Carlton Colville Primary School

We are very fortunate to have extensive grounds at our rural school including a Nature Area and a School Allotment. The nature area has recently been
fully refurbished by both the school team and a wildlife specialist to include breeding areas, a new pond and a den building area and is already proving a massive hit with the children and the local wildlife.
The allotment is run by a group of community volunteers from the village  and the children get involved with planting seeds, watering the plants and lots of other gardening related tasks. We are very grateful to our volunteers for the sterling work they do to maintain this much loved facility for us.
We have recently planted lots of new trees in our grounds and are working with local organisations like Suffolk Wildlife Trust to further enhance our outdoor learning provision. 
Mrs Carruthers and Mrs Gray are responsible for outdoor learning.

We have recently started running Forest School sessions run by our recently trained Forest school leaders, Mrs Gray, Miss Norman and Mrs Terry- Wright.
This is proving a massive hit with our children who are developing their confidence, independence, teamwork and curiosity during the sessions, which are mainly based in our wildlife area in school.  A great way to embrace the great outdoors and also has many mental health benefits. 

Forest Schools sessions.
Mrs Terry-Wright, Miss Norman and Mrs Gray have been working towards their Level 2 Forest Schools qualifications. This half term, some of the Wildlife Wardens from Years 3 and 4 have enjoyed some forest school’s sessions. The sessions were tailored towards the children’s interests and included den-building, clay art-work, team game playing and bug hunting. We were very impressed with the children’s knowledge of wildlife and their teamwork and communication skills. We are looking forward to holding more sessions with children across the whole school in future.

Gardening Club
The Gardening club is now up and running and we are busily planting fruit and vegetable seeds. We have also planted some new fruit trees. We would like to say a big thank you for the donation of wildflower seeds. We have planted these in the Wildlife Area and the school meadow.

Year 3 have had a lovely day meeting Charlotte, our new teacher from the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. We created posters to inform other children around the school about what we are doing to improve the wildlife on our school grounds. We then made pine cone bird feeders with fat, fruit and seeds.
We went into the Wildlife Area to place the bird feeders and we were amazed to me met by a baby deer! She was very surprised to see us and ran away quickly! We were all so pleased that more wildlife is now enjoying our school grounds. 
We hope that the birds love their new food!
We are very excited to do lots of new planting on the school grounds in the summer months.

We are very proud to announce that Lowestoft In Bloom presented the school with four awards and a trophy for our outdoor areas. We received bronze awards for the Best Wildlife Garden and Best Classroom Display. A silver award was given for the Best Scarecrow. A gold award and a trophy was given for the Best Vegetable/Herb/Garden. All the children in the gardening club, the Wildlife Wardens and all those involved with making scarecrows deserve a big "well done!" We would also like to thank our gardening club volunteers, David, Brian and Maureen for all their help and dedication. We are so lucky to have such wonderful outdoor spaces in our school.
Mrs Carruthers and Mrs Gray.

January 2022
The sponsored walk held at school last June raised a lot of money to help develop the school's outdoor learning environment. Since then we have been busy developing the Wildlife Area and two large meadow areas on the school field. The new pond area will be ready to use for learning activities from the spring. Many children have been involved in planting bulbs and trees and this will continue in the coming months. We have bought many new learning resources including pond dipping equipment, bird tables, birdbaths, binoculars, mirrors, bug detective kits, gardening, and den building equipment.
We will be interviewing children for the Wildlife Wardens positions at the end of February, so please apply if you are interested. Application detals are on the school website. If successful, you will liaise with Mr Page (our wildlife expert) and us, to develop our outdoor learning activities across the school. Gardening club for KS2 will also recommence later this term. Details to follow.
Now for an optional challenge. We are still in need of plants/ shrubs for our large, new meadow areas. Ideally these should be plants that attract pollinators and will help wildlife. Ideas of plants to grow can be found here: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/actions/best-plants-bees-and-pollinators
If you would like to help, then please start to grow a plant/ plants of your choice at home. We will ask for the plants to be brought into school in May when they can be planted out. Thank you in advance.

April 2022
Since our community raised funds for our outdoor areas last summer, we have been busy transforming our outdoor spaces. Achievements to date include:

• The wildlife area now has designated areas such as, a quiet area to watch birds and other animals in their habitats, a beautiful nature pond with decking and seating area, a permanent outdoor classroom, woodland walks, wildflower beds and a den building area.
• Teachers have had training on den building and outdoor learning ideas across the whole curriculum. Training on using the wildlife pond effectively and with minimum impact to the flora and fauna will take place in the summer term.
• Two members of staff have been trained in level 1 Forest Schools.
• The meadow areas have been transformed with the planting of numerous bulbs and other wildflowers (A big thank you for all donations!)
• The creation of wildflower beds and some lovely winding paths and seating areas have been installed across the meadow area on the school field. In the coming weeks the children will be able to access these areas at lunch times.
• Many trees have been planted over the school field.
• The school allotment is a hive of activity! The school gardening club has been busy planting lots of flowers, fruits, and vegetables. Year group classes will be able to access this area in lesson times over the summer months.
• The Wildlife Warriors have been appointed and they have started to work with Tim Page, our wildlife expert, to promote and develop our outdoor areas. They will be providing activities for children to do some lunchtimes.
• We have purchased outdoor equipment such as pond dipping, bug hunting and den building kits, bird houses, bird tables, gardening equipment and useful identification guides for plants and animals. 
• We are very pleased to announce that we are hosting some events for  our children to work with other schools across the area. This includes an orienteering and den building activities.
  Over the coming term, we hope that your children will have some fun and memorable outdoor learning experiences they can tell you about! 

A few months ago, we set a challenge to grow some flowers & plants at home. We will be asking for these plants to be brought into school from May if possible.   A convenient time to bring in the plants can be arranged with your child’s class teacher. As many children as possible will be involved in the planting.
 Mrs Carruthers and Mrs Gray

Year 3 really enjoyed their Forest Schools Session 

A very big thank you to everyone who  has brought in bug boxes and animal homes. They have all been put into the Wildlife Area and meadows. Here is Blake from year 2 with his amazing hedgehog home. We welcome any more you might be able to make! Thanks again, Mrs Gray