Forest School Baton is passed from Y4 to Y6.

As the Forest School baton is handed on from Year 4 to Year 6, Mr Catley shares a few thoughts from the pioneer group’s time in Abington woods.
‘When we first arrived, we had to choose a base camp.  This involved working together to haul some very large logs into place in a clearing the children called ‘Ladybird Camp’  due to the fact that each week we found hundreds of seven spotted ladybirds there.  Over the course of the next seven weeks, the children deepened their knowledge of the space, enjoying watching summer gently turn into a beautiful autumn.  They also developed their use of tools and understanding of specific trees to make mini-beast hotels out of elder, artists’ charcoal out of hazel (which some then turned into elder pencils), some wonderful dens complete with thatching.  They also learned to split wood to build a table using square lashing, saw wood carefully using a bow saw, and how to light fires (over which they then cooked some delicious outdoor food)!  But perhaps the greatest skill many of Year 4 developed was how to work well as a team.  Watching the children share plans, ask each other for help, and collectively be proud of a shared project, such as a 5 star shelter, was truly encouraging.
Year 6 have now had their first week at the woods, and despite the wet, instantly got into the swing of woodland life and the adventure continues….’

Bronze D of E Expedition successfully completed

On Fri 28th September 17 Y10s set off on their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award assessed expedition, walking from the environs of Graham Water to the environs of Oundle, a total distance of approx 25km in two days with an overnight camp. They had exceptionally good weather both days, if somewhat cold for camping with the temperature dropping to about 3 degrees C overnight. Everyone remained in excellent spirits all round and all groups completed the walk in record time! Well done to all who took part.

Music Making This Term

This year the Music department is giving pupils some additional whole-class performance opportunities. We now have a class set of ocarinas, which were wonderfully showcased in our Infant & Junior Recital Assembly by our enthusiastic year 6 class. Ocarinas are accessible to all children and make a warm, mellow sound – an ideal choice for classroom learning! We have also bought a whole-class set of samba instruments which will be used by Year 8 to perform as a samba band. Samba is fantastic for developing rhythmic skills and embodied movement, and it also requires high-level team work. This samba band will be by far the loudest form of music making at Heritage!
As well as the more established choirs and ensembles, we also have two new groups that have started this term. Ukulele club on a Tuesday lunch time, led by Year 11 student Adele and Mrs Zurcher, and ‘A Cappella Singers’ on a Thursday lunch time, led by year 11 student Alexander and Mrs Zurcher. Anastasia in Year 11 is also in the process of forming a small chamber choir who will work on 4-part choral repertoire together. Any interested singers should speak directly to Anastasia.
We look forward to another term of enjoyment as we make music together at Heritage.

A Trip to Tate Modern and Tate Britain

Year 10 & Year 11 Art GCSE pupils enjoyed a visit to the Tate Modern and Tate Britain Art Galleries to undertake research for their individual coursework projects.

Walking from Bank towards The Millennium Bridge, the contrast of architectural styles of the buildings on the way created a lasting impression while the beautiful sunny day provided excellent opportunities to take photographs. On arrival at Tate Modern, pupils were able to engage with and place their own artwork within a wide variety of artwork produced in the full spectrum of modern art media techniques and processes. Fully inspired, a pleasurable boat trip took them along The Thames to the Tate Britain Gallery at Millbank, passing many iconic landmarks on the way.

Once there, pupils had an hour and a half to view and record artworks to help move their projects forward. One pupil commented that ‘It was really helpful to kick start our own projects, opening our minds to different forms of art”. Another said “It was good to be able to view paintings that we have studied, in real life.”

A Trip to Hunstanton

Our Year 11 Geography pupils enjoyed a two day trip to Hunstanton at the start of the term. They conducted three studies. The first was a sand dune eco-system study, looking at the progression of sand dunes away from the sea (species identification, sand ph, infiltration rates, % vegetation cover etc). The second study involved coastal management, assessing the effectiveness of Hunstanton’s coastal defence schemes. This included interviewing local residents and tourists about their opinions of the management schemes. Finally, the students conducted a beach profile study, measuring the gradient of the slope, the size and weight of beach sediment, and linking this to the characteristic beach zones. After all of their hard work, they earned some very tasty fish and chips, a game of mini-golf and lots of rock candy!!