Temple Guiting
Church of England School
Everyone to thrive
- Temple Guiting
- Church of England School,
- Temple Guiting, Cheltenham,
- Gloucestershire, GL54 5RW
- admin@templeguiting.gloucs.sch.uk
- 01451 850304
- C
Wellbeing and Forest School
Years one and two were blessed with sunshine ☀️ for their session this week. This worked perfectly as we were taking a look at seeds and germination. We sat around base camp and discussed what was needed for seeds to grow. The children were all very enthusiastic to answer questions and loved sharing their ideas. After talking about the germination process and importance of light, water and warmth the children then set about sewing some cress. They were then given the option of creating their own miniature gardens using cress seeds. These looked wonderful and were very creative.
Class four were formed into 6 groups. Each group had a challenge- not an easy one! One challenge was to make an inverted pyramid with sticks/ stones, another was to build something that contains water, create a solid structure, a seat, a sculpture made of leaves and a tower that could hold a rock! Now, not all of the groups were happy with their tasks but they showed fantastic teamwork, resilience and lots of perseverance. I think they all achieved what they set out to and lots more! 🙌
It was all about 🐝 bees 🐝 for reception in this session. We read a lovely book emphasising the importance of bees and their job in nature, then we did some crafting. We had a choice of potato stamping, making a bee hive and making a bee using pine cones and other foraged pieces. It was a really fun session and the children went away feeling confident how they can help welcome more bees! 🐝
Class 4 have had a busy week. Year 5 have been super supportive of their peers whilst yr 6 have been showing off all that they have learnt for their SATs. This gave us a great excuse to have a party. The only thing is, the party food was not your usual Chocolate fingers and was sausage rolls. No, we had dandelion crisps, nettle crisps, we tasted hawthorn and various other foraged goodies. Before all of this, the ye 6’s made some cake mixture ( using a huge egg our own hens laid), they then scooped oranges out to use as cup cake cases and we baked them on the fire!
Class 3’s topic at the moment is all about Volcanoes 🌋 They were fantastic at sharing their knowledge about what they have learnt so far. We looked at the three different types of volcanoes - Composite, Shield and Cinder Cone. They then went away to build their own. Of course, they were all very keen for them to erupt. So, we used bicarbonate soda and vinegar. This caused great excitement!
The dandelions are out in full swing and such a lovely sign of growth. Reception enjoyed learning about dandelions, we shared a story together and then set about creating some dandeLIONS!
Class 4 enjoyed celebrating Easter. We toasted hot cross buns on the fire and made a cross out of wood, mosses and flower. We had to screw the pieces together and wrap the moss with wire. The cross was a sign of new beginnings and life.
Years 1 and 2 have been learning about Andy Goldsworthy, a fantastic British sculptor. They were so inspired by his work that they all decided to make their own pieces. We had various materials to work with including some stunning leaves, mosses and flowers that we foraged outside of Forest Scholl (supporting our 'no lick, no pick' rule).
Class 4 celebrated Easter in Forest School. We toasted hot cross buns on the fire and made a lovely cross to celebrate new life, using mosses and flowers.
Class 4 made the most of the sunny weather and had a good tidy up of the forest school area. We also planted lettuce, peas, broccoli and sunflowers ready to sell in a couple of months to raise money for the year 6 leavers do!
Years 1 and 2 having fun in the sunshine! We were thinking about what categories of animals live in our Forest School. The children went off exploring to find evidence of the animals. Some of the children were testing their strength and gymnastic skills whilst others used their imaginations to build a super sailing boat!
We were donated a couple of bunches of gorgeous flowers, so years 1 and 2 were given the task of creating some amazing Nature in Art. There were some fantastic creations.
Class 3 had a go at creating some beautiful artwork in Forest School.
Class 1 have been looking at eggs. So, we thought we’d make some nests in Forest School for all different sized eggs!
We looked at Diwali and The Festival of Light in Forest school this week. We enjoyed creating some beautiful artwork around Forest School and had a go at doing Mhendi patterns.
‘Nature in Art’ with Class 4.
Years one and two have been looking at primary colours in art. So we added some red, blue and yellow to the mud kitchen and art area, to see what secondary colours they could make. We also got the clay out to do some creations and made flour patterns on the ground.
