Hazel and Beans

Stripping hazel leaves

On Thursday last week we went to the woodland classroom and Mrs Bryant cut down some Hazel branches. She asked us to take off all of the leaves, it was hard work.

Underneath the leaves were new buds for next spring. All of the leaves that we removed we put into the compost bin.

We took the hazel sticks to the allotment and put them in the ground around our broad beans to stake them.

Ellie, Izzy, Blossom and Ruby 4M

 

 

 

 

 

Sowing seeds in the wild flower meadow

On Monday 12th October class 4M began work with Mrs Bryant to create areas of wildflower meadow. To start with we went to the shed to get the tools we needed such as rakes, string, sticks and pots. With the wheelbarrow loaded up we headed to the orchard.

We needed to prepare the ground so that the seeds would have the best chance of germinating. We did this by raking (scarifying) all of the dead grass from the surface of four large areas marked out with string and sticks topped with pots.

Using the rakes was hard work and some of us found it easier to use our hands! The grass that we pulled out was put on top of our haystack. The haystack was steaming as it was warm inside, we got to jump up and down on it and it felt bouncy like a mattress because of all of the air inside.

The ground is ready for seeding

Next we all had handfuls of native wildflower seed that we scattered on our marked out areas, there were lots of funny shapes and different coloured seeds. We predicted they would take 3 weeks to germinate. Our school want to have meadows to encourage pollinators.










When we came back from our half term holiday we could see that our seeds had started to germinate.

Apples

 Autumn has moved in to our orchard.

Last Friday our orchard played host to two special visitors, Mary and Chris, who came to scythe the grasses and wild flowers.

So, this is how you scythe...

 Luckily the rain had stayed away and the area was dry and ready to be cut.  They started at 8.30 am and by 9.15 were well in the swing of it all.  By then there were also large swathes of grass which needed lifting and stacking - and this is where Y6 came in.  For the whole day the Y6 children came down in turns to rake, lift and stack the grass into a huge haystack. 

We've made a haystack...hooray!

This proved to be lots of fun, especially when the grass in the haystack needed trampling on to press it down and make it stable.

Mary had also brought along a child sized scythe, and everyone had a go.  It was much more difficult than it looked and the girls proved more adept at it than the boys, who generally thought it was going to be easy and then gave up after a couple of swings!  Harlie (6M) and Emily (6N) proved to be expert mowers and quickly cut their way through a large area.

Harlie in full swing - nearly

Jolene in full swing - definitely!

Lots of wildlife was seen, with a grasshopper and a wasp spider caught for a short time and studied.  A frog was seen hopping away into the long grass left for wildlife cover, and many butterflies were out collecting nectar including the Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria).

By 4.30 the orchard was looking clear and tidy ready for a really good raking before more wildflower seed goes down. 

Teachers can scythe too you know

Raking and preparing the meadow for seeding

Now that's a great day at school

A plant family

Plant families is not an easy subject to teach children especially when more children are becoming less familiar with the natural world around them. They do not see so much flora and can most definitely not always name it...

'Alliums' are a fantastic resource for teaching the concept of a plant family. There is much excitement involved with planting a seed or a bulb and watching it grow into an edible or ornamental plant.


There are many child friendly alliums visible in the summer months most notably chives, spring onions, onions (red and white) shallots and garlic - and let's not forget wild garlic which have planted at Wicor.  The flowers can be prolific and demonstrate seed dispersal on an awesome scale particularly when allowing elephant garlic to run to seed.

Alliums allow a children to experience touch, taste, smell and can be quick to grow.  Harvesting can be rewarding and at Wicor there is nothing better for the children than to dig up an edible bulb in the allotment.

Tell me again about this Dracula guy...

 

Yum

A favourite recipe to make is garlic bread and each stage is completed by the children; the simplicity of mixing butter, crushing garlic, snipping home grown parsley and spreading spoonfuls into sliced crusty baguettes. I think the enjoyable part of the lesson for the children is the eating and inevitably someone always seems to raise the subject of vampires!

Louise Bryant

Rich Pickings

Wow, that's a lot of blackcurrants

Last term our grounds held an abundance of flavour, scent and were most certainly a feast for the eyes.

