The Springmead School News

The Eagles Trip to France

On May the 8^th, The Eagles went on a trip to France with a bus driver named Jerry. On the way they experienced the wonderful views of the countryside, as well as travelling by Eurotunnel. Upon arrival they went to the Nausicaa Aquarium in Boulogne, after that the Eagles went to their accommodation in Le Portel. The following day the Eagles headed off to Le Touquet’s market. There they enjoyed browsing the market stalls. After browsing and buying wares, they travelled to Beissent to visit a traditional chocolate factory and watch how chocolate is made. They got to sample chocolate made there, afterwards they headed to the English cemetery and paid their respect to the soldiers who fought for their country. They then went to the Auchan supermarket in St. Martin Boulogne. There they had fun buying and looking at wares as well as looking at the different types of shops. The following day they packed up for the departure back to England, but before they left they went on a town trail in Boulogne, there they enjoyed sightseeing, after they had lunch they went to the bakery “Le Fournil” in Wierre-Effroy. There they saw how bread was made as well as making their own croissants. Then they got on the bus and headed home to their welcoming families.     

Foundation and Nursery

The Ducklings and Hedgehogs enjoyed a walk down to the Wildlife area on Tuesday where they explored the stream looking for different creatures.    They paddled in their wellies and carefully turned over lots of stones in their search, finding a variety of water beasts to examine.   The children noticed lots of changes in the environment which provoked plenty of discussion and enthusiastic exploration.

Year 5

As part of their water theme the Owls spent their ‘Go Explore’ session on Tuesday on the river bank. The children were tasked with measuring the speed of the river using natural objects, a tape measure and a stop watch. Knowledge of Winnie-the-Pooh became very useful as a game of ‘Pooh Sticks’ has never been so useful for science and geography research. Despite the continual rain the class worked very well and enjoyed their morning in the fresh air.

Year 3

The Badgers sat in total silence (yes, truly!) down in the woods just beyond the wildlife area and thought of some amazing descriptive words to use for their story settings, by using their senses. They then used water colour pencils to sketch some of the things they could see around them which they then converted into paint on their return to school – though one rather bouncy badger managed to leap spectacularly into the stream to investigate the effects of total immersion of a watercolour drawing…….

Year 4

With a warming break in the latest chilly spring weather, the Squirrels set off, squared paper and note books in hand, to the wildlife area.  Working in pairs, the task was to map the area to include as much information as could be noted.  We found it to be harder than we thought as having a birds-eye view of things required some forethought.  In our topic of Town & City we have been looking at why places are where they are and this tied in nicely with our next task of finding an ideal spot for a base camp and potentially the beginnings of a small village.  In small groups the ideal location was found and each group tried to persuade the others’ why theirs was the best.  We had our very own Location, Location, Location!

Year 6 First Aid Training

The Eagles Bushcraft session took place on site this week, where they learnt all about keeping safe in the outdoors.   The children learned about the potential risks including: poisoning, cuts, burns, broken bones, drowning, weather related problems such as sunburn and hypothermia, and bites and stings.  The children were shown examples of some of nature’s first aid including meadowsweet and balsam fern (both antiseptics) and plantain which can help to stop bleeding, before going on to learn some basic first aid procedures such as the recovery position and bandaging.  This session will count towards the first aid element of the Eagles Gold Springmead Award.

Nursery & Yr R

We read the Aesop Fable, The North Wind and the Sun, and then investigated wind by making our own streamers and running in the sunshine!

Year 1 @Bristol

The Rabbits thoroughly enjoyed their day @Bristol, exploring the wonderful hands-on science museum and travelling through space with Ernest the Bear in the Planetarium, as part of this term’s ‘Our World’ theme.  The children were able to pump water, launch balloons, test their reflexes, put a human body together, measure their heart rate, play at being archaeologists, try out being an animator, build a house and more.  Everyone was sad when it was time to leave – there was so much more to see and do!

Year 4

Sensational Squirrels at Kilve Court

What a fantastic time the Squirrels had, and what amazing adventures, at the beautiful Georgian house, Kilve Court.  The first time away on a school residential trip is a time in which each member of the class faces a huge collection of challenges.  One of the first of these was the fitting of the sheet.  Despite having studied in depth the properties of a rectangle, the matching of the bed and the sheet proved to be a little tricky!  The days were filled with Team Building, a scarily high climbing wall, super-fast grass sledging, plunging nets in Pond-dipping, swinging and dangling from Low Ropes and an amazing Maze!  Everyone encountered his or her own trials and discovered how wonderful it felt to succeed.  As well as becoming increasingly independent, the whole class also became team players.  As there was no guarantee of being with a particular friend during the activities it meant ‘getting along’ was also a requirement for the success of the trip.  The result has been a new respect for each other and further friendships being formed.

Foundation Stage

Eager to enjoy the change in weather the nursery and reception children took great delight in their mini-beast hunt earlier this week. It seems that the mini-beasts are enjoying the change in weather too with lots of reported sightings of all creatures, great and small!

Year 3 and 4

The Badgers and Squirrels had a lovely time using our outdoor stage to practise their PSHE skills and literacy skills and produce drama sketches inspired by the things they could smell, hear and see on a beautiful spring day. (OK, so it’s not officially quite spring yet, but it felt like it out in the garden.)

Year 1

On a lovely Spring Monday morning, the Rabbits ventured down to the wildlife area for their Go Explore session.  After reading The Gruffalo, the children searched the area for natural objects to create a big picture of The Gruffalo, and the snake on the ground.

Year 6

On a bright but cold morning the Year 6 children were delighted to be outside in the Hotson’s tepee with a warming stove. The morning’s activities covered travel, location and orienteering, aspects of the geography and science national curriculum. The pictures of the activities have been posted on our Facebook page.

Foundation

The Ducklings and Hedgehogs ventured out into the cold and spent a really enjoyable session cooking smores. Mmmmm….delicious! Again, have a look on Facebook.

Year 2 – Field Trip to SS Great Britain

The Otters class had a great time at the SS Great Britain finding out all about Brunel and learning about life on a steam ship on a voyage to Australia.

Year 4 – Field Trip to Bristol Museum – The Squirrels face the Pharaohs Challenge

We were whisked into a newly-painted room packed with mysterious boxes.  Our initial briefing as Trainee Archaeologists trained us how to hold the ancient and precious pieces, what clues we could look for and how we could build a picture of the sorts of people who lived in Ancient Egypt.  Indeed some of the artefacts could be used today such as the wooded pillar, not dissimilar to the basins in hairdressers, used as a pillow.  Our investigative skills were obviously on top form as we passed the Challenge with flying colours.

We also explored the Exhibition which was full of fascinating facts and objects; one of the most popular was the 3,500 year old Mummy that could only be seen once two glowing blue buttons had been pressed.  It was so exciting to see all the amazing things which had been saved from so long ago and which gave us such an insight into life all that time ago.

Year 5 – Field Trip to Bristol Museum

The Owls enjoyed a fantastic day at The Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. With the Ancient Greek workshop having been cancelled, the class got to spend their time exploring the different exhibitions from archaeology and world cultures to wildlife galleries and from minerals to dinosaurs. The children then focused on their personal favourite piece of art from the top floor of the museum whether it was painting, metal work, ceramics or sculpture and completed a short discovery task. The highlight of the trip was the time spent in the photography competition exhibition. The children were wowed by the dynamic photographs that were part of a worldwide competition. A great trip that was over all too soon!