Blenheim Palace Flower Show 2014

As our first Blackbird Academy Trust collaborative Outdoor Learning project we aimed high by designing and building a show garden for Blenheim Palace Flower Show. Our theme was 'Eat your Garden' and it was filled with edible plants and veg in our chosen colour scheme of purple and orange. These included red cabbage, purple basil, french beans, radiccio, chives beetroot and bright orange marigolds. We also had a garlic theme to promote our Garlic Farm project (with freshly harvested elephant garlic). The children were involved at every stage of looking after the plants, researching information and promotional materials, constructing the garden and welcoming visitors.

See how we built the garden in this video; Blenheim Palace Flower Show - Tuesday! - YouTube

On every show day we had teams of children from each school explaining the design and providing information about the plants. All the hard work paid off and we were thrilled to receive a gold award for garden design from Monty Don!

Read what the Oxford Mail said about the project.

Bench update!

After weeks of sawing, drilling, whittling, and sanding we have finally got some of the Year 6 benches finished! We'll done for all your hard work. We will be using some of them in our outdoor classroom and might sell some, if they pass our rigorous safety testing.

 

Egg flying challenge

Some of the year 5 were trying to make parachutes to protect the egg so it won't crack when we drop the egg from a hight of 120cm. (Written by Louis, Jessica and Samantha).

What a cracking design!

Parachutes in action.

Sadly, some eggs did not make it.

 

We had ten straws, four pieces of card, two metres of string, some plastic and thirty centimetres of tape to protect the egg from a drop on the hard floor. The challenge was to secure the egg, cushion the fall and slow it down with a parachute. Previous groups had managed 1.2 metres but one 'smashed' the record by reaching 2.5 metres without a single crack!

 

 

Bench project part 1

Year 6 will be designing and making some seating for our outdoor classroom using wood from the school grounds over the next few weeks. We had an introduction using saws and drills to make scale models out of some scrap pallets.

Sawing the pallet (safety glove on non-saw hand).

Clamping the wood to the table.

Using a hand drill to make hole for the legs.

 

Firework collages

Year 3 groups have been using the shapes and colours in autumn leaves to make some spectacular firework collages. We cut up the they leaves then exploded them on the paper, adding details with oil pastels. The children then used 'wow' words to appreciate each other's work! Let us know what you think.

 

 

Flying our kites.

We finally got a clear blustery day to try out Year 3's kites in the playground . As you can see all the hard work paid off!

 

Kites with Year 3

Red Kite and Osprey classes have been constructing their own kites using just plastic bags, sticks, tape and wool. We were hoping to take advantage of some autumn wind but have only had rain so far! Fingers crossed for some blowy weather next week so we can see if they fly. Here are some instructions to make your own.

 

Dyeing with nature.

Year 4 were collecting lots of different plants and berries on trees and bushes.

We have been smashing all of it together and making loads of patterns to make pictures .

(Written by Tawny Owls group 2)

Collecting colourful leaves, berries and flowers.

Hammering them to release the natural dyes. Mind those fingers!

The result; vibrant butterflies!

 

Blackberry picking.

Having used most of the available fruit in the school (see Homegrown crumble), Year 5 groups 3 and 4 went blackberry picking in Spindleberry park for their crumbles.

 

Homegrown crumble

Year Five have been making fruit crumbles with fruit picked in the school grounds. We found apples, plums, blackcurrants, redcurrants and elderberries. We realised that we had black, red and white ingredients (Snow White's colours) and used similes to describe them; 'elderberries as black as the night sky!'

Picking elderberries off the stalks.

Lovely ripe plums.

Assembling our crumbles.