Our Year 2 pupils were delighted to explore the edge of our allotment and find blackcurrants bursting on branches. Only seven weeks ago we had plenty of sunshine and our bumper crop bumper weighed in at over 3 pounds.

 

The heady mix

                                                                             At Wicor, children provide ideas on what to make and with the summer fair taking place cordial won the day. Weighing fruit, sugar and measuring water was taken very seriously and the mixture was sent to the kitchen for a good boil and returned when cool. The children enjoyed squishing the mixture through the sieve, releasing yet more colour and an intoxicating, sugary smell.




Recycled jars and straws showed off the cordial well for the visitors to the school fair. Children sold the cordial to parents, grandparents and our local community for 20p a cup - all advertised by hand painted signs. Comments were extremely positive from all and our cordial was a complete sell out!

Louise Bryant

@MiniHorts. Potatoes - from seed to plate.

A busy afternoon at Gardening Club last week, where the Minihorts showed in one hour why we grow the things we eat!  One group spent half an hour or so on a late sowing of maincrop potatoes (Desiree), which we expect to harvest in the autumn; while another group were busy harvesting some of the early potatoes (Rocket) that we sowed in March ...

... but that isn't all - some of these potatoes will go into veg boxes, but some were put to a more immediate and tasty use - they were sliced very thinly to make crisps, which were delicious and far better for us than the crisps that come in a packet.  We now know the whole life-cycle of these potatoes from seed to plate, and they never once left the school grounds.

That's one of the reasons why we do it - well done to the Minihorts!

David Harrison
Volunteer

Elderflower 'Pop' Update

Following the recent foraging inspired by the likes of Riverford Organic, nature has taken a path of its own...

We will sadly not be allowing the Elderflower Cordial to be sampled by Year R to get an overall vote on its taste. The test has gone over to adults as the cordial has begun to fizz and ferment, producing alcohol.  How this could happen after following a reliable recipe is mysterious to the enthusiastic first time producers!

The conversation in staffroom has been lively and requests for further production suggests it tastes good. If we are fortunate to forage more flowers then speed is of the essence to ensure Year R can sample the fruits of their labour.

Elderflower 'cordial' !

Elderflower Foraging Year R

Picking the elderflowers

The joys of foraging are practised by enthusiastic adults and the riches appreciated. How many children are allowed, encouraged or know how to forage?

With the right knowledge passed on, future generations will be able to enjoy seasonal delights from our hedgerows and orchards.

Year R have experienced how fun it can be to harvest elderflowers from our orchard this week connecting with where flavours come from. Many were surprised to learn how a flower could flavour food or drinks. While harvesting the children noted the pungent smell and visiting pollinators in the beautiful setting of our orchard.

Taking armfuls of the white flowers into the kitchen we decided to make our own elderflower cordial. After washing, slices of lemon were added into a large pan, bags of sugar were measured and boiling water added to dissolve. This was the most magical part of the experience for the children, a solid and liquid combining. The liquid was added to the flowers and lemon and left for the boring part to steep over the weekend. Next week this will be filtered and the exciting tasting will take part with the whole of the year group, votes on taste will take place deciding if elderflower flavouring is a hit or miss!

Elderflowers and lemons

Foragers - job done!

Yellow Rattle

Yellow rattle

Over the past two summers, we have sprinkled yellow rattle (Rhinanthus minor) seeds in our wild meadow areas.  This is a very handy plant as it is semi-parasitic and feeds off grass.  Grass is a problem because it takes most of the nutrients from the soil.  If we can establish yellow rattle then we can control the grass and allow other wild flower species to grow.  This summer, we have a fine show of yellow rattle growing throughout our orchard.

We have also mixed in a collection of wild flower seeds suited to our soil and location and eagerly wait to see what is appearing each year.  One plant that seems to have done well is corncockle (Agrostemma githago) - a rare plant in the wild.  It used to grow on the edges of fields but over the years herbicides and changes in agricultural practice have gradually killed it off.  It is a stunning plant and it is great to see it colonising our meadow. 
Yellow rattle is so called because the seed pods of this plant literally rattle when they are ready for distribution.

