Activities & Events
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Heart FM comes to lunch
The children were very excited to have the presenters of Heart FM in school so that they could try out our delicious school lunches. Charlie Bevan in Class One had written to the radio station telling them how he loves having school lunch. Matt and Danny from Heart FM certainly agreed with Charlie and they followed their lunch with a massive autograph signing session. What a great day!
Working on our Pond area
Due to the generosity of Otter Nurseries, we have been able to develop our pond area. They kindly donated many plants and shrubs which would encourage more insects into the area. They also provided us with two willing volunteers who came and helped the children do the planting. Our Wildlife Club made the most of the opportunity to quiz them on the plants and how they would encourage more wildlife into the area.
Wildwatch at the Duchy School
On Wednesday 1 July the Duchy School held our first Wildwatch afternoon. On a hot summers afternoon, parents and children enjoyed a variety of activites in our lovely school grounds, a Breathing Place for the Bradninch community. Aswell as pond dipping, Wildside education, a environmental education team held a range of activites around the school grounds including colour matching, a photo quiz and necklace making from natural materials. The Devon Wildlife Trust were also represented, sharing with us a wonderful collection of nature's treasures including an abandoned hornets nest and the disused cases from dragonflies and damselflies nymphs. A storyteller and scrapstore modelling added to the list of activites on offer. Families brought along a picnic to enjoy on our field under the shade of our mighty oak tree and creams teas were available too! Many thanks to the PTA and and Hele Composting Group for their generous support with this fun filled aftenoon.
Willow Dome
Despite the weather being atrocious a few parents and their children supported the school in helping local willow artist Sarah Le Breton construct a beautiful willow dome at the Duchy School. The willow itself had been kindly given to the school as a parting gift from the local Baptist minister and school governor Barbara Carpenter, who is now working in Somerset. The children were involved in designing willow structure which represents an acorn, the school emblem. They also helped with digging in the willow and carefully weaving it into shape. The children will enjoy sitting in small groups inside the dome during lessons and play times. Many thanks to everyone who helped out whose spirits didn't dampen despite a long, cold, wet day!
Nestbox Activity Afternoon
On the afternoon of Sat 6th of Dec anyone walking through the main street in Bradninch may have heard the sound of distant hammering. At the Duchy School, 22 children with their family helpers were busy making nest boxes.
The children were provided with the basic kits and a strip of old welly boot and after a little sawing and a lot of hammering the group constructed 22 boxes; all potential homes for garden bird species like bluetits or house
sparrows whose numbers are declining nationally. As well as the nestboxes the children all made a seed feeder from a recycled water bottle and a got their hands well and truly slimmey when making a seedy Christmas cake for birds to feed from.
They also learnt about how, by providing extra nest sites for birds such as House Sparrows, they can help to encourage the population of such birds in our school grounds and in the surrounding area.
Parents enjoyed coffee and mince pies whilst the children listened to the song the Twelve Days of Christmas and looked at pictures of partridges, turtle doves and colley birds, which for those of you who don't know are
blackbirds!
Later in the week those children who wanted to put their nestboxes up in the school grounds showed the fruits of their efforts to the rest of the school and then with Mrs Bower and Mrs Irish's help chose a suitable sites for
their nest boxes to go up in the school grounds.
We look forward to wacthing the boxes carefully over the next couple of months. Hopefully we'll see be able to welcome in the spring some new members to our school community- of a feathery kind!!
Green Day at The Duchy School
On Fri 3rd Oct we held our first Green Day at the Duchy School. Children were encouraged to travel to school in an environmentally friendly way. Wearing ‘earth colours’ the children represented the sea, land and soils of our planet, with a few brightly coloured flowers thrown in!
Many thanks to Simon Tytherleigh, a member of the Bradninch Climate Change Group who delivered an exciting and interesting talk to the whole school during our assembly. He informed the children about non renewable and renewable energy production. Continuing with last term’s Arts Week theme of recycling, the children made puppets from plastic milk bottles.
