Nature School

Welcome to our Nature School!

Autumn 2024 marked the start of our new Nature School. It is where White Horse and Ridegeway Classes spend time outside engaging with nature and learning about their surroundings.  

The Space 

The space we are utilising is perfect for our Nature School.  It is located at the far end of the school field. It is shaded and has a variety of trees growing. Throughout the summer holidays 2024 work was completed clearing stinging nettles, fixing the fence and moving logs to create a seating area. 

Before 

 

After 

 Nature School in Action 

Summer 2

Session 1 – 09.06.25 

During today’s session we had great fun pretending to be House Sparrows. Firstly, we listened to and learnt their cheery song. The children were thrilled to add to their growing bank of bird songs! 

We discussed that at this time of year, birds are busily feeding their fledglings so the children played a game to role-play this. They foraged for a couple of short sticks and practised picking up raisins with them. Once they had mastered this, they we placed into teams and took turns to collect insects (raisins) in their beaks (sticks) and take them back to their fledglings in the nest (a plastic bowl). They were challenged to carry this our quietly otherwise the SparrowHawks (staff) would predate them! 

White Horse ended their session by reading Follow the Swallow by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Pam Smy

 

Summer 1

Session 1 - 28.04.25 

Our new topic for the term is British Birds! Our bird of the week is a Great Tit. The Great Tit’s song is aptly ‘Teeee – cher’. The children had great fun in pretending to be Great Tits by flying between cones and tweeting ‘Teeee – cher’. Ridgeway also learnt the Sparrow Hawk game and White Horse planted some broad beans. 

White Horse finished their session by reading A Little Book of Garden Bird Songs. 

Session 2 – 12.05.25 

Our bird of the week is a Wren. It has an explosive song – it’s fast paced and loud. Listen out for of an arcade game-like ‘POW POW POW’! We practised the Wren’s song and after we recapped the song of the Great Tit, we played ‘Find my Flock’! We also learnt all about the dawn chorus.  Robins, blackbirds and thrushes are first to begin the orchestra. The pre-dawn singers are joined by the wrens amongst others, then birds such as the great tits only add their voices when it’s light enough for them to see.

White Horse enjoyed reading The Dawn Chorus by Suzanne Barton. 

 Session 3 – 19.05.25 

This week White Horse had an entire afternoon for Nature School. We incorporated music with nature and thought about patterns. To start, the children listed many natural patterns such as the spots on a ladybird and the stripes on a zebra. We then used natural objects such as sticks, leaves, stones and petals to create some artwork. They then represented the patterns they created using instrumental sounds. Some children decided the size of the object might change the volume of their sound, e.g. large stones = loud; small stones = quiet (soft).

They finished their session by reading The Nest That Wren Build by Randi Sonenshine. 

 

 

Spring 2

Session 1 – 24.02.25 

We thought about different habitats today. After a good look around the Nature School area and the field, we discovered that there are a lot of microhabitats. The children were able to give many examples of the animals that would live in them. They then sorted native British animals into the habitats most suitable for them.      

White Horse ended their day by reading Goodnight Forest by Carmen Saldana. 

Session 2 – 03.03.25 

The magnifying glasses were a big hit in today’s session. The children used them to explore the microhabitats in the Nature School area. They loved comparing worms! 

White Horse are now keen nature observers. They spotted celandines and violets and calmly listened to a robin singing. 

White Horse ended their day by reading The Fox and the Star by Coralie Bickford-Smith.

 Session 3 – 10.03.25 

Today we thought about what animals eat and we used the words carnivore, herbivore and omnivore to do this.  We also identified daffodils, violets, celandines and the last of the crocus.  

We finished our sessions by acting out food chains and chose appropriate wildlife for the predator, the prey and the producer.  

White Horse ended their day by reading The Nest That Wren Built by Randi Sonenshine. 

 Session 4 – 17.03.25 

To mark Beep Beep Day, both Ridgeway and White Horse went for a road safety walk. As well as remembering to ‘Stop, Look, Listen, Think’, and showing the staff that they were sensible by and crossing the road, we managed to look for signs of spring! 

We enjoyed pointing out primrose, violet and daffodil and revised deciduous trees. We also admired the last of the crocus near the village hall and all the children could spot its familiar white horse shape! 

White Horse ended their day by reading Spring Story by Jill Barklem. 