Corncockle in sunlight

This corncockle is home for a cucumber spider

Help the hedgehogs

The hedgehog population of the UK is down 97% for many reasons and so they need help.  At Wicor we provide perfect hedgehog hibernation and foraging sites, but not all gardens are like this.  There are some simple ways to help hedgehogs:

http://www.discoverwildlife.com/british-wildlife/how-you-can-help-hedgehogs

If nothing else cut a CD disc size whole in the bottom of your fence so that hedgehogs can get from garden to garden.  Remember do not feed them milk or bread: water and meaty cat food is much better.  More information can be found at:
http://thehedgehog.co.uk/feeding-hedgehogs/      or
http://www.hedgehogstreet.org/pages/diet.html

Mrs Bryant recently found this stunned and injured hedgehog in Portchester.  She rang a local Wildlife Expert who came and rescued the poor little thing.  Recent updates though are that the hog is doing well and we hope to release it into Wicor grounds where it will find lots of eat and drink and perfect hedgehog shelters.




Did you know that a baby hedgehog is called a hoglet?
Did you also know that a group of hedgehogs is called an array?

Back in business

My work on the stumpery stopped for a while because of the SATS tests and lots of work beforehand, but I have now started to plant some of my plants into the ground and inside the log holes.

Blue bells are starting to grow on the path and I need to start cutting back the thorn bushes. The plants that I`m growing are woodland plants for my woodland area.   I`m hoping to get some more stumps and some more logs soon.  I don`t need to get any more wood chip though because I got some more from the man who comes and coppices the trees in the grounds.

Lately I`ve taken some photos of the stumpery and put them in my book and I`m watering the plants. They are growing very well but I don`t need to water them today because it is raining and the stumpery is going well.

by Harvey 6N

Stop, look and listen.

I happened to find myself at school today - nothing unusual about that I hear you say until you realise that it was a Sunday.  I was there returning tables, boards and plants after the Fareham Gardeners' Market yesterday and while I was ferrying said items from my car to various places I found myself walking past the pond area.  I couldn't resist stopping and looking as it has always been one of my most favourite areas of the school - to me it has a magical quality.  And this morning it didn't disappoint.

I decided to let myself into the area, although I must admit I felt like a naughty school girl sneaking in without permission, and wondered slowly around.  It had the sense that something amazing was about to happen although it was silent apart from the birds singing in the nearby trees.  Year 1 had been busy the previous week planting out the new dry stone wall, and the pond was clearer of weed than I have seen for a while.  The new nocturnal bed, designed to continue to encourage bats into our grounds, is taking shape as the After School Club had been in there weeding and digging on Friday.  I loitered in there for a while, just enjoying the different areas which are usually busy with children, but which were now still, resting, waiting.

A strange sense of guilt made me leave, as if I had trespassed upon the wildlife's territory, and I made my way round to the front of the school ready to go home.  But by now I was beginning to enjoy the solitary atmosphere so I took the opportunity to walk past the wildlife garden at the front, which is about to be filled with late Spring colour, as the Sweet Williams are ready to burst into a myriad of colours and release their bee loving scent.  And as I walked through the bed it struck me how beautiful our school is and how lucky our children are.  Of course I already know this and am constantly reminding people of the fact, but I rarely stop and look myself, as I always seem to be rushing from one place to the next.

So maybe the next time you are walking your child to school, just take a minute to stop, look,  wonder and sense just like I did, the shapes, colours and sounds of Wicor Primary.  It is such a privilege to be a small part of it.

Mrs Nash

Feathery visitors

The Ducks Have Landed

We had surprise visitors just after Easter this year when four Mallard ducks turned up to use our pond and poke around among the newly planted wildflower bed. 




They enjoyed the water for quite a while and were not worried about the large audience.  It was quite a sight for about an hour.  Hopefully, they will come back again soon.

