8th March ’21- Return to School After Many Months Apart!

The 8th March was a day of mixed emotions for all, pupils and staff alike. It had been so strange through these unprecedented times, with only a few children regularly in the classrooms and zoom lessons for those children that were at home. Now we were all back together again, but for some this was tricky. Although there was a nice energy to the classrooms again, for many children the noise and bustle of the classroom environment was very different from the isolation of home schooling so we decided to have a lovely outdoor activity that would be useful for re-bonding and give everyone some space. For our school, doing the best we can for the environment and the local wildlife is very important so we learnt about how amazing composting was and then we set to making our own mini cardboard box compostariums.  The children had great fun in the school’s vegetable garden, working together to make their own mini compost heaps.

Year 6 Compostariums

On Year 6’s return to school, as a bonding group activity, we made some compostariums using cardboard boxes.

First we all watched a video explaining composting, showing the importance of micro-organisms and mini-beasts and the part they played in the decomposition of the natural waste. We then collected a mix of ‘brown’ and ‘green’ waste, including: grass cuttings, brown leaves, shredded paper, vegetable peelings and fruit.

We found a suitable area to place our mini compostariums (in our vegetable garden area) and set about, in pairs, layering up our boxes.

We have now chosen two children, which will change each week, to be in charge of watering and topping up our mini compost heaps, plus taking photos and logging what mini-beasts we see working their magic within our boxes.

Later this term, we will be making two large compost bins using some old pallets we have had donated to the school. These will be placed up by the natural pond and meadow area we are developing at the top of our field. The children are very excited about this up-and-coming project.