 Session 5 – 24.03.25 

Today we practised tying overhand knots. We also did this in the Autumn Term and the improvement is quite remarkable as many of the children can now tie this knot. The children used this skill to mark out our newly planted hedging saplings. We now have a decorated rope to give our plants the space to grow!  

White Horse ended their day by reading Spring Story by Jill Barklem.  

Session 6 – 31.03.25 

For our last session of the term, we carried out a Spring Scavenger Hunt. We also continued to practise overhand knots and a couple of children even planted a few pumpkin seeds! 

White Horse ended their day by reading The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris.

 

Spring 1

Session 1 - 06.01.25

Our new topic is British Wildlife. We talked about hibernation and why some animals hibernate. We also cleared up the misconception that squirrels hibernate over winter, but they don't! I’m sure the children would love to tell you why we only discussed hedgehogs, dormice and bats! After much talk about these mammals, the children created/added to/found suitable places for dormice to hibernate. Ridgeway ended their session by playing Bat and Moth to begin their understanding of echolocation. White Horse ended the day by reading Under the Harvest Moon. 

Session 2 - 13.01.25

This week we continued discussions about hedgehogs, dormice and bats. We focused on the dormouse and even attempted to make dormice nests out of hay. We decided it must be tightly woven to withstand summer wind and rain, and have a soft lining to protect the baby dormice. We also carried out a spot of land management and removed some plastic protectors from the bases of established trees. The children were able to work out why some saplings are protected by tubing.  Both classes played Bat and Moth to continue learning about echolocation and predators and prey. White Horse ended their day by listening to The Squirrels who Squabbled by Rachel Bright and Jim Field. 

 Session 3 - 20.01.25

We visited the school pond today to talk about amphibians and reptiles. We continued on the theme of hibernation and our topic on British Wildlife by thinking about which group of animals might hibernate in our pond. Some of the children correctly guessed that toads and frogs might hibernate in there. By the end of the session, we also knew that newts might join them and that they are all amphibians. Within the pond area, we also identified some piles of leaves and a compost heap that some of our native reptiles might like to hibernate in. The children ended the session by learning about the UK’s native snakes and lizards and began to build a hibernation den for them with sticks and leaves. White Horse ended their day by reading Little Goose’s Autumn by Elli Woollard and Briony May Smith.

 Session 4 - 27.01.25

What luck we had this week with a two hour break in the weather! The sun even visited briefly meaning some children could tick off ‘shadow’ on their Scavenger Hunt sheets. The children were let loose in pairs with clipboards and pencils to complete their Winter Scavenger hunts.  Interesting discussions were had over acorns and pinecones! A few children managed to spot a squirrel but due to the environment, we agreed that it would be impossible to tick off all the items. White Horse class found some great examples of lichen and even found some snowdrops. White Horse ended their day by reading Life-Sized Animal Tracks by John Townsend.

 Session 5 - 03.02.25

The children were given the following task: 

Make a cosy winter den for a hibernating species - can they describe what natural materials would make it warmer? 

There was much excitement as they busily started on their dens and it was great to hear the conversations about hibernation and British wildlife. The children all managed to select a hibernating animal.  

White Horse ended their day by reading Life-Sized Animal Tracks by John Townsend. 

 Session 6 – 10.02.25 

To keep everyone warm, the children completed a very active sorting activity. We started by recapping the definitions of amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds. We then explained that scattered over the school field were cards with British animals on them. The children’s task was to find a card and put it the correct animal group.    

White Horse ended their day by reading Maggie’s Monsters by Coo Clayton and Alison Soye.

 

 

Autumn 2

Session 1 - 04.11.24

After a week away, our Nature School area has noticeably changed.  We observed that many of the trees had shed their leaves. We predicted that the trees in the area are deciduous and we will soon be able to see bare branches. After our initial observations, we got to work on our nature crowns.

Ridgeway 

 White Horse 

 

Session 2 - 11.11.24

We learnt about how Native Americans decorated sticks to recount their journeys and tell about their travels. We then foraged for the perfect stick and started decorating it with wool. This tested our wrapping and tying skills. It involved lots of concentration and resilience. Next week we will continue to decorate and then start adding treasures from nature!  

