Aldermoor Green Council Farmers!

Today Green Council visited Aldermoor Community Farm to see how Richard and the team Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, and also to reward our Green Council reps for working hard all year on Pupil Voice issues.

First, we had to identify the root vegetables from the leaves above. There were carrots, radishes and beetroot. Would you know what they look like or what their leaves look like?

Next Richard asked us to pick the radishes. We learnt that he will sell them in his shop on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9am-5pm and they now take card payments.

When the radishes were picked there was space to plant new seeds - radishes, beetroot or carrots.

After this the hungry chickens needed feeding. If you want to go and feed the chickens at the farm, it is only 20p when the farm is open.

Our last task was plaiting garlic. This was quite tricky but a clever Year 6 who already had plaits demonstrated this skill.

We found out that one of our Year 4's is a regular volunteer on the farm.

Last but not least, somebody made friends with a caterpillar. can you see it on her arm?

Thanks to Farmer Richard for letting us help him.
If you want to know more about Aldermoor Farm, look up http://aldermoorfarm.org.uk/ There may be an Open Day coming up soon.

Year 3 visit SeaCity Museum

On Tuesday, Year 3 went on a trip to SeaCity Museum in Southampton to learn more about the Titanic. While we were there, we completed a workshop about the Titanic and got to explore the exhibitions about the Titanic. We learnt lots of interesting facts about the Titanic and we started to realise the importance that the Titanic had to Southampton. Here are some photos from our trip!

Green Council trip to Waterstones

Today, members of our Green Council from Key Stage 2 went on an exciting trip to Waterstones West Quay in order to choose books that will be prizes for children who win our new Reading Challenge.

 Nicky showed us around and made recommendations.  Students from Mountbatten School who were on Work Experience also helped the children by making suggestions.  Although we had a budget to keep to, we were really excited that Waterstones offered us a generous discount and even added a few free books to our pile as well.  If you go into Waterstones and see Nicky, please thank her as she was so helpful.  You could even ask her for her recommendations. She seemed to know everything about books for children.

When we got back to school we counted 59 books in all, suitable for children from Year R to Year 6.

Now everyone in the school needs to keep reading at home and bring their full cards in to school to be signed in order to be in with a chance of winning one of these lovely books.

A huge Shirley Warren thank you to Nicky and her team at Waterstones for your advice, kindness and biscuits - what a special treat for the children!

Green Council Visit to Basics Bank

Today, three members of Green Council were very lucky to be invited to the Basics Bank Headquarters in Millbrook.  This is where Southampton City Mission collect and sort the donated food before it goes to the local Foodbanks where people can then take it home.

Last week we celebrated Harvest in school so our donations were all there ready to be sorted!

Matt showed us how to sort them into categories like peas, soups and so on according to the Best Before date so that those with the shortest shelf life get used first.

 Above is a picture of the board showing the items they need more of at Basics Bank, and below is the card they give to everyone who receives food.

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Imagine the Future - special cruise!

Today was a very exciting day for 3 selected Year 6's as we boarded the Red Falcon belonging to Red Funnel ferries and went for a cruise towards the Isle of Wight.

We were with pupils from other schools around the city to help Southampton City Council plan their health and wellbeing provision for our young people.

We had workshops from sixth formers in schools and colleges in the city and the most exciting thing was that our school won the trophy for "best contribution!"  Here it is.

After that, we were allowed on deck. We met the assistance dogs and saw Osborne House and the Isle of Wight and Ben Ainslie's boat practicing for an important race.

Here are the Year 6's doing their Titanic impression in front of the Isle of Wight.

We are so proud of our three school representatives.

Green Council Trip to Aldermoor Farm and Newlands School

Today Green Council had a day trip to the farm and then Newlands School.

First we visited Aldermoor Farm, and we made history by being the first school trip to visit the farm since Richard took it over in April 2014 to be a farm for the community - a co-operative. We found out you can pay £1 to be part of the co-operative.

We had a great time doing fun things like feeding the chickens, but farmer Richard also put us to work shovelling wood chips to make a new planting area.

After that, we went to visit Newlands School to see the amazing work their Eco Club has been doing this year.  We had a tour of the school and also got to go out to play with the children, which was very exciting.

Thank you to Richard at Aldermoor Farm and Sam at Newlands for helping us to have a fabulous time.

Y3 Trip to SeaCity!

Today, Year 3 went on a wonderful trip to SeaCity museum! We had a great time in a workshop dressing up as crew members and completing other exciting activities. Then we went on a tour around the museum, we especially enjoyed trying to steer a boat! We got to pose for a group photo, the first one we may look unhappy in but this was because we were trying to look like the crew members behind us. The next group photo we look more like our normal selves!

The New Eco Bunny Mascot

We had a competition to create a new Eco mascot.  Anyone in school could enter a design for the mascot.  Then we had a Green Council meeting and decided which one should be made.  We saw a lot of designs and after lots of discussion and a thorough look we decided to go for the Eco friendly bunny.

After the winning mascot was designed, the Green Council Team went to IKEA to find some of their recycled materials to make the Eco Bunny.  IKEA usually give their leftover material to the scrap store but they kindly offered us some for our mascot!  We got some cotton and some for a green cape. 

Our lovely Mrs Williams kindly made the real Eco mascot. She made 2! Now they are in school so that they can be given to which class is the most Eco that week by turning off the taps, making sure the lights are off, that the whiteboard is off if not being used and that the computer is on the home screen or off.

Teachers, remember that Eco check is now on a Tuesday lunchtime and that if you're not being Eco friendly you have been warned by the Green Council!!

By a Green Council member, Year 6

Green Council trip to IKEA and St Dents Eco Warriors

On Monday 30th March, Shirley Warren's Green Council drove to IKEA to talk about being eco friendly. Then we went to St Denys school to meet their Eco Warriors!

What we found out was amazing!  we learnt a lot about how IKEA saves the environment.  Katie, who was our tour guide, showed us around and told us her secret about this table in the picture.

Instead of using lots of wood, they used short planks of wood and made the rest with air.  This saved more trees in the rain forests.  Not only does it save the trees, it helps animals and their habitats.

After a delicious lunch at IKEA, we went to St Denys School and met their Eco Warriors, who showed us around their school and told us how they stay Eco friendly.  When we were in the kitchen they told us about the TetraPak recycling, which was for anyone in their community.

They would like to come to our school and see how we help the environment in our community.

By a Year 6 Green Council member.