St Charles, 03.02.21 & 04.02.21

With all groups this week we talked about the ancient celebration of Imbolc and the start of Spring and the Christian Candlemas.   The children talked about going to Church and lighting candles and I pointed out the signs of Spring; and so we lit a fire to celebrate the coming of the light in both the ancient and Christian sense.  Another thing that all groups did this week was the rather more mundane but essential task of risk assessment. Usually, I tell them what they can/cannot do because of weather or resources or activities, but I’ve been thinking that they should get used to making assessments themselves in order to keep themselves and others safe.  They were very good at it!

Mrs F continued Y3’s mindfulness activities and the children used their senses to help them be aware of what was around them.   We didn’t even get round to making bird feeders as we were too busy putting up the tent.  It was good to see though that some of the children are used to the tent going up now and have a much better idea of how to help.  Of course, as soon as it was up, it stopped raining (until the afternoon session). 

Y4 rolled out and we sat round the fire circle. One of our topics of conversation was birds and the time of year and why they seem to be singing so much.  One lad knew exactly why – “they’re looking for girlfriends, aren’t they?”  At the end of the session, things appeared to go a bit pear-shaped with the class-initiated tig game.  We gathered together round the fire circle and I summoned my inner Mrs Merton for a ‘heated debate’.  After some initial finger pointing and shouting from both sides, we eventually got to the nub of the matter which was the lack of firm ground rules at the beginning.  It sounds strange to say that it was a good argument, but it really was because they listened to each other, saw each other’s point of view and agreed for next time.   Only time will tell if they remember!  

The infants brought rain, mud and madness.  Building the fire at break time, a chant of ‘fi-re grow, fi-re grow’ developed along with clapping and stomping and reached such manic levels I felt we were heading towards a ‘Lord of the Flies’ situation.  I’ve not felt that much pressure with the success of the fire since I was trying to impress the assessors at the forest school exam.   The bird feeders again didn’t really work out with the weather; we hardly used the tent and the children were happy to play in the mud.

Y6 on Thursday morning heralded a much brighter start and the children helped to dry all the tarps from the previous day.   Some were very keen to make bird feeders while others set to work to fill the ‘mud hole trap’.  This was an illicitly dug hole in a playing area which I had previously cautioned against and which, with repeated use and rain, resulted in several children becoming voluntarily ‘stuck’ in the mud, falling over and coming out of their wellies or having to be physically ‘rescued’.  It was good fun but I was wary of broken ankles when the mud eventually dries up.  We had a fire too; and ended with games of Spiders and Predator.