Category: Club Wild

Our Outdoor club is made up of a small group of P5-P7 pupils who work with Sarah Jane Haston (parent helper) and Rachael Young (Pupil Support Worker) to develop skills, enthusiasm and resilience in working with nature and the environment.

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Club Wild – Spring is in the air!

Now that the long winter is finally over Club Wild have been busy out and about exploring the wildlife and plants around us and starting to give them a helping hand for the months ahead. Catch up with all our adventures here…

Club Wild – Animal tracks and Signs

 We put on our detective hats and set out to find what animals we have living in the school area. We might not see them all the time as they are shy and hide from us but we know they are there from the clues they leave behind. We took with us identification guides but most importantly our alert senses and curiosity.

 The snow  left the ground wet and muddy which makes an excellent surface for preserving paw prints. Looking down, we identified dogs large and small, ducks and other birds and deer. One small track even looked like it has been left behind by a hedgehog.

 We thought about other clues that animals might leave. Erin said they could leave fur or feathers behind. She is right, sometimes when animals brush past bushes or fences some of their fur gets left. We found some very soft grey/brown fur that we think was left by a rabbit.

 Lucas said that they would leave poo and he is absolutely right. Identifying animal droppings is a great way to kmow what animals are there as all animals eat and get rid of their waste as droppings. Scientists call animal droppings scat. Using our scat id sheet we can now tell the difference between the rabbit (rounded) and deer (pointy at one end) droppings. We also found what looked to be fox poo as we could see fur, tiny bones and seeds within the scat.

 We also found some pellets, again full of animal bones and fur. Pellets are the undigested parts of a bird’s food which are coughed up through the beak. You can tell which bird left the pellet by dissecting it and finding out what small mammals that are around and then eaten.

 We were rewarded with the sight of three beautiful deer! They watched us for a bit before moving on. There are lots of other clues to look out for, nibbled bark on trees, nibbled hazelnuts left under the hazel trees. We have found nuts nibbled by wood mice and those eaten by squirrels before.

 We also found lots of tracks and signs left by us as we stumbled over what humans leave behind… rubbish. From the old rubbish of the Victorian bottle dump to all the litter left behind today. Let’s be more like animals and leave behind things that can decompose.

 Club Wild, Mrs Young and Sarah-Jane

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Club Wild – Eggs, eggs, eggs!

This week at club wild we dyed eggs using only natural materials. What an amazing result!

Here is how we did it.. First we went outside to collect leaves and flowers, looking for interesting leaf patterns or shapes.

Back inside we arranged the plant material on the eggs and wrapped them tightly with dried onion skins (either brown or red onion skins). We then wrapped the egg in a bit of muslin and tied it with string. Then we placed them in a pan of water which was boiled for 5 minutes and left overnight to cool and soak up the dye.

We carefully peeled the wrapping off and saw beautiful plant shapes transferred to the bright red eggs.

We had lots of fun rolling the eggs down the orchard hill. Erin, Kristina, Oscar and Kyle had indestructible eggs but after roll upon roll Kyle’s egg won. It was still complete with the amazing colour and plant impressions all from nature.

Happy Easter from Club Wild, Mrs Young & Sarah-Jane
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Club Wild – Early Hints of Spring

Early Hints of Spring!

Who would have thought that at the start of last week Club Wild were out and about in the area around the school looking for the early signs of Spring. In January, February and March, Mother Nature gives us some clues to show that change is in the air… Spring is coming!

Over by the football pitch we found clumps of snowdrops to make us smile. Snowdrops are one of the earliest bulbs to flower. We spotted bluebell and other shoots emerging from the ground. These pop up early in Spring to make the most of the light before they are shaded by the trees as they get their leaves. On most trees now, we  can see the leaves getting ready to unfurl from their buds and on some of the elder trees the leaves have already burst.

We saw bright yellow catkins dangling from the branches of alder and hazel trees. Sometimes called lamb’s tails, the catkins are the male flowers and if you look closely beside them you might see the tiny pink female flowers.

We can also tell that spring is on the way by listening and watching the birds. It is like the birds are singing to tell everyone that Spring will be with us soon and soon they will be busy building nests. We can help the birds build their nests by making nesting bundles. We collected natural materials such as dry grasses, seed heads, moss, feathers, sheep wool and mixed it together with pet fur and wool cut into very short lengths, less than 2cm long. Using forked twigs we attached the nesting bundles to the sticks using twine and hung them from trees, climbing up to make sure they were safe from predators. The birds will now be able to choose what materials they line their nest with and maybe we will see some cosy nests with our bits of coloured wool.

With all the snow over the last week it is especially important to help the wildlife in any way we can. Once the snow has melted, maybe you could look out for the early signs that show, nature is waking up, Spring is on its way.

