Plastic Bottle Greenhouse Prep Work

Over the last few months, local recycling company, Print Waste, have been collecting and storing 650 plastic bottles for the school’s plastic bottle greenhouse project.

The bottles were delivered to school a few weeks ago and this afternoon, work got underway as the children helped to prepare them ready for installation on site.

It’s a relatively simple concept: remove lids and labels and cut the bottom off, grab a cane and slot the bottles into each other so they fit nice and snug. The canes are then inserted into the frame of a greenhouse.

It was a pretty sticky, filthy job but none of the children seemed to be put off by this, they loved it! Some worked in pairs…

…while others just took themselves away and quietly got on with it. Between them, the children managed to prep half the bottles and will finish off the rest over the coming weeks. The greenhouse will be up and running by the end of the Summer term.

BBC Radio Gloucestershire - Breakfast Show

Since getting the allotment out of the ground in November last year, it has received great support from the local and wider community. All the good work the children have been doing has been well publicised in local papers and on local radio stations. It has really helped to promote the school.

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On this occasion, the children met a journalist from BBC Radio Gloucestershire. The programme aired on their popular breakfast show this morning.

Click on the link below to hear what the children and parents had to say.

Rainwater Harvesting

After a week off, gardening club was back with a bang today as the irrigation system that class 2 had designed was installed on the allotment. The session was led by the class 2 teacher and attended by many of the KS2 children.

The irrigation project follows up the topic of rainwater harvesting systems that the children have been studying as one of their geography topics in school. The class 2 teacher felt the children’s understanding of the subject would be bolstered by a practical, hands on session, allowing them to put theory into practice, and bring learning to life.

This model is just one of the designs the children came up with. A raised water butt is connected to the raised beds using a hose.

The children began by moving large breeze blocks into position for the water butt to sit on. Nearly every activity on the allotment teaches the children about the importance of team work, it’s a lesson that never gets old.

With the help of a parent, the children enjoyed some DT by putting the guttering together. They offered it up to the shed to check the length was correct.

With careful supervision, the children had a go with hand tools including saws and drills. They helped to cut down to size the batons that the guttering system would be fixed to the shed with.

There was much measuring and holding ends of wood up, which some of the children were only just tall enough to do!

What’s so lovely about the allotment is that there is always so much fun to be had. Outdoor learning isn’t always about being set a specific activity, much of the learning that children do comes through play, be that with friends jumping up and down on giant tractor tyres…

…or pushing friends around in wheelbarrows. At the allotment children learn a lot about who they are, what they’re good at and how to develop confidence.

The children all had a go at cutting the guttering down to the right size...

…and when it was too tough, they watched and listened.

An impromptu tug of war fight commenced with an old piece of rope the children found lying on the ground. Really lovely stuff.

Once the guttering system was fitted, it needed testing to check it worked. It was a big moment!

The children were so excited to see the first droplets of water seeping out of the hose, and for good reason. It was a subject they initially read about in books in school, which was turned into a real life problem solving exercise on the allotment. From models they made themselves, the final irrigation system is a true reflection of the children’s designs. The great sense of satisfaction about what they have achieved is massively important for their confidence. They should all feel very proud of themselves.

Whole School Visit

Today was a triumph of many months of hard work from all those who have been involved in getting the allotment out of the ground: the whole school visited for the very fist time. Full credit to the teachers for not only managing to coordinate and occupy all 37 children but for being so bold as to take them out of the classroom and into the fresh air for some truly enriched learning. Change is afoot and there is hope among many that it won’t be too long before this sort of thing becomes a mandatory part of the curriculum.

After a busy morning of SATS, a visit to the allotment was just what was needed. The children walked up in the morning and, bar a quick trip back to school for lunch, spent the rest of the day submersed in various science, maths and DT activities. Topics included life cycles, water harvesting, recycling, habitats and plants. The children were broken down into small groups and using a carousel system, everybody had a go at everything.

Life Cycles

The pond adds a really important dimension to the school allotment. It teaches about different habitats, eco systems and life cycles.

Needless to say, pond dipping proved the most popular activity from today, but it’s so easy to understand why. Despite being a village school nestled in the gorgeous Cotswold countryside, not all the children have the chance to enjoy first hand encounters with creatures like the humble tadpole. What a priviledge that their school can give them this opportunity.

Recycling

Over the last few months, Print Waste Recycling in Cheltenham have kindly been collecting and storing 650 plastic bottles for the school’s plastic bottle greenhouse project. Print Waste dropped all the bottles off at school a few weeks ago and the children have started to remove the caps and labels ready for erection.

Today, the class 2 teacher wanted the children to work out how many bottles would be needed and how they would be fitted to the greenhouse frame.

The activity covered a whole range of topics, including maths, science and design technology.

Water Harvtsting

Another project that class 2 have been involved with is creating a rainwater harvesting system. They have been studying the subject in geography and have looked at irrigation systems in other countries, like Africa. The class 2 teacher asked them to come up with their own designs. The best one would be built on the allotment, providing water to the six raised beds. Today, the children were tasked with the challenge of how to build the system, resulting, again, in much maths and design technology.

Habitats

Back in January the school was awarded a £500 grant from Learning Through Landscapes. Only 100 schools are selected from over thousands of applications, so everyone felt very proud. As part of the grant, the children were able to select a variety of items, one of those was an insect observatory, and today, the children helped to set it up and site it.

Some of the class 2 children got stuck in and worked really well together, helping the younger ones in class 1 to site the observatory. The children decided it should go in the wildflower meadow.

Plants

Another activity the children were tasked with was weeding, which they always love to do!! There is much digging and tooting around in the soil and the chance of finding a whopping worm generates much enthusiasm! Lovely to see.

