Autumn start for Forest School

 On returning to school after the scorching Summer that everyone had enjoyed/endured, the last thing I thought we would be experiencing first lesson back would be a fire in Year 4's Forest School session.

So with a careful, steady hand, two of the class were tasked with chopping some firewood...

During the wood chopping the pupils discovered a couple of really interesting minibeasts. There was the larvae of a Stag beetle nestled inside a big block of rotten wood that cracked open.

And  when we found a Lesser Stag beetle a number of the pupils were brave enough to experience it crawling over their hands!

A fire was established and shortly after the class were enjoying toasting bread at the start of their lesson. It was heart-warming to see them so calm and sharing each others space in such a considered manner.

A lovely beginning to the term.

Big Day Out

 Towards the tail end of the pupils time in Secondary all the classes are eagerly anticipating moving up to Year 10. The reason being is that for the first time they get to experience a whole day outside the class and venture to some new, exciting, far-flung places on Outdoor Education.

First big day out for the new Year 10 cohort was a jaunt up to the top of Titterstone Clee Hill.

The class were awestruck at how desolate and exposed the summit was. The weather was much cooler than anyone had felt throughout the scorching Summer we had all just endured and I promised to bring them back in the depths of Winter so they could all experience some real windchill!

They were fascinated by the historical buildings dotted around; relics of the quarrying and industry that shaped the hillside.

They commented how this stone hut resembled the buildings on 'MineCraft'.

Walking down from the summit we passed some construction work only a few hundred metres from the top.

The large 'golf ball' shaped structure, known as a radome is being decommissioned as part of an update to the air traffic control systems. People are divided on whether losing this iconic part of the skyline in Shropshire is a good or bad thing. 

One thing is certain though, the class will always remember their day walking up and past this unique part of the Shropshire landscape.