 Ridgeway 

 White Horse 

 Session 3 - 18.11.24

As Ridgeway class have recently written acrostic poems about fireworks and bonfires, we created these scenes on the forest floor. We thought about patterns and how we could repeat types and colours of leaves for different parts of the fire. The children discussed that the hottest part of the fire is the middle and they would represent this with dark orange coloured leaves.  

Ridgeway

 White Horse

 Session 4 - 25.11.24

Due to the immense amount of rain, everything was rather wet!  It was a bright afternoon though and so Ridgeway finished their nature sticks this week. We started by revising some basic knots and how to secure items onto their sticks. The children spent the session foraging for interesting items to attach. 

White Horse helped to pot up the remaining trees from the Woodland Trust.  We planted Rowan, Crab Apple and Silver Birch. They all enjoyed getting their hands in the soil.  

 Ridgeway 

 White Horse 

 

Session 5 - 02.12.24

Ridgeway discussed how to protect the hedging saplings from being crushed and stamped on during Nature School. We created a fence by moving the bamboo canes and connecting them with string. The children then practised their tying skills by attaching interesting leaves and other foliage to the string to clearly indicate where the saplings are growing.  

White Horse also carried out some wrapping and tying.  They completed their journey sticks by foraging for different bits and bobs to attach with lengths of wool to their journey sticks.

Ridgeway

 White Horse

 Session 6 and Session 7 - 09.12.24 and 12.12.24

We had two Nature School sessions this week which was such a treat. The second session was for the whole afternoon. It was a little drizzly and cold and so we wrapped up. Throughout the week we were den building, wreath making and scavenger hunting. We even squeezed in time for a hot chocolate. Both Ridgeway and White Horse showed such resilience and had a lot of fun!

 

Autumn 1

Session 1 

The focus of our first session was leaves.  We also had lots of fun exploring our new area!  In both Ridgeway and White Horse we found lots of different types of leaves and looked at their varying shapes, sizes, textures and colours.  Ridgeway also thought about the structure of a leaf and what the different parts are called.   

Ridgeway

 White Horse

 

Session 2

This week both classes had fun identifying leaves.  Ridgeway collected and compared the leaves in the area. They found that they needed to closely inspect the leaves as some of them had very similar features. White Horse even had time for some sketching!  

Ridgeway

 White Horse 

 

Session 3 

Wow, what a rainy day!  This did not stop Ridgeway and White Horse. We donned our waterproofs and wellies.  We looked at some of Andy Goldworthy’s nature artwork and had a go at creating some of our own. We also had a great time in the mud!  They all showed such resilience 

Ridgeway 

 White Horse

 Session 4

We continued to create Andy Goldworthy inspired artwork this week.  As it was a bit drier, we created a spiral pattern on paper using things that we foraged and found on the forest floor.  Popular items were Whitebeam berries (chess apples), Elderberries, sticks, a variety of fallen leaves and the occasional snail shell! 

Ridgeway 

 White Horse 

 

Session 5

Are any trees losing their leaves? Why do some trees lose their leaves? Which trees still have green leaves? What time of the year do some trees lose their leaves? We asked lots of questions about evergreen and deciduous trees today! Both classes carried out a tally chart looking at the trees in our Nature School area to decide which are evergreen and which are deciduous. White Horse enjoyed reading the story Fletcher and the Falling Leaves By Julia Rawlinson. 

Ridgeway 

 White Horse 

 Session 6

Due to the continuous drizzle everything was just so soggy in Nature School.  Despite the weather, the children were raring to go and are getting speedier in changing into their waterproofs and wellies.  We started with a scavenger hunt to see if anything had changed in the area and we continued our discussion about deciduous and evergreen trees.  One of the children bought in a rabbit skull and so we were thrilled to examine that.  We read Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert and started to think about what kind of leaves and materials would be suitable to create our own leaf people and animals ready for the next session. 

 Ridgeway

 Session 7

Crunchy autumnal leaves were in abundance for our nature art. One child bought a sprig of holly to show to the group. We placed it in the evergreen category and thought again about the yew tree as another example of an evergreen tree. We looked at the forest floor, which was littered with leaves, and remembered that they had fallen from the deciduous trees all around us.  After this, the children grabbed glue and a clipboard and started creating their leaf people and animals using inspiration from Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. With the help of some googly eyes, we had quite a collection of creatures by the end of the session!

White Horse 

 Ridgeway