Willow Class: In Art, Willow Class went on a leaf hunt, gathering mainly ivy leaves, which they then used to make crayon prints in the classroom. Some beautiful work was produced, and they will be introduced to ink and rollers as they continue to explore printmaking next week. In English, Geography and Science, children are combining their skills on habitats and animals to write Animal Diaries. I look forward to hearing about a day in the life of a…mongoose, unicorn and great white shark!

Birch Class: Birch Class is busy writing The Next Adventure for Six Dinner Sid, based in Scotland. Hoping to share some scenes next week.

Oak and Chestnut Class: Oak and Chestnut students have been putting their theoretical river knowledge into practical action by building a river model in the back garden to learn how rivers meander.

It was wonderful this week to see children in Oak and Chestnut start to code their own programmable electronic systems. The ultimate objective is for each child to create an electronic light show display, which responds to a range of inputs, including hand claps, and highlights a diorama which they have created. Watch this space! Meanwhile, in the classroom we started a big piece of creative writing on the myths and legends of their chosen river. This week we start the first of our river Wandle expeditions – it’s a watery world in Oak and Chestnut!

Willow Class: there was some lovely teamwork in a game of fishing, and in making a detailed and elaborate den, as well as some intense focus on individual crafts – a birch cushion, a sawn and trimmed staff, a magic key – all gave a good feeling to the session, and it was a delight to have the charming company of a child visiting on a trial day. We played the food web game, and they had fun making connections between their plants and animals  ‘what does a kestrel eat?’ ‘what eats hedgehogs?’ ‘does anything eat a centipede?’

Birch Class: life in the stream again got huge interest ‘LOOK – there’s a FISH !!!!’ We decided it was a little bullhead, and along with lots of other tiny ‘critters’ it was very satisfying. Two children got busy ‘fixing the pollution’ by fishing out rubbish from the stream. We’d thought about the grit-crunching gizzard that helps worms and ducks digest, and the duck’s crop pocket for food storage, and their general lack of teeth, and here was part of the ducks’ food supply.  A beautiful little shop was made by some children by the stream, with brooms made for sweeping the ground,  arrays of pebbles and sticks, and a pot of water invertebrates borrowed to add interest for visitors. We played coo-whit, looked at a Robin’s nest and practised our birdsong learning.

Oak and Chestnut Class: it was a  purposeful and enjoyable afternoon with just four students, two re-creating the much-loved log bridge over the stream, sawing and heaving, and decorating a wand for a Willow class child at the end. The other two experimented with different weaving materials. One drew on basketry techniques to start a birch cushion, and the knowledge they’d gained in Kinde to make a brooch  – ‘there’s a sort of neon glow to the colours’. The other wove in lots of colours and textures, planning to finish with rainbow colours at home.