and cosy, and we can't wait to see what minibeasts start to reside in it.

Thursday 12th June - meeting with a Parish Councillor to discuss litter.

This morning, our Eco Committee met with Debbie Moss, who is one our school governors and also on the Parish Council.

The children spoke confidently, passionately, eloquently and in depth about the issue of litter in the Sainsbury's area.

They described the different types of litter they have found when we have been litter picking, and then shared their ideas on how to reduce the amount of litter. This included showing her photos of different cigarette butt bins; chewing gum boards and bins with separate sections for sorting rubbish.

Mrs Moss then told the children how, as a result of their hard work, she had made contact with the management company for the Sainsbury's area. They have been impressed with the school's effort and, as a result, have agreed to increase the litter picking timetable for the area (from once a month to weekly), and increase the length of time they spend there.

What an amazing outcome for these children. It shows them that their small actions can have a large impact.

Wednesday 4th and Thursday 5th June - developing the school grounds to improve our amazing Forest School sessions and enable increased curriculum outdoor learning.

This week our tarpaulin shelter setup was installed and erected. Stuart Barrett, from Just Grow Forest School LTD, attended the site to create two amazing shelter structures for us. 

This installation was made possible thanks to money received from the Tesco Stronger Starts (blue token) scheme and from the Hart District Council Countryside Grant.  We are also grateful to Kevin Thomlinson (Mrs Thomlinson's husband) who came in and helped with the installation.

As well as this, parent and grandparent volunteers helped Mrs Dear clear more areas of overgrown bramble and nettle to increase our area to use, and enable the next planned stage of site improvement and development. Thank you to everyone who volunteered their time to help out. 

Tuesday 20th May - World Bee Day at Tweseldown!

Today the whole school was buzzing as everyone took part in a range of different activities to learn about the brilliance of bees!

Children and staff were invited to dress in yellow and black or bee-themed outfits - we were very impressed with the efforts made! 

 

The day started with a whole school assembly, where Mrs Dear and two local beekeepers, who are part of the Fleet beekeepers (Kevin and Carly), told the children many fascinating facts about bees and why they are so important.

Did you know:-

Smarties have beeswax coating them (it makes them shiny!)

-Bees can flap their wings 200 times a second

-Bee's wax was the first chewing gum

What other fascinating facts can your child tell you?

Workshops with our visitors:

The Year One classes took part in a wildflower seed bomb-making workshop. They discussed why it is important for us to help increase the number of wildflowers growing and then got their hands very messy!

We hope their seeds will grow at home – and would love to see photos when they do!

Year Two had the chance to make candles by rolling bee's wax sheets around a piece of wick. It was good for them to learn that honey bees can provide us with a lot more than just honey! 

They had so many questions for Carly (a local beekeeper). We hope they enjoy lighting their candles safely at home (why not send a photo to us!).

The Year R and Year 1 classes all had the chance to look closely at some honey bees. They hunted to find the queen bee in the colony (which had a yellow dot on it) and could see the honey and honeycomb. They also got to look at different beekeeping equipment.

Pollination Learning:

To support their scientific knowledge of the pollination process, all the year groups took part in an active role-play game to help them understand how bees move pollen between different flowers.

Year R moved coloured balls between different boxes, representing flowers, and to the hive. 

Year One buzzed around the muga pitch, collecting pollen (flour) on cotton buds and delivering it to flowers (pictures & hoops). As they delivered the pollen, they had to do star jumps to use their nectar energy.

And Year Two, had the challenge of drinking“nectar” and collecting pollen balls from different flowers (hoops) and transferring them between different flowers. 

Bee themed Art and Craft:

Bees were created in all different ways–including using egg boxes, hand prints and the technique of pointillitism.

English and Science:

Across the different year groups, children completed different scientific writing tasks. Year One created some informative fact files about bees - using all the information they had learning in the assembly and through class research. Year 1 and 2 drew and labelled the anatomy of bees. And year 2 ordered the lifecycle of a bee.

Wednesday 7th May: Litter Picking - achievements and impact!

We love it when children go 'above and beyond' for themselves, their learning and the school. Eva, one of our Eco Committee members, took it upon herself to write to the company Waterhaul, asking if they would provide us with some litter-picking equipment. Her request was successful, and they donated us 2 grabbers!

These were used with enthusiasm by our Year R and year 1 eco committee, who went litter picking in the Sainsbury's area again today.

As well as collecting a whole bag full of rubbish, they discovered that some metals are magnetic and some are not, because an old nail stuck to the magnet on the grabber but the drinks cans did not. What brilliant real-life science learning whilst helping the environment.

Some families have also begun to borrow our sets of litter-picking equipment over the weekends. As part of this, we ask them to complete a log in a book, recording where and when they litter picked. Look at this amazing report that one child in Year 2 wrote about her experience:

 

Saturday 26th April - Spring Work Party

This morning we held our Spring Beyond the Gate Work Party. This was an opportunity for staff and families of the school community to help us with site management, as well as improve our site for bio-diversity.

In addition, as part of our community outreach, we were joined by members of our local scouting group. Some hard-working cubs and their leaders joined us to get stuck in, which gives the children an opportunity to fulfil some tasks for their cub badges.

It was a beautiful morning, and we achieved so much in just two hours!

 - 30 hedgerow trees were planted. These came from the Woodlands Trust as part of their free trees for schools initiative and included crab apples, hazel, hawthorn, dogrose and dogwood.

 - We created a 10 metre wildflower seed patch, by digging up the turf (thanks to some very strong diggers!); putting down cardboard (to help stop grass regrowth) and putting down special low grade topsoil. The children enjoyed sprinkling the wildflower seed on top. We are grateful to our local Fleet Lions Club for the donation of the topsoil and seeds.

 - Three new bird boxes were attached to trees by Mr John. These beautiful boxes were kindly donated to us by the arborists at Heckfield Place.

 - Some lovely mums, malleted in more wooden stakes to increase our dead hedging. We were keen to do this, as we have seen what an amazing habitat this creates in our site.

 - we spread a mountain of woodchip and bark in the paths and around base camp, to help preserve the paths and reduce dust in the dry weather.

 We emptied the bath tub which was thick with sludge and leaves - and discussed plans to make it a successful pond and even filled our bee boxes with new tubes.

What a successful morning and thank you to everyone who attended!

Thursday 3rd April - Buzzing Bees

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 - local area litter picking

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 - Eco Committee first litter picking in the local area

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 - feed the birds!

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 - mountains of wood chip

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.