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Practical maths
17/05/2013
Our plastic bottle greenhouse project provided a great opportunity for the Kites class to take part in a practical maths lesson.
We had a problem as the roof frame was too tall and therefore the finished greenhouse would have been much too high. Mr Easby asked his class what they could do to solve the problem. They suggested altering the frame to make it lower but this would mean calculating new angles for the wooden joints. They worked together to figure out the new angles and Mr Easby has kindly offered to rebuild the roof with the information the children have given him.
This opportunity was invaluable in giving the children a real life situation in which they were able to apply their numeracy skills and see the end results. The greenhouse is coming along very well and we are looking forward to it being ready to use in the next few weeks.
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Our new look garden!
07/04/2013
During the holiday staff and volunteers have worked extremely hard to finish the garden. We are very nearly there now and are so proud of what we have achieved! The aim was to make the once overgrown garden into an "easy to manage" area, so that in all weather it would be easily accessible for the children and need minimum maintenance. That way the children can concentrate more on growing their produce and less on weeding!
We have planted the strawberries, tomatoes, beetroot, onions, carrots, redcurrants, blueberries, raspberries and potatoes. We will be planting beans and herbs next week. The peppers and sweet basil are in their new home ie. growbags in a nice sunny spot where we hope they will do well! We don't know if the leeks will make it... they are looking a bit sorry for themselves so we may have to try to master the art of leek growing next year instead!
Now we have some sunshine it will be lovely to be outside learning with the children and looking forward to harvesting all of our produce later in the year....fingers crossed!
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Digging Day
24/02/2013
We held a very successful digging day yesterday. With the help of some very kind local volunteers (friends of school, children, governors and staff) the garden is almost complete and now ready for growing.
With some kind donations of funding for new equipment, plants and used tyres for growing things in, we have now divided the garden up into different sections ready for planting. It looks fantastic and we can't wait to get started!
We hope to ask volunteers from the local community to come into school on a regular basis to help the Ground Force Club to maintain the vegetable garden as it is a large area and there are always plenty of jobs to be done.
In the meantime the leeks and purple sprouting broccoli are growing well in the Swallows classroom and are almost ready to plant out. The peppers are taking a bit longer but we are keeping a close eye on them.
Before and after pictures of yesterday's digging day to follow shortly.....!
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Spring gardening & community links
04/02/2013
Last week Miss Fox and Groundforce planted some seeds which they will look after inside until they are strong enough to be planted out. They planted peppers, tomatoes and radishes. This week they are going to plant some herbs and help to plan the layout of the vegetable garden.
Jenny from Tesco came to visit us this morning. She is a keen gardener and has helped us a lot by advising us on what to grow and where, and advice about the different types of plants. Miss Fox, Miss Coates and Mrs Parrish have come up with a list of equipment that we will need to start our garden project off, including a new greenhouse, unfortunately ours got badly damaged in the bad weather last week.
Miss Fox, Miss Coates, Mrs Parrish and Jenny are coming into school in the next few weeks to dig the garden over and get it ready for the children to plant their vegetables.
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Our greenhouse
12/11/2012
Finally the greenhouse has arrived and we built it on Saturday, with the help of some very kind volunteers, determination and a few cups of coffee! It wasn't easy but we are proud of our efforts and look forward to the children using it to grow their fruit and vegetables. Thank you to FOSA for kindly donating the money to buy it.