This week it was Receptions turn to look at The Chinese New Year. They did some great cutting of spirals to make snakes. They also created a great marble run!
We were very lucky to have been gifted some beautiful bouquets of flowers from The Broadway Florist. So, class 4 had a go at doing some flower pounding with them. They created some beautiful pieces.
Years one and two were looking at The Chinese New year. Our mud kitchen had some red colours to create with a noodles. The children were making snakes and could have a go at some Chinese writing.
With Reception, we enjoyed the story ‘We are going on a Bear hunt’. They had great fun retelling the story, we travelled over the water, snow, woodland and eventually found a Bear!
Class 3 making water filters. We went foraging around school for materials we could use to create layers for our filter systems. We mixed up some very dirty water and saw which filters were working best. We looked at why they may be working better than others.
Class 3 have been learning about The Romans as their class topic. So, we had a Roman themed session today. We had a group building an amazing Aqueduct, we smashed some old crockery to make mosaics, a colosseum was built and some delicious Roman soup in the mud kitchen!
It was a very chilly day today so we thought that class 3 might enjoy some hot chocolate and hot squash.
Our theme has been ‘Hibernation’ for all of the classes in Forest School over the last couple of weeks. The children were given the task to, in groups, keep a bottle of water warm. We measured the temperature before they started and then took the temperature at the end of the session. They had to work well as a team and support each other, otherwise the water got cold quickly! They thought about what would work best in keeping it warm whilst they were creating the hibernation nests and what the nests could be made of. It was a great success and lots of hard work went into their hibernation stations!
Class 4 made some lovely Christmas decorations. They had the option of doing some whittling to create some Christmas themed figures or could go off and make their own creations. We also used log slices to drill and decorate.
Reception enjoyed making their own Christmas trees in Forest School. They used some great weaving and cutting skills and most of all, lots of fantastic perseverance. We also spoke about how important it is to keep the birds fed over the winter months. To help keep our wildlife happy in Forest School, we made some delicious bird feeders.
Class 3 were learning about why we wear Poppies to show our respect. We then used our skills to create some Poppy crosses, using red and purple wool. These are now on display in front of School. The children showed great perseverance when making these.
Today we read a beautiful story about why we wear Poppies for Remembrance Day. We then created our own poppies with Years 1 and 2, chopping red leaves and using wool to wrap around card. Some children made some stunning floral creations too.
A busy session for class 4. Finishing off their moon phases and then exploring some Owl pellets, practicing our hammering skills, drilling conkers and best of all dipping apples in chocolate!
A very Autumnal themed Forest School for Reception. We did some Apple stamping to create pumpkins, made a tree collage, pumpkin hammering and created some wonderful dishes in the mud kitchen.
Class 4 have been studying the phases of the moon 🌕 We used our Forest School skills and made a mobile to hang the phases from. We learnt how to do a square lashing and a simple double knot.
The Secret Path - Reception children enjoying listening to the story ‘The Secret Path’, then re-enacting it together.
Class 4 - making Shadufs in Forest School
Feedback letter from Doodlebug - after his day of building positive mindset and resilience workshops
Years 1 and 2 exploring a wasps nest 🐝 and creating a huge marble run!
we were given a huge wasps nest to explore that had been sat for five years, dormant. The children loved exploring the layers and textures.
We also dug up some of our potatoes, built a huge marble run and had some wonderful recipes concocted in the kitchen!
Our first week back
We talked about making journeys and going on adventures today. We went on our own adventure around the school and collected some interesting things to attach to our ‘Journey Sticks’. The children then retold their stories around base camp. We think the sticks look amazing!
Nests and Owl Pellets with years R,1 and 2 - 14/06/24
We were very lucky to get to look at some amazing Owl Pellets today that one of our students kindly bought in. We chatted about what we thought they were made up of and what we may find when we break them open. We also looked closely at how two abandoned birds nests were made. The children were fascinated to find a whole skull including the jaw all still intact in the pellets. We had all sorts of guesses as to what creature it could have been from.
Our mud kitchen was turned into a Pizza Hut today as well. The children had lots of beautiful flowers and leaves to use to create some masterpieces. We teased our senses with some beautiful smelling Elderflower, mint, Salvia and different grasses. They also loved using the shaving foam too!
It was a really fun session with some very talented pizza chefs!
