castle head

!CASTLE HEAD! BY Cara , Bryony , Rebecca , Ethan ,

Tyler, Alice, Nicki, Catlin, Georgia, Hannah, Declan ,Lewis , Byran and

Samuel

John Muir award.

Over the last several months we have been undertaking the John Muir award challenges. This award has 4 challenges to develop our eco skills. We visited many different places which we’re going to tell you about.

Who is John Muir?

John Muir was born in 1838 in the Scottish fishing town of Dunbar. As a child he developed a deep love of the natural world. This grew into a life long journey of discovering exploring and conserving live places and sharing his experiences with others...

John Muir Trust

Discover a wild place.

Hampsfell is a hill which over looks Grange Over Sands and the Bay. We had to find our way using the map. We went exploring badger wood, taking turns directing the group, finding out differences between sheep and rabbit poo, explored lime stone with a tree stuck in .

Badger wood

Badger wood – We found badger holes and listened for any noises to see if any badgers were at home. Anna (our leader) said an interesting fact about how badgers use the toilet, they all go to the toilet in the same place far away from their homes. Mr smiths group went through the badger wood.

At the limestone tree we walked around looking for creatures and bugs lurking in the stone gaps. After that we went to the hospice and climbed up to the top to look at the beautiful view!

Night exploration.

Our night time exploration at Castle Head, was all about trust, team work as well as exploring in the dark. We all got blind folded (apart from the leader) and got told to hold onto the persons shoulders in the front. The leader had to lead their team around the castle head grounds. We went into a dark spooky cave which was the home to cave spiders and bats.

Bonfire!

When we finished the night exploration we set off on our trek to the bonfire, on the way we passed the river Winster and a small Shetland pony. It kept slowly trotting over to us to see what we were doing (also to see if we had any food). We sang a song called boom chicka boom passing it around a circle.

Coppicing

We cut the larger Willow trees down so that the smaller trees could grow. Then we made things out of the willow (the wood) like spears, dream catchers, stars, and fishing rods. With the little twigs on the edge we made a huge pile for animal habitats.

Canoeing

In canoeing we learned how to steer a canoe, climb over a tree branch and had a races up the river. We did team building exercises by walking across the boats when they were tied together except the middle boat. We played a game where we had to collect balls that the mentors threw in.

High ropes & Low ropes

For the high ropes we climbed up a telegraph pole and then held hands and jumped off, and for the low ropes we had to complete an obstacle course and if we fell off we had a forfeit to do. We also had a race across one course boys vs girls.

Pond Dipping

We visited a local pond at Ashfield Road to learn more about a habitat.

Whilst pond dipping we caught things like water boatmen, midge larvae, water scorpions, fish and more. We also had a cup of hot chocolate and then filled in a survey about what happened and what we caught.

Litter pick

We went to a park to do a litter pick a week after the council had done a litter pick as well. It’s unbelievable how much rubbish there is and the weird stuff we found.

For example: A Scooter, Old T.V, Carpet, a speaker and a shattered mirror. If we didn’t move it, who would?

THANK YOU TO ALL MENTORS AND

LEADERS