RSPB Big School Bird Watch

Last Wednesday and Thursday the whole school took part in the RSPB Big School Bird Watch. All the children from both classes enjoyed an hour at the allotment, either tucked in the bird hides or nestled under trees. They did a marvellous job collecting vital data for the RSPB to chart the rise and decline in bird populations across the UK.

The bird count supported the fat ball making activity that class 1 had done earlier in the week. The food helped to attract blue tits, robins and blackbirds.

The children enjoyed using the counting sheets to help with the identification of the different birds.

It was great to see the bird hides in use after all the hard work the children had put in to help build them.

Gardening Club #3

Last week’s gardening club was another great success. Class 1 had come up to the allotment in the afternoon to help finish building the bird hides for the RSPB Big School Birdwatch and after school club finished off the work they started. It was lovely to see the children so committed to their purpose and helping each other, and their teacher, to get the job done.

It was a real group effort. The netting forms a key part of the bird hide because once the frame is covered it means the foliage from the old Christmas trees can be pushed through the holes. The children helped their teacher to cut the netting down to size, which they then tied onto the frame.

The children worked well together to cove the hide in the net.

All that hard work, it’s a good job there’s the odd water butt lying around to have a sit down on! It was kindly donated by a local resident from the village, and the school couldn’t be more grateful. Over the next couple of weeks, parent and children volunteers will help to hook it up to a gutter on the shed so that it can start to collect water.

It’s wonderful to see how happy the allotment makes the school children feel. Perhaps it is a combination of being outside in the fresh air or just a bit of physical labour, but it brings a real smile to all their faces.

The children also helped to dig over the ground where the wildflowers will go.

A good job done. The hides are up and just in time. They look great.

Gardening Club #02

Last week’s gardening club followed in the same theme as the previous week - bird hide building in readiness for the RSPB Big School Bird Watch, which the children are taking part in next week.

There’s a lot of love for the great outdoors at Oakridge School, a philosophy that the children’s parents and teachers try to instil in the children on a daily basis. The school’s new gardening club is just one way that ensures the children appreciate and care for the world around them.

We were blessed with another beautiful afternoon of brilliant sunshine, and although pretty chilly, one could feel Spring might be just around the corner.

Having cut all the trees up the previous week it was time to build the frames. The bird hides use a very simple a-frame, much like a tent only with a couple of viewing slots in the side. Once the frame was in position the children helped to tie the trunks firmly together.

There was a great deal of concentration involved as KS1 pupils helped tie the netting onto the frame. Great for their dexterity and problem solving.

Next the children helped to cover the netting with all the foliage from the Christmas trees. Again, it was a simple technique that involved grabbing branches and sticking them through the holes in the netting.

Much fun was had trying it out for size to see if it would actually stand up, (it did!)

The finished piece has much charm. It is delightful to look at and gives a great deal of satisfaction knowing all the little hands and hearts that went into building it. The children will take great pleasure in using it next week to study and count birds.

Life at Oakridge wouldn’t be complete without a sunset and a child jumping up and down on a heap of old branches as if they were a trampoline. It defines childhood and everything it should comprise. At Oakridge our children are blessed.

Gardening Club #01

After school gardening club at the allotment started today and what a great success it was. The allotment has been months in the planning and so it was extremely pleasing to see the children enjoying themselves, working together and generally being so happy outside in the beautiful Cotswold countryside.

The activity for today’s session was making bird hides out of old Christmas trees in readiness for the RSPB’s Big School Bird Watch the children are doing in February. The hides are an A-frame constructed from the stalks of seven trees. The foliage is then used to cover the frame and camouflage it. It’s a great lesson in reusing and recycling.

There were nine children at today’s session and with fourteen trees to strip in just under an hour, they had their work cut out. Unbelievably, they got through eleven trees - a remarkable achievement!

Everyone got particularly excited when a bird’s nest was found hiding among the branches of one of the trees. No one had ever seen anything quite like it. Just a few weeks ago all these trees had been stood in people’s houses looking beautifully decorated for Christmas. Why no one had spotted it sooner was mind boggling. Still, the children had fun guessing which kind of bird might have made the nest.

Everyone worked incredibly hard to strip the branches off the trunks, even our youngest members gave it a good go, assisted by the older ones.

The children found their own methods for stripping the trees. Some attacked the branches with such vigour one felt they would wear themselves out within the first five minutes, while others adopted a more methodical approach. Ultimately, both methods had the same outcome!

The children were extremely proud of their efforts and quite rightly so. The branches, particularly around the lower section of the trees, were quite thick and it took a great deal of strength to cut through them. The foliage was also rather spiky and didn’t relinquish easily.

The children all showed great determination and drive, there was much jubilation every time another branch was dismembered from the trunk!

With tired hands and arms, the children teamed up and made light work of the final few trees. A thorough health and safety check had been done at the beginning of the session, drawing the children’s attention to the possible dangers involved in the activity and to the tools they were using. It was nice to see them all being sensible and looking out for one another.

All of the gardening club sessions will have two adults, which equates to one adult per six children. It was pleasing to see that the club was nearly at maximum capacity, even on a cold and rather damp Winter’s day.

The stalks were piled up and will be pulled into A-frames at next week’s gardening club. Viewing slots will be created using canes and netting will be stretched over. The foliage will then be pushed through the netting and held in place by its own weight.

Thankfully the children showed much more excitement and enthusiasm than pooch here!

Gardening club finished at 4.30pm and by the time everyone had packed everything away we were treated to the most stunning sunset. The children were mesmerised. There was no better place to be other than standing on the allotment watching the sunset for those few minutes. An incredibly enriching and rewarding session for all those involved.