What an amazing Eco Day!
Thank you to all of the parents and grandparents who came along today to help out with the various volunteer led sessions run for the pupils on Eco Day, it was jam packed with activities which we couldn't have run without your support. A taster of some of the sessions: - fun-filled educational sessions with the 'Hive Helpers' from Farnham Community Farm learning about the importance of caring for our various pollinators, learning how a bee hive works and enjoying a honey tasting; - Eco Team led workshops about the importance of trees and making parcels of bay leaves to take home for our kitchens; - walks through the forest with our local Woodland Trust volunteer Tree Warden Ben Hamlin to collect acorns and conkers which we then planted in order to grow "take away" tree saplings which the pupils will take home in a year or two; and - making bug hotels out of recycled plastic bottles which will live on the back of the potting shed for the winter to provide a safe spot for hiberation for a whole host of insects and invertebrates. We hope all of the pupils had a fun-filled day and made some wonderful memories!
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The Busy Bees team were in school today helping the Eco Team (made up of 10 pupils from Years 4, 5 & 6) prepare to run three workshops during Eco Day next Tuesday for Reception Class and Years 1 and 2. The Eco Team are a hugely passionate group of pupils and couldn’t be more excited about teaching the KS1 pupils all about the wonders of trees! 🌲 🌳 🌲
Elsewhere, the garden is still full of pollinator friendly blooms which are absolutely buzzing with bees 🐝 🐝 🐝! We are delighted that the school will be running its annual Eco Day again this year on Tuesday 4th October. The children will participate in a number of different learning experiences across the day aimed at broadening their understanding of the ways in which we can help to protect our planet and the wildlife that we share it with. Like last year, lots of parent and guardian volunteers will be helping to make the day as successful and fun-filled as possible!
Different classes will participate in different activities, with workshops being run by some of the KS2 pupils for the younger pupils and parent volunteers and external providers also running other sessions. To help facilitate some of these sessions we would love your help: 1. If you have any (i) empty 2 litre plastic bottles or (ii) denim items of clothing which are at the end of their usable life, please can these be dropped off either at the office or in the 'Busy Bees' purple lidded donation box which is located outside the school gate. 2. If you are able to spare some time between 9.30am and 3pm on Tuesday 4th October to help support some of the fun sessions we would love to get you involved! Please let myself or Mrs Holmes know if you are keen to get involved and we will let you have further details of the sessions being run and their timings. Further details about the day will be sent out nearer the time. The Eco Day last year was a brilliantly fun day for the pupils and we hope to make sure it is again this year!. Many thanks in advance Year 1 had a lovely session out by the pond this afternoon looking at an amazing array of local wildlife. From whirligig beetles, shield bugs, water spiders, ramshorn water snails and an amazing selection of local moths, the pupils completed a wildlife quiz before helping to safely release the moths back into the forest. Thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers who made the session so special and an extra special thank you to local conservationist and moth expert Martin Angel for sharing his knowledge on all things moth related and bringing the moths along for the pupils to enjoy.
The “Farnham in Bloom” judges from Farnham Town Council will be in school this afternoon weighing our pumpkins and measuring our sunflowers. Whilst they sadly aren’t the biggest pumpkins in the world, they have survived a scorcher of a summer and Year 1 should be very proud of them! We will be showing Year 1 the results of their planting last year when we take them pond dipping tomorrow.
The sunflowers have sadly nearly passed the best of their displays, but will be left for a while yet for the wildlife. I managed to rope Mr Groombridge and his extra long arms into helping me measure them today and our tallest sunflower comes in at a whopping 2.4 metres and was sown by our very own sunflower, Mrs Rigg 🌻. Her green fingers did the trick!
As the Summer Term comes to an end the gardening team are slowly arranging for pupils and parents to take home many of the more needy plants in the garden for the summer break. Whilst the garden will still be regularly watered (as our sunflowers and pumpkins are taking on giant proportions and will need lots of TLC over the break), many plants are better off at home with pupils where they can be cared for daily. There are still lots of tomato plants needing homes so please get in contact if you would like one this week!
The school garden is looking blooming marvellous at the moment and even the butterflies agree! Today we found the first butterfly eggs of the season on the nasturtiums in the Pollinator Planter which were planted for exactly this reason. We believe they are eggs of the Large White butterfly and should hatch within a week or two.
In other news, the pumpkins planted by Reception class are in the ground and growing quickly. The team also entered the Year 2 Sweet Peas in the local Flower Show held at Binsted Fete and they won second place - well done Year 2! 🌶 🌶 Red Hot Chilli Peppers 🌶 🌶
Thanks to some brilliant growing by William in Year 5, today we have lots of chilli plants on the Market Cart along with some additional courgette plants and lovely cut-and-come-back lettuce. In the school garden, sweetcorn and courgette plants have now been planted in one of the raised beds, whilst the Year 3 lettuce has been added to the other bed which already boasts some fine looking carrots which are sharing the space with some insect friendly calendula and self seeded mint. And two of the Reception Class pumpkins have germinated and are happy growing away on the potting shed shelf now, ready to be planted out in a few weeks. Please come and help yourself for free to the vegetable plants on the Market Cart or for a small donation if you wish. The Market Cart is located on the school drive. What a bank holiday weekend! The team were delighted to attend the Rowledge Village Fayre on Thursday, where with the help of our wonderful supporters we raised over £100 from sales of lavender plants and even made it into the local newspaper. All of the money raised will be used to fund exciting new projects in the garden. Thank you to everyone who came along to buy a plant or help on the stall, we are delighted with the amount raised.
The team have also been busy behind the scenes and have this week built a new pumpkin patch in the school garden where the pumpkin plants sown by Reception Class will be planted in the coming weeks. A huge thank you goes out to the Rigg family for donating the timber for the project, to Coomers for donating a one tonne bag of soil for the bed and to Alex Sholl-May for helping to get it built and filled. All we need now is for the sunshine to come back! |
Sarah WomersleyBusy Bees Gardening & Wildlife Club Volunteer Archives
October 2023
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