We are proud to have achieved the Woodland Trust's Green Tree School Gold Award here at Queen's Hill Primary School!
At Queen's Hill Primary School not only do we use the spaces within our school but also the areas in Queen's Hill Country Park, we have woods near our school which the children visit to explore and investigate. The children enjoy growing vegetables and fruit in the school gardens. The work which takes place outside is very practical and delivered in a small group situation so that understanding can be monitored immediately and misconceptions dealt with. An intensive scientific, practical and environmental understanding will be built as your child moves through school and will offer a very firmly established appreciation of the amazing world in which we live. The work our children are engaged in outside the classroom at Queen's Hill is well-planned with built in continuity and progression.
Miss Geschke is our Teaching Assistant here at Queen's Hill and will be running Outdoor Learning sessions with the children.
Recent Outdoor Learning in School
Autumn in Reception
We have been learning all about the seasonal changes which come with Autumn. The children have been reading the story “The Leaf Thief” and have learnt about what happens to the leaves in Autumn and why. We have learnt about the vegetables and plants which grow, the animals who hibernate and created pictures inspired by … Read more
Year 3 – Cyanotypes
Today, Year 3 have been learning about botanist and photographer Anna Atkins. She is considered the first person to publish a book of photographs. Inspired by her work, Year 3 collected natural materials to create their own cyanotypes. They layered their gathered materials onto the special paper and laid them in the sun for around … Read more
Sunflowers
We have been learning about the life cycles of plants. As part of this topic, we have planted a Sunflower seed. We have been looking after them and look forward to taking them home to plant!
Gressenhall
Reception had a wonderful time on our trip to Gressenhall. We met Fairy tale characters, such as Cinderella and Jack. We helped them find their magical objects the Wicked Witch had stolen. We particularly enjoyed the tractor ride on the farm, helping the Ugly-Stepsister with her chores and sliding down the beanstalk slides.
Year 4 polar explorer visit
Today year 4 were excited to have a visit from polar explorer Adrian Hall. He spoke to us about his expeditions, showed us all the equipment he packed in his rucksack and shared lots of photos at the start of the day. After this, he worked outside with every class, teaching them about map reading … Read more
Shakespeare Day!
To kick-start their new English unit: Romeo & Juliet, Year 6 enjoyed participating in a variety of Shakespeare-related activities! Children took part in a scavenger hunt, collecting the answers to questions about the famous playwright and his works. They had to match symbols on their sheet to answers hidden away all around the playground. They … Read more
Year 1 Easter Gardens
This week Year 1 went to the woods to create Easter Gardens. We have been thinking about why The Cross is important to Christians and learning about the Easter story. The children confidently applied all of this knowledge to create some wonderful Easter Gardens! Great work Year 1!
Outdoor Learning in Year 6
Over the past two weeks Year 6 have been learning about butterflies. They all had some great questions and wanted to learn more about different species of butterflies! Children had a trail quiz to complete and were challenged to find out the answers to their questions. Upon their trail, they found a peacock butterfly in … Read more
Bug hotels Y5
Year 5 have been working hard on creating bug hotels this week. They have used materials they have found at home to create an inviting habitat for our creepy crawly friends.
Outdoor Classroom visit
We have been learning about the changes that Autumn brings in Reception and so we decided to see if we could find any evidence of Autumn arriving in Queen’s Hills. The children worked in pairs and hunted for Autumn items from a checklist. All of the children did super listening and showed our 3 school … Read more
Learning Outdoors: School Trips
We make use of the amazing local outdoor facilities we have both in Norwich and Norfolk and allow children to experience new activities wherever possible, for example, Norwich Ski slope, seaside trips and walk into our local country park. Pupils in Key Stage 2 have a yearly camping residential as part of their curriculum entitlement.
Whitwell Camping Trip: Years 3, 4 and 5
Every year the children in Year 3, 4 and 5 go to Whitwell Hall to experience camping, cooking on fire and becoming more independent. The Year 5s stay for five days and are the Young Leaders - this means they have a special job to do every day and they also help the younger children to become more confident. The governors subsidise this school trip as they have been impressed with how the children show more resilience and maturity following this camp. We come back smelling of smoke but with some fantastic memories too!
Eaton Vale Camping Trip: Year 6
Annually our Year 6 pupils visit Eaton Vale where they stay for 3 days. The children get to take part in a wide range of outdoor pursuits, including rafting, kayaking and abseiling.
Learning Outdoors: Curriculum Days and Visitors
During our topic curriculum days we ensure where possible we take full advantage of making use of the outdoor spaces within the school. Some sessions are taught outside and we love having visitors into school to talk to us about wildlife and nature.