Much fun was had by all sticking and decorating the ‘heads’ with materials collected from the Scrapstore in Exeter. Throughout the day Helen Kearney and her team from Bradninch’s scout group led a variety of craft and environmental activities inside large tents on the school field. These were erected beneath the spreading branches of our wonderful ancient oak tree. The children loved the change of atmosphere that this provided and really connected to earth related messages they were told.
Back in the classrooms, the children learnt more about the issues of climate change and what simple measures we can all do in our own homes and work places to combat it. The day finished with a puppet parade in the playground, where parents gathered to watch. Each class chanted a green message encouraging the school community to adopt more environmentally friendly habits in their everyday lives.
A big thank you from Mrs Bower to all those who helped make the day so successful.
Breathing Places
This year we consider ourselves to be very fortunate to have been awarded alottery grant from the BBC Breathing Places initiative.
With this money we have been able to revamp our school pond area providingchildren at our school opportunity to learn more about wildlife associated with freshwater habitats. In the area we have also established a seating
area where during their playtimes, children can sit in a peaceful environment and appreciate the natural world around them. The area will be used to enrich all areas of the curriculum; an alternative space for teachers to deliver lessons in an out of doors setting. The area is also available for community use.
The Breathing Places funding has also supported the planting of over hundred trees. This has helped to add diversity to a hedgerow already within the school grounds and will provide leafy areas for insects, birds and children to enjoy in the future.
We look forward to establishing a vegetable patch and building nest boxes.
Keep an eye on our web page for further developments.
Breathing Places Update
......and now 2 years down the line, July 2009 , we have a beautiful pond that supports a huge wealth of freshwater wildlife and is used by our pupils on a daily basis for not just pond dipping, but as a place an area to support learning in many aspects of the curriculum.
Global Citizenship week
We held our first Global Citizenship week at the Duchy School in April. Each class studied a country of their choice and looked at the literature, culture, geography and art of their country. Here are some great pictures of our drumming workshop.
Class 6 chose the Ukraine for their country of study. Here the children are designing and completing their own cross stitch panels.
Here Class 5 are telling an aboriginal story through their art work.
National Tree planting Day
Pupils at The Duchy School took part in planting many new trees as part of 'National Tree Planting Day'. We were even lucky enough to have the support of a visiting Ugandan tea grower, who planted an apple tree in commemoration of his visit.
World Book Day
Staff and pupils celebrated World Book Day by dressing up as a character from a book of their choice. Can you guess which characters these pupils have chosen?
Christingle Service 2007
Community volunteers spent a day in school helping the children making their own Christingles. In the afternoon the whole school walked to the local church for a candlelit service. Parents and members of the community enjoyed some beautiful singing whilst some of the children processed holding their christingle oranges. There was a retiring collection in aid of The Children's Society.
Children In Need
The children paid 50p each to dress up in their own clothes and wear a hat for Children In Need. It was a very colourful day and we managed to send lots of money towards such a good cause.
Apple Day
Pupils at the Duchy School, Bradninch have enjoyed a week of harvest activities, culminating in their very own Apple Day celebrations. Pupils had the opportunity to press their own apples and enjoy the juice fresh from the press. Class 5 also worked with Heather an Apple Educator and produced their own apple pictures.
Sports Day - Summer 2007
A fantastic day was had by pupils, staff and parents at the annual Sports Day. We managed to choose the only sunny day for weeks and enjoyed a glorious day at the Bradninch Cricket ground. Whilst the parents enjoyed a cream tea, the children ran, jumped and skipped their way through numerous races.
Duchy School Pupils enjoy a talk on Peru Community Project - November 2007
The whole school enjoyed an informative and exciting talk from Chris Parry about his trip to Peru last summer with the Exeter School Canoe club. The group built a water tower for the school in Pumamarca so that the children could benefit from clean water. Chris then worked with Class 5 whose topic in Geography this term is ‘water’. The children enjoyed asking questions about his trip and watching the video of the project.
See more on the Peru Community Project
Other Events
After School Activities
- Skipping club – Autumn 2009
- Card making club – Spring 2009
- Spring Term 2006 - Samba Club
- Summer Term 2005 - Orienteering Club
- Spring Term 2005 - Card Club