Another glorious day for a trip! Class 3 walked to Sizergh Castle in the sunshine. We enjoyed a picnic lunch in the garden and spent some time producing sketches of the building and looking at the features. We thought about our work in the classroom and looked at how the castle had been added to and changed throughout history. We then enjoyed looking around inside. Finally, we visited the wild trail. A fantastic day for all of us!
Class 2 have absolutely loved their last week of the Spring Term! It started with our school trip to Lytham St. Anne’s, for which the weather couldn’t have been kinder. We observed the outside and the indside of the windmill and the children produced some fantastic observational drawings of the building. The Victorian museum on the ground floor of the windmill was a great taster for some of our history learning that we will be undertaking in the Summer term. As well as learning about the purpose and history of the windmill, the volunteers from the Lytham Heritage Group, also showed us around the lifeboat museum. We enjoyed discounted ice cream from Andy the ice cream man and a lovely walk, before returning to school.
For the remainder of the week, we were designing and constructing our own windmills. The children showed fantastic patience and resilience when assembling the main parts, in order to make sure their models were stable and effective. It was another fantastic week of Design and Technology and Mrs Mason and I were were so impressed with the children’s achievements. Well done Class 2!
Class 3 have been finding out what it would have been like to be one of the world’s first artists, painting on the walls of caves with natural materials and only their hands to create images.
Inspired by the work of our ancient ancestors, we travelled back in time to our cave – the school hall – where we worked collaboratively to create images of hands, animals and people.
It was very different to our usual experiences in art lessons. The large pieces of paper had been crinkled and squashed to replicate the uneven surface of a cave wall; they had been positioned vertically so that we could feel what it would have been like to try to paint on walls; and the hall was dimly lit to imitate the dim light in a cave.
Unlike our ancient predecessors, we were able to use graphite sticks, acrylic paints and pastels.
Class 3 have been exploring cave paintings in their sketch books in our recent art lessons.
We have been re-visiting our prior learning by recapping on primary and secondary colours and we have been finding out exactly how to make brown! Did you know that there are three formulas to make it accurately: it is not a case of just mixing as many colours as possible together!
We have been looking at all the different ways to describe and make the endless shades of brown that can be created using acrylic paints, watercolours, oil pastels and watercolours. As well as looking closely at the earthy tones made by natural materials used in ancient cave paintings found in France, Spain and Argentina that date back thousands of years.
Here we are at work in our classroom this week….
What an amazing day we all enjoyed in Keswick last week, which began with a visit to Castlerigg Stone Circle in the morning. Despite the wet, windy weather blowing across the clearing, we were able to get up close to the stones as we considered what their purpose might have been 4500 years ago.
We have several theories – it was certainly a place of very special significance – perhaps of religious importance or a place for people to gather and trade! Other stone circles around the UK, are believed to have been burial grounds, but not Castlerigg, as no human bones have every been found in the locality.
During the afternoon, we moved indoors to enjoy three workshops with the museum staff. We were able to handle ancient stone axes that had been found in a cave on the Pike of Stickle which were believed to have been the remains of a stone-age axe factory! We learnt about how hunter gatherers during the neolithic period survived in ancient Britain and we also became real archaeologists searching for hidden artefacts in the earth.
See us here, learning more about life in Stone-Age Britain and how historians have been able to piece together so much information about this time long before writing was invented!
Class 2 have had a great morning travelling back in time over 350 years to 1666 and experiencing what it was like during the Great Fire of London. Laura and Adrian from Imagining History brought us an exciting workshop involving drama and role play. We created the kitchen in the bakery on Pudding Lane and then used a range of methods from the past to try and put out the raging fire. We threw leather buckets of water at the blaze, used squirts and water carts. We even tried to create a fire break by using dynamite to blow up the burning houses but to no avail. We took on different roles including King Charles 2nd, James, the Duke of York, scared Londoners and Samuel Pepys to create a big picture of the event, then tested our knowledge with a quiz about the key facts.
As Class 4 arrive at the end of their learning journey on Crime and Punishment this term we were all treated to a visit from the rural police. James and Pete spent the morning in School describing what it is like to be a police officer in 21st century Britain; and this enabled our pupils to make some interesting comparisons with the first police known as the ‘Peelers’ or ‘Bobbies’ after Robert Peel.
The children had pre-prepared some interesting questions…….
Q: Have you ever been frightened?
Q: Do you think there are more crimes today than in the time of the Peelers?
Q: Would you recommend a career as a police officer?
Q: Do you have to always abide by the law?
Q: Have you ever used your taser?
They explained and demonstrated the uses of their equipment and described the types of rural crimes or incidents that they might be called to.
A thoroughly interesting and informative morning. Huge thanks to our visiting ‘Bobbies’ for talking to us this morning. We learnt lots, but let’s hope it’s the first and last time any of us are put in handcuffs!!
Year 5 + 6 enjoyed a thought-provoking, informative and engaging trip to the Police Museum and Victorian Courthouse in Ripon.
In our topic so far we have been looking at law and order in earlier times including during The Roman Empire, Anglo-Saxon Britain and during the 18th century when over 200 crimes were punishable by death. During out visit this week, our attention was turned to the 19th century with the introduction of prisons, the police force (originally know as the ‘Peelers’) and The House of Correction!
During the afternoon, we had an opportunity to travel back in time 200 years to a Victorian Courthouse. Taking the identities of all sorts of different characters, we role-played the trial of William Stokes who was accused of taking a horse and cart from a local farmer. Despite the range of evidence that almost proved his guilt, the jury overwhelmingly decided on his innocence. In Victorian times he would have undoubtedly been hanged, but in our discussions, this 21st century jury were not convinced beyond reasonable doubt that he was the perpetrator and therefore believed that justice could only be served by his release.
Class 3 have been really enjoying their history topic all about Anglo Saxons. They have worked very hard on a special homework task over the past two weeks. After researching Anglo Saxon villages, they set about presenting their research in creative ways – some made models, others drew pictures and some created digital representations using Minecraft. An amazing array of wonderful work was proudly shown to the whole school in Celebration Assembly on Friday. Well done all and thank you for the extra time and effort that has undoubtedly gone into your work.
What a brilliant day we have had on our school trip!
The first part of the day was spent at Beatrix Potter World where we met Tim the Gardener and even Beatrix Potter herself. We learnt lots about her life, the inspirations behind her books and the characters featured in them. We also had fun completing an activity trail and loved exploring Mr. McGregor’s garden.
Then we hopped back onto the bus and made our way to Brockhole. We enjoyed our picnic lunch (indoors) and then learnt about some of the animals and their habitats featured in Beatrix Potter’s books through the centre’s new exhibition. Despite the weather we braved the outdoors and had a great time exploring the grounds. We identified physical and human features and completed the Beatrix Potter trail to find out more about the animals in her books.