Class 3 13/06/24
Swallows and Amazons
Today for Class 3’s forest school we had the theme ‘Swallows and Amazons’. We shared a shortened summary of the book with each other then the children had the task of building their Dens with their friends on the island. Children practiced their fire lighting skills to prove to me that they could survive the chilly nights! It was great fun and there were some fantastic dens made! I am sure they would survive a night or two of the English weather!
Year 6 Egg Hut
The year 6’s are selling the school hens eggs to raise funds for their leavers trip. We were having troubles with birds and a naughty squirrel stealing the eggs! So we made an egg hut to sell the eggs from. They had to use alot of skills to construct the hut including drilling, tacking and measuring. This required great team work and perseverance, which they showed huge amounts of! They are caring for the chickens themselves on a daily basis so really are earning their funds.
Leaf printing
We have been looking at the trees in our Forest School area and learning whether they are Coniferous or Deciduous. Years 3 and 4 also learnt how to find out the age of each tree, by measuring the circumference of the widest part of the trunk and then dividing it by 2.5.
Years reception, 1 and 2 enjoyed printing the leaves of the trees.
Mini Beasts in our Forest School
Over the last few weeks, with classes 1 and 2 we have been looking at what Mini Beasts are in our Forest School area.
We have been searching under rocks, logs and in the trees. We have used books to help us identify what we found and some of us made wonderful creatures of our own!
Water colours and frame making with yrs 5 and 6. Learning the square lashing knot to help us along the way.
Class 3 made a fantastic car and some superb dens today. They used ropes which they needed to know which knots to use and some hammering of nails was needed as well. The chickens got a deep clean with wood chip added to their floor. What a productive session!
Years reception, 1 and 2 were looking at the book ‘What the Ladybird Heard’ today. We had several Ladybirds come and join in with the session!
Class 4 - The completed ‘small worlds’
Thursdsy 14/03/24 Class 4
Today class 4 were making their own miniature gardens/ small worlds. They came up with their own designs individually or in pairs. We used skills like whittling and sawing and we went foraging to find our materials.
Friday 1st March '24
Today reception, year 1 and year 2 were helping clear the vegetable patch and planting some potatoes for in their classrooms. They were also just enjoying being in Forest School!
Class 3 February 29th '24
Lots of fun building obstacle courses today and using imagination to create our own tools.
February Forest School
We have been supporting the RSPB and their Great Garden Birdwatch. We have been observing what birds we have in our own Forest School, making feeders for them and Nesting Stations.
Class 4 Forest School Thursday 1st February
Class 3 forest school - 11th and 16th January
Wonderful wellbeing day - December 15th.
We started the day with a fantastic music concert - so many pupils took part in the recital - please see the videos in the events section. It was such a special start to our day and a huge well done to musicians - you were amazing. Thank you for sharing your talent with us.
We all created a peace chain as part of the whole school but also part of the Diocese of Gloucester to spread peace around our area, Diocese, Country and even to the World.
We created buzzers in Class 3 as part of D+T and today we got to design our own cover - we talked about feeling safe and secure.
In Class 4 we focused on our art and took time to create beautiful patterns on our peace chains.
In Class 2 - we created beautiful peace chains and talked all about our hopes for peace in our world. then we did a good clear out of lots of areas in our class - tidy class, tidy mind - everyone is happier.
In Class 1 we did a circle time and shared our thoughts and worries.
Then it was Christmas lunch - what a feast! So much joy and laughter around the tables just chatting and celebrating with friends.
An afternoon treat - we get to watch the dress rehearsal of the Nativity play.
What a brilliant day.
Wonderful wellbeing day December 15th 2023
Wellbeing Day 4th November 2023
The theme for Wellbeing Day was to promote happiness by understanding our own feelings. We emphasized the importance of realising 'it's ok, not to be ok'. We all have days that life feels harder. We joined in yoga and learnt about the power of 5. We used our creative skills to paint beautiful poppy displays connecting our own wellbeing with the wellbeing of war veterans.
Fun in Forest School for the First Term Back
10th October 2023 - Mental Health Awareness Day
During assembly and throughout the day the children discussed the importance of positive mental health. They thought about helping supporting others as well as themselves. They all went home with yellow wrist bands which were to promote a conversation with close family members as well as the wider community.