Feed

Primary 7 are in full swing for their John Muir Award this term. In April we have planted leeks, carrots and potatoes in our class planters and poly tunnel and discussed the importance of sustainable food sources and eating healthily. Primary 7 will also be watering our vegetables regularly and taking responsibility for them so that we can hopefully share these with the community. We have also planted flowers in our school garden to make our outdoor space even more inviting for others to use. In-line with our ideas about conservation, and extending our work over lockdown on the Big Garden Bird Watch, we have finally begun to make our bird tables and bird boxes. Primary 7 are working with a member of Argyll Bird Club to learn about the birds that we hope to feed including identifying different species and their adaptations and diets. We can't wait to finish our tables and to start spotting our local birds at school.

Last Thursday the 29th April Primary 7 spent a the day geocaching and conquering a local spot known as Dunan Hill, or the Camel's Hump. We learned how to work as a team and to listen carefully to instructions and distances to locate the goecaches. We found lots of items including a dinosaur, euros and a trackable cache known as Count Draco Minion from Germany! When we finished geocaching we climbed our local hill and at the top we named some of the sights we could see including the Holy Loch and Kilmun Hill. We could also see our school. We read maps to learn more about where we were and we used our knowledge of directions and angles to point out some familiar places. When we left, we walked through a farm (with permission from the farmer) and were able to see the lambs and their mothers. We had to stay very quiet not to startle them. When we returned to school we then wrote diary entries about our experiences. Everyone explored lots and we discovered many new treasures and a new activity. It was a great day! We are now learning about how to calculate how fast we complete our tasks using our knowledge of distance and time. Next time we hope to go even further!

Having fun learning more about the Scottish Outdoor Access Code. Families were asked to design a poster to tell others about the code and share some facts about what you should know before you venture out to the "Wild Space"

It was good to be back at the reserve after yet another lock down and continue with work towards our John Muir award. Today we were joined by Harry, a young person who has been working at the reserve alongside Jonathan whilst doing his conservation degree. He told us what he had been doing and about his career path and different opportunities available. Before coming we had all been asked to watch a fascinating short film about Trophic Cascade - How Wolves Change Rivers - YouTube It was really interesting to find out what it is and its impact! We had all done individual research about the different species of deer that live in the UK which we then shared and discussed with the group. Red Deer Roe Deer Sika Deer Fallow Deer Muntjac Deer Chinese Water Deer After all that theory we went off in groups to go and see if we could find any evidence of deer on the reserve as there have been sightings and footage on the camera traps. We found lots of deer hooves prints down by the dark pond perfectly captured in the muddy clay. As we were sitting outside learning in the morning sunshine, the swallows made their first appearance of the year singing and swooping over the lake - what a treat! It was lovely to be back and watch how the reserve is bursting into Spring.

K and his family identified Portencross as an ideal "Wild" Space. There was lots of wildlife and plants to explore around the castle, the pier and the surrounding rock pools.

Today Primary 7 have been continuing to look after our growing vegetables (leeks, potatoes and carrots) and planting more flowers in our flowerbeds at school. We are making our school garden an inviting place to be, to enjoy and to reflect. Primary 7 have been weeding and planting as well as watering today. We have five flowerbeds and a rockery to prepare and look after. Primary 7 are very much looking forward to sharing their food and outdoor space with their families when they can celebrate their hard work. Well done everyone!

The Smyth Family identified Montefode Burn in Ardrossan as a suitable "Wild" space to explore. The family took photographs of their beautiful surroundings and the wildlife which they encountered there.

We read about John Muir and made a wordsearch to see how much we had remembered, we thought about some of our favourite wild spaces.