Newsletter 24 May 2019

Yesterday was Outdoor Classroom Day and it was fully embraced at Forres Sandle Manor across the school. Everywhere you looked, there were clusters of children busily and fruitfully engaged in the Spring sunshine and it made my heart feel good to see it. Leading the way in their enthusiasm to embrace the outdoors were the Reception and Nursery Classes who spent the entire day outside, even going so far as to have their lunch out on the Moor. The Reception class could be found counting tree rings to really big numbers, weaving using different widths of leaves, grasses and other found objects and doing a survey, which they represented on a bar graph, of all the different types of trees in the FSM grounds. We are a regular arboretum! Key Stage One had a great day too. They went to Beaulieu Countryside Educational Trust. They listened to, and identified different bird calls whilst hiding up in the most beautiful ‘Tree House’. They then ran out in the meadows to gather buttercups and various leaves which they used to dye wool lots of shades of delicious yellow and pale green. The children’s learning about habitats was reinforced when they undertook a fabulous activity to explore camouflage and again when they went pond dipping. Katie was overjoyed to inform me, on her return to Pre-Prep, that she had found a newt! All this and a hunt for fairy doors in the woods. They had a great day, full of great learning, as all the children did in the great outdoors.

Newsletter 17 May 2019

Eco week has been a rip roaring success! Above you can see an investigation which was being carried out in the science room. The children were provided with a scoop of sand from the beach and, after water was added, they were instructed to analyse what they found in the sand other than shells and pebbles. Plastic floats, so after a good stir, myriad pieces of plastic rose to the surface of the water. Do you know what a Nurdle is? I certainly didn’t until yesterday. A Nurdle is a piece of rigid, pre-production plastic, about the size of a small, polystyrene ball. The children were tasked with finding these and separating them from the secondary plastic or pieces of broken down micro-plastic which floats around in our rivers, seas and oceans. The children are familiar with the dangers of plastic but were amazed, and frankly appalled, by the amount of Nurdles and plastic which we found in what was a very small amount of sand. This horror only increased as they discovered that once made, plastic of this nature never disappears and is found throughout the food-chain, even in humans. Real food for thought. This was just one of the super activities which the children have been up to. In the Nursery, the children learnt about the importance of bees. Rohan’s Grandad brought in an empty hive and apiarist’s suit for the children to see. They all had a taste of some delicious honey and were gifted a large pot as well as some pendants, which was incredibly generous and we are very thankful. The Reception class too have been involved. They have been learning about the peril of plastic and have fashioned their own bags by recycling newspapers. They are fabulous! Great learning all round I think you’ll agree.

Newsletter 10 May 2019

It has been a week for photographs. Class photos, whole school photos and KS1 having the opportunity to have a photography lesson with Mrs Cochand – not to mention all the photos which have been taken of the children at work or play or out and about. We use photos to assess the children and to provide a reference point, but also to inform you. We use photos as a part of our marketing and our social media and also on our many display boards as well as in our Big Book Planners. The photo below is of our Reception class children on their visit to Lulworth Castle. This building is really a burnt out folly, according to Mrs Holdom, but with enough touches to bring it to life, such as the armour above, towers to scramble up, dungeons to shiver delightedly in and kitchen maids’ clothes to wear by the big kitchen fireplace. Everyone came back very excited by their trip – not to mention the children! The Nursery have been out and about too. Their trip to Marwell Zoo was a great success, despite the threat of rain and they have also started to include ‘Beach School’ in the curriculum this term. The beach lends itself to learning. Making sand pies and counting the shells which decorate them, comparing and ordering by size and length with pebbles and seaweed, writing your name on the sand, exploring shadows and drawing around them and noticing all the rubbish and plastic on the shore and learning first hand about our environment. On top of all that, it’s jolly good fun! You know the old adage – a picture says a thousand words….

Newsletter 3 May 2019

Welcome back to what has already proved to be a rather action packed term! KS1 have been out on the first of many of their trips engaging in Field trips for Art, Geography and History. In Salisbury the Year Two children separated off into two different groups to explore the shops on the High Street. There were lots of clothes shops and banks, which is what was expected and a plethora of sweet shops all within a few strides of each other selling fudge, chocolate and old-fashioned sweets. We will use this information when we go to a different setting later in the term. At the same time the Year One children were engaging in sketching the Cathedral. Back in the classroom they will be using these sketches to mimic two contrasting Cathedral Artists, Constable and Feininger, as inspiration for their own art. After a snack we set off for Old Sarum to explore the ruins of the old Cathedral and the Motte and Baily Castle which is built upon the site of an original Iron Age hill fort. While we were there we were beset by Storm Hannah and so we cut short this part of our trip and came back to have a picnic in the Pre-Prep, which was rather fun! The Reception class are also learning all about Castles – I wonder if you would have guessed that from the photograph? Mr Wells popped down to see the children in their new classroom.