Summer Term: GARDENERS

The RHS are planning a big new show called Britain Through the Ages, but when they were sorting out which gardening team was responsible for creating which show garden, they discovered there was no team to create the Stone Age / Bronze Age / Iron Age garden! Crisis! They sent out an urgent press release to find a gardening team to save the day and create the garden.

In the meantime, there was a newspaper article complaining that the RHS spend too much time on their big shows, and not enough time helping people with their gardens at home. After a meeting to work out what to do, they have decided to create posters and leaflets to sell at the show informing people how plants grow, what they need to grow, what their parts are and so on.

But how do we know what plants need to grow? We THINK we know, but is that really true? So we thought we'd better carry out an investigation to find out what happens to seeds when they have no soil, no water, no space, no air and no light - plus a control which has everything it should have to compare the results with. What will happen? We are observing to find out. 

Meanwhile, the gardening team were busily trying to find out enough information about the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age in order to design the garden. But what is the best way to find out about the past? What about the Internet? Books? We could talk to historians, watch videos or look at artefacts. What are the good and bad things about each of those?

To develop our understanding of the Stone Age, we went to visit Bishop's Wood and spent the day experiencing life as prehistoric people. We spent the morning in the Mesolithic (middle Stone Age) transporting our belongings and building shelters. In the afternoon we found out what life was like in the Neolithic (new Stone Age) by hunting and gathering, lighting fires, weaving fences and grinding grain to make flour. It was very hard work! We finished the day making some Stone Age style art with charcoal, chalk and clay. It was such a brilliant day to build on what we had learnt about the Stone Age in school. 

Spring Term: ARCHAEOLOGISTS

This term we are working as archaeologists helping to survey and excavate a field where some developers want to build houses. They are keen to get started as soon as possible, but the team have to do their jobs properly. Archaeologists use a lot of different tools and equipment when carrying out an excavation. They are historians AND scientists, so they need a lot of expertise in both areas. It's a good job they did their job so carefully because they discovered some very interesting artefacts whilst excavating.

Clearly the site was archaeologically significant, so we investigated further and discovered a bone! We sent it to the lab to be analysed and dated - they told us it was about 1,100 years old! Using a timeline, we worked out this meant it had come from the Anglo-Saxon period, and the field was the site of an Anglo-Saxon settlement. But who had died and been buried here?

Could we tell the age of someone from the length of their bones? We measured our arms, and the arms of people of different ages across school to learn that our bones grow as we get older, but not when we are adults. We learned some of the main bones in our bodies, and how they work with our muscles to make us move.

We worked with Mr Benney's class to piece together the story of what had happened. We used drama to learn that an Anglo-Saxon queen, Aethelflaed, had died in battle here when the village was attacked by a rival kingdom. We worked backwards to find out about what life was like in the settlement and what led up to the queen's final battle, culminating in her ceremonial burial.

The developers weren't very happy with the discovery at first because they wanted to get their houses built, but we explained to them how important our work was, and they decided that perhaps they should have an exhibit within their housing development about the Anglo-Saxon settlement and Aethelflaed. We agreed we would help them with this to make sure it was historically accurate. 

Our Christmas Performance

Our video will premiere on December 12th at 12pm!

Autumn Term: ABOUT THE WORLD

This term the children have been working as a team of documentary makers. They create videos to tell the whole story of different events and situations. They always tell the true story! First the team had to create a video about the erosion of the White Cliffs of Dover to inform the locals about what was happening. It was really important because someone's house was right on the cliff edge and was at risk of collapsing into the sea below. They had lived in that house for many years, and loved the view from the window onto the sea. But thankfully when they saw the video, they realised how important it was to move.

Because the team had been so successful at this, the government in Indonesia contacted us to ask for our help with a village on a small island. We knew the villagers were in danger, but we didn't know why. 

We planned our travel - it was a long way away! Indonesia is in Asia.

When we arrived, we travelled to the island and found that the villagers were not happy to see us. They thought we were working with the scientists who were based on the island, and they scientists had been telling them they had to leave. They were not at all happy about this! This island was their home. They had lived there for a very long time, the soil was rich and fertile for growing things in, and the sea was full of fish for them to catch. Most importantly, the mountain they called Bandi Api was their special protector. Bandi Api had guided and protected them for so many years. 

The villagers took offerings up to Bandi Api to ask for help with what to do, but for some reason, the ground began to shake.

Meanwhile, the team met up with the scientists, who had climbed Bandi Api the next day to do some tests. It turns out, Bandi Api is a volcano! And the scientists who were monitoring it knew it was going to erupt! No wonder the villagers had to leave. 

The team agreed to create a video to explain all about volcanos to the villagers. They also wrote information reports for them as well. They had to explain what volcanos are, where they are found, what might happen in an eruption and how important it is to listen to the scientists who monitor them. 

Luckily, this helped the villagers understand, and they left just in time before the eruption happened. 

When Bandi Api erupted, it sent up a huge ash cloud which made it dark. The team returned to the village to check it was safe with the scientists, and had to use mirrors to reflect torchlight around corners to check the houses were safe without going into them.

The villagers now had a big job to clean up all the ash that was covering everything.