School House Garden

Mrs Upton, Mrs Johnson, Mrs Makepeace and Ms Walravens have been continuing on with weekly gardening club and the children seem to be really enjoying it. Last week we made bird-feeders. The children enjoyed mixing up the lard, seeds, cooked rice and breadcrumbs in bowls then crafting birdfeeders from the mixture, which they could chose to take home or hang in the school garden.

Years 3&4 were first out and made yoghurt pots and pinecone feeders. Years 5&6 used lids and made some interesting shapes with the mixture.

If you'd like to have a go at home you can download detailed instructions here http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/families/children/makeanddo/activities/birdcake.aspx

School Council Update

The School Council have been working hard to improve life at Great Gaddesden.

So far this term, they have attended a charity fundraising event at Hemel Ski Centre (thanks to Rowan for the invitation!); they have created an initiative to encourage children to walk to school and they have met the mayor.  On top of this, they have used their weekly meetings to share suggestions from class suggestion boxes - including:

New play equipment for the bark area
More lunch-time clubs
An opportunity to have quiet time in the library or church
A Winter Ball
A girls football team

To name just a few!  We look forward to updating you with our progress with these suggestions.

Visits and Visitors

This term, children in Years 5 & 6 are learning about Buddhism.  To support this work we have visited the Amaravati Monastery and have been fortunate enough to have a visit from one of the nuns who was able to answer questions such as:

"Why did you decide to become a nun?"
"Are your family buddhists?"
"Which of the five precepts is most important to you?"

Years 5 & 6 are using the knowledge gained from their trip; their visit from the nun and their own research to create non-fiction, digital books.  We look forward to sharing them!