Local Habitats (Flora and Fauna)

Our children learn a variety of skills like being able to make bird food, identify flora and fauna and make practical household objects using natural materials.

Exciting times - our frogs are back and frog watch has started

Our children have been planting fruit trees on our school grounds thanks to the I Dig Charity

Our children have been visiting the Sill in Northumberland to find out about our wildlife and dark skies

Our Phase 3 children visited the Great North Museum (Hancock) to learn about the Northumberland Wildlife

Art inspired by Andy Goldsworthy using loose parts

Autumn fun

Building habitats for our wildlife using loose parts

Kirkley Woods and Zoo with Jessica from the Royal Forestry Society for years 3, 3/4 and 4. We have been learning about trees and wildlife within and around our woodlands and how to support them. We then visited the Zoo and learnt about many different animals, their habitats and habits.

Collecting our Gold Award from the British Ecological Society

Mouse watch - our children are super excited to watch field mice living in their real life habitat. They absolutely love them and have watched them silently.

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Phase 1 have been visiting Kirkley woods and zoo with Jess from RFS to learn about why trees are important, looking at animals and their habitats and identifying trees. At the zoo they learnt about animals from all over the world.

Frog watch - everyone loves them. We have been watching them carefully and noting their changes. Learning life cycles in a real life setting

Phase 1 have been learning through story at Washington Wetland Trust - Ava the Osprey. They levelled up their knowledge learning all about ospreys, others and flamingos. Then we went bird spotting to see if we could identify other birds we found

Year 4 had a visit to the local garden centre to learn about pollinators and choose the plants that they wanted for school to attract bees and insects to support their survival

Our frogs have returned and our real life Science starts now. Intrigued and excited, we are watching and waiting to see the Life cycle of a frog - for real

We have been working really hard to find and identify mini beasts and plants that were on our hunt sheet. Working in small teams and supporting each other, whilst respecting our natural world

We have been working with the British Ecological Society identifying birds and learning about them

We have been making our own bird feeders by mixing seeds, suet, mealworms, sunflowers and fat together to form food balls to help them survive the winter. Working as a team and having lots of resilience’s

Our children have been playing at being detectives and identifying the foot prints they found in the newly laid snow. Working as a team to decide who each ones belonged to.

Reception have been learning about insects and mini beasts with small toys and using their fine motor skills - tweezers to pick them up and play sorting games.

Identifying birds and them sketching and painting them

Visiting Washington Wetland Trust to learn about birds through story - Ava the Osprey - our children engaged in Ava’s story learning lots of different vocabulary and her needs to survive. We then learnt about otters and their needs and finally explored finding birds and identifying them using our spotter cards and binoculars

Finding and identifying using spotter cards and scavenger hunt

Learning about hedgehogs and what they need to survive then creating a piece of art making a hedgehog of our own using natural materials of clay and loose parts

Identifying loose part leaves and them making art with them

Phase 2 have been visiting the woods with Jessica from RFS. Searching, finding and identifying broadleaf and evergreen trees: as well as understanding the uses of trees and why they are so important to protect.

Having fun whilst learning about Autumn. Using senses to describe their items

Reception have been having fun touching, feeling and smelling acorn, cones, confers and pumpkins.

Using the loose parts of Autumn to identify trees in our Bushcraft and then creating a piece of art by making a colour chart. Connecting Life Skills to Science and Art

After our Year 4 successfully built a new habitat for our water creatures. Our frogs have returned and love it. Our whole school are enjoying a real life Science lesson whilst on frog watch. They have been frog spotting, learning about frog spawn, tadpole spotting and watching them develop until they are small frogs and toads.

Phase Two have been working with the River Trust, kick sampling at the Derwent River, finding and identifying animals that live in the river and how to tell if the river is healthy or polluted

Phase One have been visiting Gibside. They have explored and identified trees and plants as part of their Life Skills and Science combined, using many of their skills - searching, listening, instructions, teamwork and many more

Children from our Phase one have been visiting Washington Wetlands Trust and working on many of their Life Skills, multi sensory, imagination, exploring, identifying, teamwork, negotiation, communication and many more as well as having fun.

Year 2 finding Autumn leaves to make special postcards

Our children in Year 1 1/2 and 2 have been learning about African Land Snails - what they eat, where they live and their needs

Kirkley Hall

Years 3, 3/4 and 4 have been learning about animals and their habitats during visits to Kirkley Hall

Working with Jessica in Kirkley Forest

Learning about broadleaf and coniferous trees around us. How to tell the difference between them and why trees are so important. At Kirkley Forest with Jessica from RFS.

Making Bird Feeders

The children in Reception to Year 4 have been making bird feeders to help our birds and also to support their Bronze Life Skills Challenge Award. They have overcome many fears during the making of these ( smell, feel, etc) and showed their resilience, not only to achieve but to help others.

Making Clay Hedgehogs

Our children in Nursery, Reception, Year 1, Year 2, Year 1/2, Year 3, Year 4 and Year 3/4 have been working on their flora and fauna and learning about the hedgehog. They learnt many facts about this amazing animal and then made their own from clay and loose parts.