We have been inspired by the wonderful story The Bog Baby and have been busy getting creative with our own Bog Baby sculptures!
Using clay, we carefully pinched, pulled, rolled and moulded the clay to bring our very own Bog Babies to life. This was a fantastic way to strengthen our finger and hand muscles as we worked with the clay. We had to use lots of concentration and perseverance to shape our creatures exactly how we wanted them.
Once our Bog Babies had dried, we picked up our paintbrushes and brought them to life with colour! 🎨 We are so proud of our finished creations and loved seeing all the different personalities and designs that emerged.
We have also been creating our very own bluebell meadow inspired by the beautiful setting in the story. 💙🌸 We experimented with different creative techniques to create different effects, thinking carefully about the colours, shapes and textures we could use.
As part of our expedition, “How do we show we care?”, we have been thinking carefully about all the different ways we can show kindness, care and love.
This has led us to look beyond our classroom and think about the living creatures that share our school grounds with us. We talked about how we can care for the minibeasts, bugs and birds that we find outside and wondered what we could do to make our outdoor space even more welcoming for them.
We decided to take action and created a brand-new Nature Nook in our outdoor space!
Our Nature Nook has sparked so much curiosity, wonder and excitement. The children have loved exploring, observing and carefully looking after the creatures they discover. We have found ladybirds, butterflies, caterpillars, worms and many other fascinating minibeasts!
Most importantly, the children have been showing genuine care and love for the tiny creatures around them. They have been handling them gently, watching where they crawl and talking about what they might need to live and thrive.
It has been wonderful to see our children not just talking about caring, but putting their ideas into action. Our Nature Nook is already becoming a very special part of our outdoor space — a place where curiosity grows, discoveries are made and kindness is shown to even the smallest creatures.
This week Nursery children have been thinking about, what does caring for animals look like? The children were immersed in pond life through the exciting and magical text, “The Bog Baby”.
In the story two little girls capture a “Bog Baby” from the pond in Bluebell Woods and take him home in a jar. Although the girls love and try to care for the creature, unfortunately he becomes sick. The Nursery children compassionately thought about why he became ill….Would a Bog Baby really eat cake? Live in clean water with shells? Or be walked on a lead?
We learned a super simple song about pets, which sang all about regular pets, but then suggested that someone might have a pet lion. The children were questioned whether a lion would make a good pet? They decided it would not with some of the following reasons; “It would eat you”, “It would scratch”, “It’d be too big” and “It would smash your house”. This showed good reasoning and we were then Slinky Linky Snakes and linked this back to the Bog Baby; as a Lion and a Bog Baby are both wild animals and would be better in their natural environments where they are safe and can live their healthiest lives.
The children worked collaboratively to create two large pieces artwork of the Bog Baby which they have decorated to add extra magic.
They have also created their own Bog Baby that they can take home and care for using salt dough. Each child sculpted and decorated their Bog Baby individually, making choices about how they would decorate it. They are adorable, just look at our beautiful work!
As part of our Tranquil Tuesday Crew the children we introduced to The Tales Tool Kit resource which helps children create and structure stories, developing language and excitement through 4 key points; character, setting, problem and solution. Our stories were focused around animals which weren’t pets this week to link in with our expedition.
Our Thoughtful Thursday Crew engaged the children in a step by step tutorial of drawing their own Bog Babies, following the teacher model. Their listening and attention was superb, almost as good as their artwork! To check in we consolidated whether or not the Bog Baby Would prefer to live in clean or dirty water? The children expressed their opinions and gave reasons for their answers confirming that he would prefer to be in the pond, in the mud, water and plants.
Just a magical week Nursery, You are Being Kind, Working Hard and Getting Smart!!
We had a wonderful Outdoor Crew this morning, making the most of the beautiful sunshine! We started by circling up together for our check-in, taking some time to connect, share and enjoy being together outdoors.
We then had lots of fun taking part in Mrs Jackson’s nature scavenger hunt, exploring our surroundings and seeing what we could discover. It was lovely to see everyone working together, sharing ideas and enjoying the fresh air.
A brilliant morning of connection, teamwork, exploration and lots of sunshine and smiles!
Announcing Our New Publication: ‘Celebrating Ten Years of Expeditions at XP’
A new publication, ‘Celebrating Ten Years of Learning Expeditions at XP’, written by our co-founder, Andy Sprakes, is now available. The book highlights an extensive and broad selection of the beautiful work created by our young people and staff from across our Trust. It is a profound and often moving reminder of the purpose, agency, and consequence of our work; illuminating the transformative power and far-reaching impact of Learning Expeditions.
In the next few weeks, the book will be made available to the general public and will retail at £20. However, to mark the publication of this much-anticipated book, it is being made available exclusively to staff across our Trust for a not-for-profit cost price of £5. In the spirit of Crew the proceeds will be donated to charity.
When staff fill in the google form and order the book at this price, they will be able to choose to donate to one of two local charities and one national charity that have supported and worked alongside us in the past.
We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude and congratulations to the exceptional staff across our Trust whose unwavering dedication, creativity, and passion made this publication, and the transformative work within it, possible.
What a wonderful week our Reception children have had exploring and learning in the great outdoors! It has been fantastic to see our youngest children showing such enthusiasm and developing their independence as they settle into life at school.
Through a range of outdoor activities, the children have been developing their teamwork, resilience and determination. They have worked together to build exciting obstacle courses, putting their coordination, balancing and problem-solving skills to the test. They have also been practising the letters they have been learning in their phonics sessions, taking their learning outdoors in a fun and engaging way.
There has been plenty of opportunity to get active too, with the children enjoying team games such as football and cricket, as well as activities designed to keep them moving and fit.
Perhaps most special of all has been watching new friendships begin to blossom. It has been lovely to see the children’s confidence growing each day as they become more familiar with their new surroundings, make new friends and discover all that Reception has to offer.
We are incredibly proud of how well our Reception children are settling in and can’t wait to see what adventures and learning opportunities the coming weeks bring!
