Mama Beech

It is pretty much impossible to get a group of 30, or 20, or 10 children to stay 2 metres apart. When in school they are seated a reasonable distance apart, they are reminded to wash their hands every half an hour, and we try to keep both some sort of routine and a lot of time outside upper most in what we do.  If the children are in lockdown at home then school is their best chance of fresh air and exercise. They also stay further apart playing chase, playing cricket, riding bikes and scooters etc than they do inside having a chill out time with lego etc Each day they start with Joe Wicks - PE teacher and exercise to get them going, then there are workbooks, plus craft activities, reading, lunch etc to fill the day. On Friday this included some time in the Forest School area where they automatically spaced out because there were so many options of what to explore. Some climbed a tree, some bounced from tyre to tyre, some hung from swings. Others balanced carefully on a se...

As inevitable as the current restrictions of movement are it was still difficult to prepare for it or to judge when it would come. I am on a rota to go into work and help with the reduced number of pupils we have now. But I found myself going in when not on rota because there was stuff that needed doing. Was it essential...? Probably not. But I could do all of it in isolation without spending time with the children or other staff and at that point a lockdown had not been called I started the week by attacking the poly tunnel!  Our wonderful volunteer who runs a Garden Club with Year 2 had already ensured that all their hard work was in the Poly Tunnel's Nursery Garden, so I just needed to attend to all the gardening the small groups had been achieving A path needed finishing, we still have some Woodland Trust trees to plant and we have seedlings bursting out that will not survive in seed trays with little opportunity to water them. The children have worked hard and have such...

Well even though we all knew it was coming, the insanity of this week was still a series of varied surprises to wade through! With the impending closure of schools the race was on to get as many of our Woodland Trust trees into the ground! And the children rose to the occasion! Years 3, 4 and 5/6 helped to get 50 trees into a hedge formation to add a hedge to the Millennium Garden and to start the demarcation of what will hopefully be a story trail by the end of next year. The sun shone and the drizzle soaked and the wet grass made socks soggy but 5 classes managed to have fun, follow instructions and add to our school environment Two of the groups who work with me to earn their Royal Forestry Society Junior Forester Certificate not only helped to plant a further 40 trees - but were able to take over and explain to their classes exactly what was required to ensure the trees would grow well. Year 4s and Year 5/6 experts in the making! Years 1, 3 and ...

It has been a week of trees, trees and more trees! And it was wonderful! In Forest School children are more confident climbing them, the Junior Foresters are getting more confident identifying them, especially as they have helped sort 210 trees into packs of 10!  We've started on a 4 week schedule where every one of 15 classes will have the opportunity to plant 10 trees each. Year 1 helped to extend the copse where our hidden basecamp lies, with 20 'baby' trees to include an established tree and create an enclosure with a small access gap T he small groups that work towards RSPB challenges (year 4), Woodland Trust Green Tree Award (Year 2), RFS Junior Forester Certificates (Year 3 and Year 5), AND RHS School Garden Campaign levels (Year 5) have already planted one short hedge to form a second barrier in what will be a quiet area, and one longer hedge to guide visitors to the new outdoor classroom and to prevent the younger children simply running straight to...