Dunhurst Pupils enjoy Autumn Camping Expeditions
About Bedales
Dunhurst Pupils enjoy Autumn Camping Expeditions
06/11/2011
Pupils at Dunhurst, Bedales Junior School, have been enjoying the great outdoors this term embarking on two separate camping expeditions. The first took place on an overnight trip to the Out of Town Centre at Beaulieu in the New Forest with Years 4 and 5. The second camp was held at the Sustainability Centre in East Meon with Year 6.
During their stay in the New Forest, pupils from years 4 and 5 enjoyed a talk about falconry and birds of prey and came face to face with a Peregrine Falcon, an American Eagle Hawk and an Owl. The pupils also took part in farm duties and helped to feed the animals and meet some of the smaller creatures on the farm too, including baby chicks and a very shy tortoise. Later they tried their hand at pond dipping and caught a variety of creatures, which they analysed under microscope.
Year 6 visited the Sustainability Centre as part of their research for the term’s topic entitled, ‘Global Citizenship and Environmental Sustainability’. The children took part in various activities, including: building clay ovens; hurdle fencing and shingle roofing; pond dipping; food chain studies; bush-craft and also a tour of the local farm, towed along by the local farmer's tractor. They stayed overnight and ate their dinner, cooked outside over an open fire, in the amazing woodland classroom. The children had a great time and the school plans to return next year.
Commenting on the camping trips, Jane Grubb, Head of Dunhurst said, “New Forest’s Out of Town Centre and East Meon’s Sustainability Centre are beautiful local examples of the environment and serve to show the importance of preserving what exists naturally and to work with the countryside not against it. This echoes our ethos at Dunhurst where pupils enjoy learning outdoors as much as possible as it is both an engaging and stimulating method of education”.
