By Mrs Copp (Deputy Head of Junior School)
Despite a chilly and misty, autumnal start to the day, Year 5 spent a day outside making discoveries as they explored the school environment and developed their skills of communication and collaboration. Year 5 experienced learning about basic survival skills, from brewing hot chocolate on a trangia and exploring the use of a bothy, to connecting their learning about maps and map reading by finding out how explorers and navigators measured short distances to estimate times to travel longer distances. Year 5 explored ways to develop their creativity using nature and how to identify flora and fauna in the sensory gardens.
Here are some wonderful pupil reflections:
“It was really fun. We did so many new things like making hot chocolate outside and how to measure distances without a tape measure. We feel like BGS adventure explorers!”
“This is the best day ever, can we do it again!”
“It was a fabulous day. I love how it linked to our topic on exploration. It was really interesting to find out about how to keep warm. The bothies were much warmer than I expected! It was lovely to be creative with the surroundings when we made our art work. We had so many different options. We learnt how to measure distance travelled and it helped me to understand how Shackleton would have used these techniques. In the Sensory Garden it was enjoyable to use magnifying glasses and photography to explore the nature that exists there. This is a day that I will remember!”
Ms Kelly’s class said: “We had a fantastic day being real explorers. We loved making artwork from nature, and this made us realise how beautiful nature can be. We saw first hand how hard life can be as an explorer, and how important it is to have proper shelter to keep warm. Getting to start the day with hot chocolate was amazing! It was a fun, adventurous and exciting day.”
Year 5 will communicate some of their learning journey through the creation of a documentary, sharing how they have made connections to their learning on explorers like Ernest Shackleton or more recent explorers like Amelia Earhart, Mae Jemison and Bear Grylls.
