Autumnal Tidy-up of the Wild River Itchen

 Saturday 5th November 2022 10am-2pm

Chessel Bay should be an excellent habitat for nature, but is also strewn with rubbish - much of which is plastic, brought by the tides - which is not only unsightly but dangerous for wildlife. There are big things happening with projects to help reduce ‘nurdle’and other local pollution here - but litter-picks are still an important part of the overall efforts - especially as we have been unable to run large events for a couple of years now!

If you would like to come and help with our ‘Autumn-Clean’ at Chessel Bay, it would greatly improve the habitat for the wildlife which depends on the Nature Reserve. So, we hope to see you there.

Help to ‘turn the tide’ on plastic pollution at Chessel Bay!

Chessel Bay is situated at the end of Quayside Rd, S018 1DP, near Bitterne Manor School. Please wear old clothes. Under 16s need to be accompanied by a responsible adult. N.B. Parking is very restricted and there are no toilets on site. 

For more information contact Hawthorns Urban Wildlife Centre - 023 8067 1921 or email hawthorns@southampton.gov.uk

www.chesselbay.org.uk

Rooks Test Wood Lakes Adventure!

On Friday, Rooks visited Test Wood Lakes Nature Reserve.  This term, in our Geography and Science topics we have been studying Rivers and States of Matter, including the water cycle.  The aim of this visit was to link both subjects together, look at and identify the features of a river, and also learn more about the water cycle and the role our rivers play in it.

Read on to find out about our exciting day

The morning began, with us map reading our way around the nature reserve.  After leaving the centre,  we were each given a map to help us navigate our way around the site.

 We crossed over the River Blackwater

 We found ourselves at the faster flowing River Test.

 We all had a game of Pooh Sticks - it got rather competitive!!

 After returning to the center, we ate our lunch.  As part of Test Woods desire to protect the environment, we looked at how much of our lunch waste we could recycle and how much would need to go the the landfill.  Although we were not officially taking part, we managed to win a silver award - well done Rooks!!

After lunch, it was time to play with water.  We created our own water cycle using sponges for clouds, drain pipes to deliver the water and squirty water bottles to act as evaporation.  The three teams had to repeat the cycle and label up the different parts of the water cycle.  Luckily the sun came out, so we dried up quickly.

Finally, if that wasn't enough fun, we headed off to their wooded area to practise our map reading skills.  We had to follow another map and find different parts of the water cycle hidden within the woods, these were clearly labelled on the map but it was quite tricky getting our bearings!  Again competition was fierce, with one team completing the challenge and several others coming close second.  We even had some of the local deer join in the hunt!

After our map reading dash around the woods and an enormous 'Thank you' to the staff at Test Wood Lakes for hosting our day, it was back to the mini buses to head back to school.  

A great day was had by all!

Rooks - First Week Adventure!

After the long summer holiday, Rooks have had a fantastic start to the new school year.  Our class charter has been defined (how we intend to be 'the best learners we can be'), new jobs assigned, and we have started applying ourselves to our work.

Having said Goodbye to two Nightingales at the end of last year, we are very happy to welcome Kiranjit to Rooks.

This week, we have looked at place value in Maths; what makes up a 4 digit number, ordering and comparing 3 and 4 digit numbers.

In English, we have been looking at poetry.  The children have investigated a number of different types of poetry including nonsense poems, haikus, rhyming poems and story poems.  The favourite being nonsense and rhyming poems.  We have also turned our hand to writing our own poems.

Our Topic this term is Save Our Rivers.  Well done to all those children to have returned their amazing holiday projects.  These are currently being displayed in the classroom.

A fantastic start to the school year!