Outdoor Learning

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We are proud to have achieved the Woodland Trust's Green Tree School Gold Award here at Queen's Hill Primary School!

At Queen's Hill Primary School not only do we use the spaces within our school but also the areas in Queen's Hill Country Park, we have woods near our school which the children visit to explore and investigate.  The children enjoy growing vegetables and fruit in the school gardens. The work which takes place outside is very practical and delivered in a small group situation so that understanding can be monitored immediately and misconceptions dealt with. An intensive scientific, practical and environmental understanding will be built as your child moves through school and will offer a very firmly established appreciation of the amazing world in which we live. The work our children are engaged in outside the classroom at Queen's Hill is well-planned with built in continuity and progression.

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Miss Geschke is our Teaching Assistant here at Queen's Hill and will be running Outdoor Learning sessions with the children. 

Recent Outdoor Learning in School

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Nursery – Alien landing

This week, Nursery found some strange footprints in the classroom which led outside. We discussed who they might belong to and what the creature might look like.

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Y5 Outdoor Learning

This week in outdoor learning children went for a walk and found an assortment of treasures: grasses, flowers, leaves, buds, and sticks. They came back together and created faces out of the treasures they found.

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Y5 Maths

We started the half term exploring how to work out area. Initially, we looked at the best way to measure surfaces using different shapes and made estimations using our finger tips. We moved onto counting squares and worked out the area of our names by drawing them on squared paper. Then we made a 1m … Read more

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Big Garden Bird Watch

Linked to this year’s Big Garden Bird Watch, here are some photos from Year 6’s bird watching activities in Outdoor Learning this morning.  Children enjoyed constructing their own bird hides, watercolour painting and making bird feeders.

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Year 3 Outdoor Learning

Year 3 enjoyed learning about garden birds this morning. Many of them said they found it relaxing to listen to birdsong while they sketched and bird watched.  Here are a few photos.

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Year 4 Outdoor Learning

This week in Outdoor Learning, each year 4 class has written a poem about winter.

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Year 2 Outdoor Learning

Year 2 have enjoyed some outdoor learning today. They played a game about outdoor activities that are healthy for them and the environment e.g. planting fruit and vegetables.  The children then collected natural materials to make a healthy meal.  They had catkin sweetcorn, stone potatoes and even twig asparagus!  

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Year 1 Autumn Walk

We went on our own adventure today. We spotted lots of signs of Autumn on our walk. When we got back to school we talked about where we had gone and what we had seen. We learnt about time conjunctions to help us retell and then write a recount of our walk.

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Purple Poppies

Year 6 made purple poppies to remember the animals that have helped in war.  We were really impressed with the concentration and grit and determination shown by all the children!

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Year 3 Problem Solving

Year 3 had fun problem solving today. We applied all of the skills we had learnt so far this week.

Learning Outdoors: School Trips

We make use of the amazing local outdoor facilities we have both in Norwich and Norfolk and allow children to experience new activities wherever possible, for example, Norwich Ski slope, seaside trips and walk into our local country park. Pupils in Key Stage 2 have a yearly camping residential as part of their curriculum entitlement.

Whitwell Camping Trip: Years 3, 4 and 5

Every year the children in Year 3, 4 and 5 go to Whitwell Hall to experience camping, cooking on fire and becoming more independent. The Year 5s stay for five days and are the Young Leaders - this means they have a special job to do every day and they also help the younger children to become more confident. The governors subsidise this school trip as they have been impressed with how the children show more resilience and maturity following this camp. We come back smelling of smoke but with some fantastic memories too!

Eaton Vale Camping Trip: Year 6

Annually our Year 6 pupils visit Eaton Vale where they stay for 3 days. The children get to take part in a wide range of outdoor pursuits, including rafting, kayaking and abseiling.

Learning Outdoors: Curriculum Days and Visitors

During our topic curriculum days we ensure where possible we take full advantage of making use of the outdoor spaces within the school. Some sessions are taught outside and we love having visitors into school to talk to us about wildlife and nature.