Our tropical plants and over-wintering

The tropical plants from the front of the school had been safely tucked away all winter in one of the school polytunnels.  With the frosts almost passed, we will be looking to plant them out soon.  They certainly look like they have not only survived the winter, but are ready to go outside as they are looking strong and healthy.  Our banana plants are showing new growth, and the Aloe vera seem to have almost doubled in size.   The tropical bed itself is looking wonderful.  The larger banana plants which had to be left in situ have been unwrapped and are also showing new growth.  And as we now have so many lilies to fill any gaps, it will be an amazing show in that bed this summer.

Working inside the polytunnel

Banana plants

Spring Grounds Day

As always, a great day was had by all and the learning was fantastic.  The theme of the day was 'The Hidden World' so we all had a good time looking at micro-habitats.  Our grounds are perfect for this as there are so many different areas to study.  The new digital microscope was a big hit as it gave perfect views of creatures you just didn't know were in tree bark, soil or on the bodies or other insects!  All classes all managed to get outside and look after our grounds as well as helping Mrs Bryant; it is such a busy time of year.  We cleaned, weeded, watered, dug, litter-picked, cut the grass, pricked out, planted out, potted up and tidied.  The allotment is looking amazing and is already beginning to produce a harvest of mainly greens at the moment, but the onions are looking fantastic as are the globe artichokes.

Our Year 6 children did an amazing job as always both in the stumpery and potting up the Canna Lilies (Cleopatra).  They worked with Joe Bowen, our trusty volunteer, and learnt how to propagate from the main plant which had been overwintering in the polytunnel.  We have over 200 new plants which will be sold at Fareham Gardeners' Market on May 9th.  During the morning they had gone out into the grounds with Mr Knight and collected 'Spring' items from around the ground.  These were inspected under the microscope and pictures taken.  In the afternoon viewfinders were used to sketch and watercolour the hidden world they had found.

Some of the finished Canna Lilies potted up

David Harrison, another of our sterling volunteers, took charge of the potato planting and yet another crop of mids are now in.  Our early crop of potatoes are poking through and will soon be ready to be earth up again.

Year 4 had a tough job as they look after the wildlife patch; it is a bit overgrown to say the least.  However, thanks to Mrs Rees two patches were cleared and lots of sunflowers have been planted.  They will look fantastic in the summer and will provide lots of seeds for our birds come the autumn.

Mrs Bryant and Mrs Braisher from Cams Secondary School were stationed in the pond area with Year 1.  The children worked wonders and cleared the weed from the pond which was blocking the sunlight; weeded a large patch of ground ready for the planting of nectar rich plants to attract the insects and provide food for the bats, and planted marigolds on top of the bug hotel to again attract the insects in.

Bluebells in the stumpery area

Year 6 continued to work hard through the day weeding the newly designed stumpery area.  It is now looking fantastic with a beautiful display of bluebells.





Mrs Napier and Mrs Pattison provided plenty of hard work outside for Year 3 as they were looking after the compost bins which contained a fascinating hidden world!  Mrs Keeling was busy in one of the polytunnels with children from lots of different year groups who had signed up to help prick out and plant on our herb seedlings.  All the children learnt how to be so careful when handling the tiny seedlings.  They prepared new pots with compost, made a hole, placed the seedling in, popped some more soil around and watered.  Three hours later we had over 100 seedlings ready to carry on growing - these will be sold later on in our living veg boxes (see school webpage). I think they now know what plants need to survive.

All in all it was a day full of hard work and great environmental learning. Now to plan for our Summer Grounds Day!

Mrs Nash

Hibernating Hedgehog

Five years ago we begun turning our school grounds into a haven for wildlife and part of this strategy has been to allow large sections, which were previously tended, to be left alone.  One of these areas is next to a field of scrub where we regularly see deer and we know badgers have their setts.  The area has a low kickboard around it to make sure children do not disturb the area, and large branches are also piled at one end.  This was recommended after a visit by Chris Packham who advised us on how to attract more wildlife into our school grounds.  And this has paid off, as after a visit by a local expert on all things hedgehog, we found one curled up hibernating under a pile of twigs, sticks and branches although it was very hard to see. Very carefully, our expert checked to see if it was still alive after the winter - and it was.  We feel so privileged that the school grounds have been chosen by this spiny mammal and have made sure it is covered back up and is safe and sound until it is ready to wake up.