Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Infant Clitheroe Field Trip

  Fri 11 Oct 2019
  The Infants went to Clitheroe as part of their topic work. They did some fieldwork to compare building use in towns, compared to building use in a village like Dunsop Bridge. We used a key to colour-code a map, we interviewed some people using our questionnaire about leisure activities and visited the library. 

  

• Peat-Bog Regeneration

  Wed 09 Oct 2019

  The Juniors from Thorneyholme were invited to take part in a regeneration project that is happening on The Abbeystead Estate.

   

  The project is to plant sphagnum, that can hold many times its’ own weight in water, to allow new peat to develop. The sphagnum helps cover bare peat which would otherwise be blown or washed away, holds moisture and thus allows the new peat to develop as well as enabling other plants to grow too. On top of this sphagnum is good at storing carbon, in the way that trees do, so is very good for the environment. By doing all of this, it is hoped that these new regenerated peat uplands could make a difference by ensuring water is retained on the uplands for longer and so reduce flooding lower down the valleys.

   

  The children were taken to a low-lying area on the fell where sphagnum is abundant. Handfuls of different species were collected, bagged up and brought back to the minibus. The bags were very heavy as the sphagnum was really full of water. The children also collected a species of sphagnum that needs standing or running water to grow.

   

  Travelling further up the fell, children could see large areas of black exposed peat. On this peat, they planted small handfuls of sphagnum about 30cm apart. It was really easy to do – the plant was placed directly on the top of the peat and pushed in with their feet. The standing water sphagnum was even easier – all that was needed was to take handfuls and throw it into the water!  Children were told  that the plants would immediately start growing and hopefully in 2 to 3 years cover the patch that they planted. Walking a little further up onto the fell, children were shown other methods of helping regeneration: peat mounds that have been flatten off and wood, peat and sheep wool dams. It was really interesting to see how corrosive the peat is. It has a pH of 2.5 and it had rotted the sacks that the wool was wrapped in, in less than  2 years.

   

  Everyone got a little wet in the passing showers but it was worth it.  Not only was it educational but great fun, and the children learnt about the many ways  the fells can be maintained.

• Tree Communication and the Mycorrhizal System

  Wed 09 Oct 2019

  The juniors spent the afternoon in the forest on Monday and despite a bad forecast, the weather stayed dry.

  As 6^th October marked UK Fungus Day the children spent their forest session looking at the wonders of fungi. They began with a warm-up game, involving a rope and some knowledge of 2D shapes and had to make various shapes without letting go of the rope, first with their eyes open and then with their eyes closed. This required good team work and communication.

   

  Following this, children looked at how trees use a fungal mycorrhizal system to communicate and played a hide and seek/Chinese whispers game to demonstrate. A message had to be passed between/around a large circle of trees (by us humans acting as the mycorrhizal system). Children hid behind a tree and a secret word was given to one. This child then had to run to the next tree, without being spotted by the ‘spotter in the middle, to pass the message on. After a few goes, the children decided to make it slightly harder and instead of just one person running each time, the messenger had to pick up everyone on their travels round the tree circle. The eleven children found it quite difficult staying hidden and quiet!

   

  After some juice and biscuits, the children all went in search of fungi. And what a lot there was to find! They found a multitude of brackets, wood and ground fungi. Take a look at some of the wonders we found. 

• THREE PARISH SCHOOLS MASS

  Thu 03 Oct 2019

  Three Parish Schools Mass

   

  Year 3 & Year 5 attended the start of the academic year, Three Parish Schools Mass on Wednesday 2nd October 2019.  It was a wonderful celebration of the new school year as a parish family, at St Michael & St John's Church in Clitheroe.