Memorable Experiences

As part of our project 'Coastline', Oak Class visited Bournemouth West Beach to learn about human and physical features of a coastline. 

We began the day with lunch and some fun in the sand! We built sandcastles, dug holes and had so much fun. After lunch, we all enjoyed a giant ice cream - so yummy! 

We then took a walk along the beach, hunting for human and physical features of the coastline. The children identified cliffs, beach huts, the pier, shops, and the ocean. 

Our favourite part of the day was paddling in the sea. The water wasn't too cold and we had lots of fun jumping over the waves. The children collected beautiful shells, pebbles and very slimy seaweed!

We finally headed home after a long, tiring day filled with fun!

Pupil voice:

I loved jumping in the ocean. The seaweed was so slimy I liked touching it. 

Pippa

I had so much fun. The beach was warm and I loved eating my ice cream. I saw beach huts and lifeguards!

John

Last Friday, Cedar class travelled to the Ashmolean Museum. A memorable experience for their topic, Groundbreaking Greeks. The children were very excited as it was, for some, their first trip with Cedar, and for others, their first trip to a museum.

The children represented themselves very well. They were mindful of the public and moved around the museum sensibly. 

We began our day by having a look at ancient civilisations, before moving into the Japan section for our Club Japan group. The children were amazed at just how small the samurai armour was. This prompted an interesting conversation about why, on average, humans are taller now.

After having lunch together, we joined our guide, Niel, for an expert tour of Classical Greece. We looked at the statues and pots and tried to interpret the subject of the art, and we got to hold real artefacts from ancient Greece, to explore thier possible uses.

In the statuary, some of the children were ver excited to see the statue of Laocoon (see the picutres below). We have been reading about  the Trojan war and heard about how he was punished by Athena for throwing a spear at the Trojan horse. Athena lived up to the reputaton of the gods and sent a VERY harsh punishment. Laocoon AND his two sons were devoured by sea serpents.

Pupil voice:

'It was very fun and inspiring' 

'Very inspirational and educational. Every artefact had me jaw-dropped'  

'My favourite part was the statuary, because they helped me learn a lot and they were really fun and interesting' 

'I loved the samurai sword and armour in the Japanese section. I loved reading about how they were made.' 

To launch our Magnificent Monarchs project, Oak Class visited Oxford Castle and Prison.

We took a tour of the castle and climbed 101 steps to the top of the tower! It was very hard work because the steps were 'tripping steps' that helped slow down attackers. 

We explored the crypt and learnt about the history of the building. We saw prisons cells that prisoners of the past would have stayed in and talked about different punishments prisoners would recieve. Did you know that prisoners had to take part in hard labour every day?

 

 

After lunch, we took part in the 'King of the Castle' workshop. We handled different artefacts using our touch and smelling senses to help us identify them. The castle smells were very smelly! 

 

 

Finally, we climbed the mound. We learnt there used to be a tower on top to help people defend from armies that might attack them. At the top we waved to all the people at the bottom, it was very high up and windy!

Pupil voice

'I liked the prison cells. We got to dance in the tower and see our shadows!'

'I liked the twirly-whirly stairs. They were to help stop knights from attacking people. I was a bit scared because their were alot of stairs and my feet were hurting. I loved getting to the top, it was really high!'

'The smells were really stinky but some of them smelled good. We smelt the dirty laundry and the stables.' 

'I loved climbing the mound, it was very high! We got to wave to everyone from high up.' 

To kick off our new topic Cedar travelled over to our sister school, Queen Emma's, to take part in a carousel of activities based on their learning for the term.

The children enjoyed four different activities each lead by a different member of staff. Our Year 6 loved the idea as moving around to the different classrooms is very much like what they will be doing when they move on to their secondary school.

The activities included: 

A bridge building challenge with Miss. Southey, in which the children had to build bridges (with limited equipment) and test them with weights.

Rivers of the world with Mr. Charlton. The children loved exploring and sharing facts about some of the worlds more reknowned rivers.

Boat building with Mr. Crouch. The children had to design boats that could handle rough waters. Much tougher than it seemed!

And lastly, the water cycle with myself. The children revisted the concepts of states of matter while exploring, evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation and collection. We also completed a live water cycle demonstration.

 

Pupil Voice

'The bridge challenge was amazing! Our group did REALLY well!'

'It was great moving to different activities - just like secondary school!'

'I enjoyed finding out about the rivers of the world.'

 

Cherry Class had the most wonderful day at Cogges Farm to launch their project 'Sunshine and Sunflowers'. The children explored the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, milked a model cow, hunted for eggs, baked, and looked at seeds and plants. What an amazing adventure!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

  

   

  

The whole school visited The Cornbury Park Estate for a ‘Countryside Day’ during the summer term. The children learnt about the important role estates such as Cornbury Park has to play within its environment and providing a livelihood for many locals. The children explored the grounds, learnt about livestock, game keeping, forest maintenance, farming and more.

 

 

 

 

Pupil Voice;

"My favourite part was meeting the working dog, Barney. He was very cute when we met him and he was only one year old but he was a big dog! We got to walk him and feed him treats."

"My favourite part was meeting the pigs and the piglets. They are my favourite animal at Cornbury park. I liked how cute the piglets were and how massive the Mummy was."

"I really enjoyed catching the butterflies. We caught a horse butterfly; it was really hard to catch them"