Look out next week for more ways that Club Wild is learning about and helping wildlife.
Club Wild, Mrs Young and Sarah-Jane
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Club Wild – Follow the path!

This week at Club Wild, we set to work building a path through the wildlife area within the school car park. With our shovels and wheel barrow we collected the wood chips left for us by the park workmen. It is great to recycle the trees and shrubs. With our rakes, we spread the wood chips and had fun stamping them down. We used logs to line the edges of the path to keep it together and to make it look like a natural woodland path.

The path will give a safe route through the wildlife area, free from jaggy brambles and will take you to all the different wildlife habitats we have created here. It leads from the bug hotel at one end to the rock, wood and compost piles at the other. Take some time to meander along our path, listen to the birds visiting the bird feeders and follow, follow through the trees our zig-zagging , snake-like path.

Club Wild, Mrs Young & Sarah-Jane

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Club Wild – RSPB Big Schools Birdwatch

This week Club Wild joined schools up and down the country to take part in the RSPB Big Schools’ Birdwatch. The Schools’ Birdwatch started in 2001 and since then 2000 schools have been involved with 90,000 pupils getting out their binoculars to become real citizen scientists.

We set up two birdwatching areas in the playground and in the wildlife area at the front of the school. It was lots of fun setting up the bird hides with camouflage netting and we all enjoyed using the binoculars. The only bird we saw in the playground was a pied wagtail although we noticed the big birds; seagulls, crows and magpies circling above waiting until we had moved on.

We carefully set up our hide in the thicket of trees at the front of the school and waited patiently and very quietly. The birds soon came in numbers and it was great to see our usual friends of blue tits, great tits, sparrows, wood pigeons and a robin. We were so lucky to be there as a flock of wee long-tailed tits came together and feasted on the fat balls. Kristina loved the long-tailed tits, so cute and pink.

Back in school we submitted our results to the RSPB who will gather together all the data from the Big Schools Birdwatch with the data from the Big Garden Birdwatch. The RSPB uses the data to monitor long term bird populations and the analysed results are published in March. Freya said that she really felt like we were helping the birds today. The annual birdwatch is as great thing to do.

We hope you enjoy our photos. Hopefully we can share a video of our learning at assembly soon.

Club Wild, Mrs Young & Sarah-Jane.

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Christmas Fayre 2017

On Friday we held our annual Christmas Fair, organised by our Parent Partners Group. The choir opened the event by singing some Christmas songs and all the classes had taken part in Enterprise projects which they sold at the fair. Our nurture groups, outdoor club and parent craft club also had stalls. Our P7 Young Leaders came along and worked at some of the stands and even set up their own nail bar. Thanks to everyone who organised the event and to all those who visited and donated to school funds.

 

 

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Club Wild Veg Sale

We hope you’ve noticed how amazingly the vegetables in our school garden have grown.  they are all ready to be harvested and club Wild with Ms Young and Sarah-Jane will get picking this week.

Next Monday (2nd October) the Club Wild pupils will be at the gate selling the produce for their group funds.  Please stop and have a look, chat to the kids about the veg and buy some delicious home (or rather school)-grown veg for supper.

 

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CLUB WILD – Our fantastic Outdoor club

Giving wildlife homes in our school grounds!
This school year has been great for getting wildlife into our school grounds.
 
We recorded an increase in the numbers of birds and different species of birds as we undertook the Big Schools Bird watch in February. This is down to setting up a bird feeding area and making sure that we provide food throughout the year.
 
We  were so excited to see a family of blue tits use a bird box that we had put up in the spring. Check out the video of mummy and daddy birds feeding their young.
 
We were also very surprised and excited to uncover a nest of shrews who had made their home in the wooden building at the back of the playground. It shows us that all the different things that we are doing to make the playground more interesting will bring wildlife that we can watch and understand.
 
We can still do more!
 
Club Wild have been thinking of all the habitats that we have within the school grounds and writing our own Biodiversity Action Plan to increase the variety of animal and plant species. We started this by making habitat heaps, a log pile and a rock pile. With these we hope to attract newts, toads and frogs, spiders and other insects. We will probably see birds looking in our heaps for food too.
 
What an exciting year for all of us in Club Wild! We look forward to coming back after the summer holidays and giving more species homes in our school.
 
Club Wild, Mrs Young & Sarah-Jane
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Medieval Market Stalls

Our P5 pupils with Miss McLaughlin and Sarah Jane are preparing for their Medieval Marketplace showcase on June 28 at 2pm.

The fantastic team of joiners from McTaggart Construction, the company building the new houses behind the school, have stepped in and built us these fantastic structures and we are so pleased with them.  McTaggart also came to speak to us at our DYW week and are coming next week to dig holes in the playground for some new projects.  A great example of community partnerships.  Thanks to all.

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