It’s been six months since the school first acquired the allotment and how satisfying to see all the children up there, together, in the sunshine enjoying all the wonderful benefits that outdoor learning brings.

Gardening Club #11

There’s something about being caught out in a heavy rain shower that children just seem to relish. Whether it’s the sheer excitement of getting thoroughly drenched or the simple joy of jumping in muddy puddles, there’s a lot to be said for letting the little ones embrace nature.

The deluge certainly didn’t dampen spirits at today’s gardening club, in fact it had quite the opposite effect. Moral was high as the children worked together enthusiastically emptying chicken and vegetable waste into the compost.

The second tractor tyre also needed planting up and the children were so busy they didn’t notice the rain clouds looming.

They cut out the membrane, which they laid on the ground inside the tyres. The membrane will help to suppress weeds.

The children piled rocks on top of the membrane to help with drainage. Again, they got a lot of joy out of lugging the stones around.

The great thing about gardening is that most jobs require a great deal of team work. Every activity the children undertook this afternoon required helping one another, be it moving stones…

…or carrying bags of compost.

They worked together and made super progress.

Even when the rain started to come down, they persevered with great determination.

This photo really sums up the spirit of Oakridge children.

Once the planter was ready they started creating their lettuce ‘pizza wheel’, which they did by dividing the circles up into eighths.

Next, they carefully transplanted lettuce seedlings, which they had grown a few months ago.

Alternating the colours, they planted them between the stones. No watering was needed thanks to the downpour of rain!

It was lovely to see so much planting going on. Once the tractor tyre planter was finished the children sowed pumpkins. Fantastic for them to see the tiny seeds in relation to themselves.

There’s always time for a bit of pond investigation, the children love seeing how much the tadpoles have grown, and often try to catch the odd one or two!

Two sweet corn plants were also put into the ground. They had been donated by a parent.

Sunflowers also went in...

…as did lots of lovely sweet peas.

Finally, as the weather dried up, two of the children from KS2 tried out the theory of seed dispersal that they had been learning about in school this week.

Gardening Club #10

Today’s gardening club involved plenty of weeding and progress with the tractor tyre planters. The recent rain and warm weather has caused everything to sprout and so the children were tasked with clearing the raised beds, a job which they all found really fun!

While half the group enjoyed digging up the weeds and finding worms in the soil, the other half helped prepare the tractor tyres for planting. The children loaded the wheelbarrow with large stones and then helped each other to push it over to the tyres to unload.

The children showed great strength as they helped each other carry bags of compost and soil.

They poured the bags of soil into the planter and used their feet to help bed it all down. They had a great time buying each other!

Meanwhile a third group helped to make the new eco-board for the school foyer. The school is in the process of becoming a registered eco-school and there are seven steps it has to take in order to do this. One of the criteria is to put up an eco-board displaying all the things the eco-committee has been discussing.

Pond Dipping

Today the children enjoyed putting the first plants in the school pond. It was a great moment, signifying the first small steps in establishing the new wildlife area.

One of the parents at the school is an ecologist, so he lead today’s session. Armed with wellies and a net, he talked to the children about the eco system of a pond, why algae is so important and the role water snails play.

It was fantastic to see how life had already begun to establish itself. The children were very excited to spot tadpoles, and even more excited at the opportunity of trying to catch a few too!

As well as planting up the pond, work also got underway with the new tractor tyre planters. The children just loved rolling them across the allotment and into position.

It took the help of a few parents to lift the giant tyres into place. There are three in total and the aim over the coming month is to lay a membrane at the bottom of the planters, piled with stones on top for drainage before finally adding a good mix of compost and top soil to plant into. We hope to create giant lettuce ‘pizza wheels’ which will be a good exercise in maths as the children use fractions to work out how to divide the circle into eighths.

Last week’s session involved yet more planting and weeding, with the focus being on the wildflower area.

The children helped to prepare the ground for planting wildflower mats. Over the course of the next few months more seed mats will be planted so that eventually the whole strip will be bursting with colour and pollen rich plants.

Dry Stone Walling

Who knew the age old tradition of dry stone walling still has a place in the hearts of children who are growing up in a world where screen time and online social media are the norm? At Oakridge we embrace such ideals and encourage our children to do the same.

A really big thank you to Adrian Montague, a dry stone wall specialist, who offered to come and give a workshop to the children in his own free time and at no cost to the school. Establishing such links within the local community and passing on knowledge from one generation to the next is invaluable, in terms of the way it brings people together, the skills it develops and the awareness it promotes.

After a brief introduction about what dry stone walling is, why it is still practised and a bit of a safety drill, the children were all invited to build their own dry stone wall. The wall was cited near the wildlife pond and, according to Adrian, it will provide a vital habitat to toads, who just love hiding in between the cracks.

There was much enthusiasm and concentration as Adrian helped the children lay the stones. Much of dry stone walling comes down to simply feeling how the stones sit. The children seemed to understand this in a way that only children intrinsically can, so mindful are they in their task. Without distraction they simply laid stone after stone after stone, working solidly together to build a wall fit for a toad!

As the wall got bigger, so the children had to think more carefully about their choices. Larger stones are generally laid around the perimeter, perpendicular to the rest of the wall thus ensuring it all knits together.

Children from as young as Reception age were finding much satisfaction from the process. How delightful to hear comments like, “I want to start a walling club!” It’s why parents run these extra curricular activities. Skills such as dry stone walling may be viewed by some as a dying trade; as a craft from the past that has no place in the future, but what is a future without a nod to the heritage that went into shaping it? Lets get our children out of screens and into skills that encourage growth rather than waste; team work rather than isolation; resilience rather than resistance; openness rather than closure. Our children are the future , lets teach them not to waste it.