Class 3 and 4 visited Nettlecombe Court to explore their quest learning further. The children took part in different map activities, orienteering and a river investigation, all in the sunny outdoors. In Class 3, they learnt about the rivers, seas and mountains of the UK and I was very proud as they got almost every single one right! They were given compasses and learnt how to navigate using them by changing their bearings before getting to explore the grounds by orienteering in groups. In the afternoon, they completed a very successful river investigation where they measured the width, depth and speed of the river using rulers and propellers. They also investigated the species in the river, with one group finding a species that Nettlecombe staff didn't know lived on their grounds! Not only was it lovely to cool off in the water, but no one in Class 3 fell in either!     Miss Downer

      

"My favourite bit was when we went pond dipping. We found a water slug and freshwater shrimps. The orienteering we did showed us how to use compasses.” Isla, Class 3

“The trip was amazing! I loved going in the river because it was so fun. Although it was very hot, we did a lot of learning. The best bit was when we found a stone-fly nymph!” Bluebelle, Class 3

 

We discovered a strange species; it looked like a wriggly white slug with purple on its back and green eyes - we named it White Weird Slug because it hadn't been seen in the area before and our guide didn't know how to identify it either! We think it might have been dragonfly larvae, but we cannot be sure. We used a pipette to collect it so we could investigate the species more before releasing it back to its home.  by Jesse, James, Rory & Freddie, Class 3

 

We had a Geography lesson and then we explored the wildlife in the river. Both lessons were really, really fun in their own way. We collected river life and put it in our bucket and investigated the width, depth and speed of the river. Charlie fell in—splosh!  We met up with Class 3 and had lunch and played football. After that, we put our orienteering skills into practice. Thank you to our teachers for organising this trip and to the parents that came along and helped.  by Kit, Charlie and Clarabel, Class 4