A letter from the Mayor!

As you know last half term we visited Sherwood Forest as part of our 'Fantastic Forests' topic. When we returned to school we learnt that Sherwood Forest was set to be demolished to make space for a theme park with hundreds of rides. We worked very hard that week to think of reasons why we should save Sherwood Forest. We even wrote persuasive letters to the Mayor of Derby and the Mayor of Newark to get their help! Here is the reply we received from the Mayor of Newark...

'Dear Year 2,

SHERWOOD FOREST

Thank you for your letter outlining the project that your children have undertaken following their trip to Sherwood Forest.

As a person who was born and has spent most of his life in Nottingham I am very proud of our heritage and Robin Hood is a symbolic feature that is recognisable the world over.

Whilst a new theme park would, no doubt, bring many jobs to the area and provide a boost to the local economy, I agree with the views of the children that the negative impact of such a development significantly outweigh the benefits.

The loss of the natural environment with an historic woodland, containing so many amazing trees that are centuries old could, perhaps, be described as an act of modern day vandalism. The woodland has remained untouched for hundreds of years and it should be protected for future generations to come who, like your children, can explore and re-live what lie would have been like for Robin Hood.

On a personal note when I was a young boy (50 years ago) I visited the Major Oak with my grandma & Grandad. At that time it was possible o get close to the Major Oak and explore the splits in the trunk, where it is thought Robin Hood may have hidden. My lasting memory of the visit was seeing my grandad get stuck in the tree; as he was a bit too fat to fit through the split. This may have led to the increased protection for the tree from the many people who visit it each year!

Whilst there is always a balance to be stuck between progress, new building & new investments and the loss of landscape, natural habitat or heritage; the loss of the site would not be acceptable and the idea of a theme park should be re-located to one of the many sites nearby that are still empty and redundant following the closure of the many coal mines that existed in that part of Nottinghamshire.

In summary I, the Town Mayor, am fully behind your campaign to protect Sherwood Forest for the future, good luck and best wishes.

Yours Sincerely

Cllr R Crowe

Town Mayor.  '

We were extremely excited to receive a letter of support from the Mayor of Newark and hopefully Sherwood Forest will no longer be destroyed. 

Andy Goldsworthy Art!

We had a special job to do outside with Miss Lambert yesterday. We were set the challenge of creating an animation showing our artwork. We based our art on Andy Goldsworthy's pictures where he uses natural things like bark, stones and sticks to make patterns and pictures. 

Our first job was to decide as a team what sort of picture to create and what we might need. We collected twigs, stones and bark to start our project. We chose Grace to be lead photographer and she had a tough job to take pictures because she had to make sure that she stayed still and kept the camera in line with the previous photos. When you make an animation its made of lots of photos where you only change 1 little thing at a time like adding 1 stone. This is when we started putting the material on the floor to create a masterpiece.  

'We had to add one little piece at a time to our picture so that Grace could stay still to take the photos.' - Oliver and Zak 

As a team we had to take 62 photos to make the animation 15 seconds long. What a lot of photos! We had such a good time and the best part was seeing that we were artists like Andy Goldsworthy. 

By Grace, Zak and Oliver C

Sherwood Forest Trip

Last Tuesday we went on an adventure to Sherwood Forest. When we got there we met our guide. His name was Robin of Wentworth and he is one of Robin Hood's Merry Men.  Then we listened whilst he talked  to use about robin hood. It was really interesting.

Next we went for a long walk through the deciduous forest. We saw woody, thin Silver Birch trees with rough bark and wide, huge Oak trees. We walked a little bit further and saw the gigantic Major Oak. What an humongous tree it was!

After that we made animal habitats with a guide called Becky. Our favourite habitat was the one that was made for a hedgehog because it had lots of sticks and grass.

Finally we got back on the coach and went back to school. We were exhausted! What a wonderful, spectacular day we had!

By Connie, Kaynan and Oliver C

Dig and Chips!

On Wednesday 13th April some children and their grown ups stayed after school for the 'Dig and Chip' event. We had to all wait outside of reception so Mrs Patel and Miss Coburn could give people jobs and areas to work in. 'First I went to help Mrs Patel clear the dead plants from the Sensory Square' - Amreet. 

One of the jobs was in Class 8 to make crafts for the shaded area. Jack and Jared made wind chimes and a bird house. To make the wind chimes we had to paint a wooden triangle on both sides, followed by attaching keys to the bottom to make the noisy part. Some of the other jobs in Class 8 were to make feely boards using wool, pom poms, sponges and cds. We also made things to hang from the ceiling called sun catchers. 

It was a very sunny day so lot of people chose to work outside tidying the garden areas and planting new plants. 

After all our hard work we charged into the hall to get our chip butties. What an exciting day it was! The chip butties were soft and fluffy and we couldn't wait to tuck in. 

By Amreet, Jared and Jack

The Sensory Den

After our 'Dig and Chip' event last week, we have now completed our Sensory Den and we can go and enjoy it. 

Inside, each of the walls have a theme of the 5 senses. As it is a Sensory Den we had to make sure it had things to show sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste. Outside the entrance on the sides of the hexagon we have pots of special plants called herbs which you can smell and taste - although only grown ups can let us taste them! Inside on one wall we made feely boards for people to feel the range of textures, we liked the sponge best because it was soft and squishy. On the next wall we have wind chimes that were made at Dig and Chips using keys that make a magic tingling, jingling sound when the wind blows. On the final wall we have sun catchers that make the Sensory Den look like a colourful disco when the sun shines and they reflect on the floor. 

Finally we have a super, special chair for story telling. It is made out of a Sycamore tree and has been beautifully carved into the shape of stacked books and a mystical castle. The seat part of the chair is made of an open book that says 'Once upon a Ridgeway time...', We are so excited to start using our new Sensory Den!

By Izzy, Aimen and Leianna

A special STEM assembly

After the Easter holidays we came back to school and the first job of the day was going to a surprise assembly in the hall. Miss Coburn started the assembly by recapping our STEM days throughout the year so far. What hard work it was!

Miss Coburn announced that our beautiful, magical story chair had been finished and put inside our new shaded area. She put lots of interesting photos on the screen to show us the finished chair. The whole school were shocked and amazed that the chair was already finished and looked so fantastic. 

Next we had to do a very important job. Miss Coburn explained that the shaded area didn't have a name yet, so we needed to vote. Some of the name suggestions were 'Sensory Den', 'Sensory Hex', 'Sensory Hub' and 'Sensory Hut'. After we had heard all of the names we each had a cube and class by class we went to the front of the hall to make our decision.

In friday's assembly the new name was announced. We were so excited to hear the result! The shaded area is now called...

The Sensory Den!

By Arzoo, Liyanna and Jasleen

STEM Day 3

On STEM day 3 we investigated shadows and searched for existing shading in our playground. We know that a shadow is formed when an object is blocking the light. We found that there are a few shaded areas already on the playground but not enough!

After that we showed our VIP guest (Sam from Rolls Royce) how to test materials to see if they block light. As Scientists we used scientific language to describe the materials. We know that transparent materials are not a good material to use for shading because they let all or a lot of light pass through them. Translucent materials are not suitable either as they let some light pass through. We found that the best materials would be wood or plastic as they are opaque and waterproof.

This week the builders have been working hard to fit our new shaded area (made from wood). This area will help to keep us sun safe, do more learning outside, keep us dry when it rains and give us a space to sit and relax with friends at playtime's. We cannot wait to start using it!

All of Class 8