Year 4 pupils recently had the opportunity to ‘dig into’ some history with a visit from staff from the Dorchester museum. Below is recount of the days events from two pupils:

A huge inflatable museum came into our school hall. They also brought two excavation boxes for us to find Roman artefacts in. They told us about making disgusting fish sauce and let us smell different herbs like rosemary and thyme. We dug out two skeletons with artefacts around them to find out more about the Roman person. In the museum, artefacts were laid out on tables, which were roof tiles, perfume bottles, mosaic tiles, a replica of a legionary’s helmet and more. In the inflated museum, there were IPads that showed extra information about the objects near it, which were also in the excavation boxes. The museum looked like the real version but smaller (pretty small and not in Dorchester). The class had logbooks to write information about their skeleton and the objects around it. The helpers were very kind and gave us a card to act out to the other group. It was fun, especially acting out the cards we were given, as we learnt more when we read them, like when they buried the dead body they put coins on the eyes and mouth to pay the ferryman to take the body to the afterlife and they paid wages of their coins to the money collector.

By Mia and Jess

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This year’s trip was, as always, memorable for many reasons. For those who went Monday – Wednesday in particular the epic downpours of rain will stick in the mind but we did not let that dampen our spirits one bit.

Accommodation came in the form of ‘The Stables’. This was different from previous years ; the rooms opened directly on to a central outside area with a field beyond. This gave a sense that it was very much ‘our space’ as, in previous years, we have shared indoor blocks with other schools. I think it’s fair to say that the children (and staff) loved it!

Any child with an older brother or sister probably knew roughly what to expect and the activities did not disappoint. PGL is all about challenging oneself and activities such as the zipwire, leap of faith (also known as trapeze) and giant swing tested our resolve. For some children, heights are not an issue but we were particularly impressed with those who faced their fear and overcame it. Other activities such as survival (woodscraft skills) were less adrenalin fuelled but challenged the children in other ways. In these, teamwork and negotiation was required to complete the tasks successfully. Great life lessons!

Simply being away from home is another kind of challenge for some children. Whilst some of our pupils would probably be happy to live at PGL for the entire term, others showed bravery of a different kind by being away from familiar surroundings for a couple of nights. Again, great life lessons learned in a safe, supportive environment.  

Food is always high on the list of priorities for any school residential trip. Speaking personally, I always enjoy the catering at PGL. It has to cater for a wide variety of tastes and it is a tribute to the staff at PGL that there always seems to be something for everyone. The salad bar, in particular, was very popular.

As we headed home, I think it’s fair to say that we had a memorable, action packed (if rather damp!) trip. I hope all the children enjoyed it as much as I did.

Mr Breeze – Year 6.

This years Arts Week pupils created their own Sketchbooks. They used these Sketchbooks to record their ideas, thoughts and inspirations. These pages led to a final piece.

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In Year 3 the stimulus was the book: ‘Leon and the Place Between’. This theme was developed through choice of colours and patterns and the activities found at a circus! Our final pieces were mini circuses and hanging acrobats!

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Are you concerned with plastic use? Well our Year 6 children are and they’re doing something about it! See below some examples of information texts and leaflets written to raise awareness.

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Inspired by stories from Jamaica, we used imagery to introduce and describe a storm as part of our Caribbean disaster adventures.

As part of their work in Literacy, Year 6 have been watching “The Piano” by Aidan Gibbons. Below is a copy of the short film and a piece of work written by one of our pupils in response.

Below is a recount of the Cookery workshops run by Christchurch Food Festival Trust written by two of our Year 4 pupils:

On Tuesday and Thursday Christchurch Food Festival came to teach Year 4 how to cook. We made trout tagine, pork and vegetable stir fry and a Spanish omelette with chorizo. At the beginning, they showed us how to make healthy oat cookies and lamb Palau. Our favourite meals that we made were the pork and vegetable stir fry and the Spanish omelette. The oat cookies were amazing and we are sure that everyone else will love them too. At the end, they spoke about the foods that are healthy and unhealthy. They said that at home you should eat lots of fruit and vegetables to keep you fit. Everyone that was there, enjoyed their time making and tasting the food. They are putting on stalls and cookery workshops at the food festival this year in May. If you make any of these delicious meals, be sure to try them because you might like them. We loved all of the tasty food. It was excellent!

Report by Olive and Poppy in 4AA.

Year 4 were busy in the kitchen last week cooking up a veritable feast of dishes thanks to Mary Reader and her team from Christchurch Food Festival Education Trust.

Chefs gave demonstrations to the children on how to prepare mouth-wateringly healthy meals of Turkey Pilau, Trout tagine, Stir fried pork and a Spanish Omelette with a Tomato and pomegranate salad.

The children were even treated to a sugar free cookie for dessert whilst learning about healthier options that they could choose.

Click here for a copy of the recipes our Year 4’s cooked and for more information on the Christchurch Food Festival trust please click here

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As part of their DT learning, Year 4 children have created the most incredible 3D snowflakes. We all had a lot of fun doing this and learned a lot of new skills.

A huge thank you  to those pupils who have become experts in their own classes and helped other classes with their constructions.