Today the Braintree Foodbank came to collect all the food that was very kindly donated to us. The Rotakids helped pack all the boxes, before they were loaded onto the van to be taken back to Braintree.  A big thank you to everyone who donated items, we will receive a certificate from the Foodbank in due course letting us know how much we have raised.

 This week in Nature Club we discussed how to recognise the beginning of Autumn and six big indicators:  - changing leaf colour - bird migration - fruits and berries on trees and bushes - flowering ivy - seed pods on the ground - mushrooms and toadstools In the school grounds we found most of the signs but did not see any migrating birds, although we knew that the swallows have gone, or any fungi. I hope that the Nature Clubbers will keep an eye out for more of all 6 indicators. Mr Hopegood :)

 At our first Nature Club of the year I asked what foods for our local wildlife, mammals, birds and insects, we could find in the school grounds. The children had a great deal of excellent prior learning to share before we went out to look. There were lots of different resources for our local wildlife, from bees to deer, but our largest identified source was the late flowering ivy which was buzzing with insects busily feding and forming their own section of the food chain. Mr Hopegood :)

 After deciding upon an intention, planning, designing and then producing a wooden cradle in our D&T morning with Thurstable School's D&T Department Mrs Deller and Miss Scotchford got serious with circuitry and decoration. The results are spectacular and, as you'll know from the Open Evening, really loud! Mr Hopegood :)

 We are coming to the end of the loan period for the camera trap supplied by the Colchester Zoological Society, and our thanks again to them. It has been a lovely addition my day to have the chance to set and choose the locations and see if any animals wandered across the trap's field of vsion. Here are a few of the highlights. And here's a nesting pigeon with a squab in the eaves spotted and photographed by Miss Russel. Mr Hopegood

 Year 5 had a real treat today, the head of D&T at Thurstable School came along with a technician and a whole car full of KS3 resources for a D&T morning. The focus was to make the cradle element of the wire buzzer game that the year group have been designing with the Year 5 teachers. As you can see, it was a very busy morning and our feedback from the Thurstable staff (that our children were engaged, polite, helpful and friendly) was wonderful!