What a fun filled day we have had at the Weald and Downland Outdoor Museum..... the children, and adults,  have had a great day exploring the different buildings and houses . There was so much to explore, find out and see.  There were different volunteers to tell us about the buildings and the different skills people had when the buildings were used. Miss Lyddon was especially excited as 'The Repair Shop' was filming at the museum today!!!

Each house and building were so different and the gardens were full of flowers, herbs, fruits and vegetables.

Lots of the children really enjoyed feeding the ducks and chasing them around the pond! The children have loved playing games with each other and finding feathers on the floor. This allowed the children to find the duck that it belonged to. No-one fell in!!!

We were all starving when we got to McDonalds, and our food was eaten so quickly.  We are now at The Novium Museum which is where we are sleeping… The children are just taking part in a torch-lit treasure hunt before activity time, snack and then bed. 

Looking forward to our boat trip tomorrow.

The vast majority of children slept through the night although it was a late night as we had jam packed fun at The Novium until late! 

The children were officially woken up at 6.45am but to be honest a few were awake by 6am. With help, the children packed up their overnight bags and squashed their sleeping bags into their tiny bags (which as you can imagine was tough and tested patience!!) Breakfast was served and teeth were brushed before we headed out on the minibuses again.

This time, we headed to Chichester Harbour where we boarded a solar powered boat that belongs to The Chichester Harbour Trust. We went out into the harbour and played I spy...some of our children were able to tick off lots of items due to super spotting and some thought they had seen a seal too! The skipper wasn't so sure though. It was a tad blowy but the children enjoyed the experience all the same - especially using the binoculars to spot things further out. 

Next we headed to Emsworth Beach and the neighbouring woodland. Unfortunately, it tipped it down with rain just as we got there so we ate our lunch on the buses. The children quite liked this to be honest. The rain soon cleared, so we made the short walk along the beach and through the woodland. It was a haven for birds and we even saw some oyster catchers. Everyone made a nature sticky picture using natural treasures found in the woodland and on the beach too. 

The children had a marvellous time but boy, were they shattered..... so were us adults too. The vast majority of kids gave it a huge 10/10. We are really pleased about that. 

What a wonderful day we have had... the children have really enjoyed their experience at The Weald and Downland Museum today and learned so, so much about the buildings and homes there. The kids were so fascinated by their stories and made many connections between past and present living and jobs. It was really interesting watching and listening to them trying to fathom out what the different objects were, for example a pottery hot water bottle, a chamber pot, a washing board and traditional pegs!! The children observed blacksmithing, milling, Tudor cooking, traditional baking in action and enjoyed exploring all of the houses inside and out. The various kitchen gardens were brilliant as well and the children saw onions, leeks, carrots, potatoes, rhubarb, raspberries, peas and beans of various varieties growing as well as many herbs too. Did you know that wild dog roses have medicinal purposes? Rose hips are high in vitamin c and were traditionally used to make syrups to boost levels plus it was thought it could cure dog bites hence the name!!! See us adults, learned many new things too today!! 

Many of the museum volunteers mentioned how inquisitive and well mannered our children were so this was so lovely to hear as you can imagine. Of course we have to mention the weather...  yes we managed to dodge most of the drizzly rain... I can honestly say the kids didn't even notice the weather because as soon as we entered a home/building it rained and then as we came out it stopped! We feel tremendously lucky considering it is an open air museum!

Next, McDonalds for tea... the children gobbled up their food as they had worked up an appetite and chatted amongst friends whilst reliving some of their memories of the day. All children ate well and again were a credit to our school. 

We are now at The Novium Museum and this is our base for the night… History torch lit trail complete, evening snack and drink had and now art activities and junk modelling in full swing. The kids are having a wail of a time and so are we! Mr Wood is very proud as his group won the junk modelling challenge. Later on this evening, the children will be getting their night time camp ready and having their bed time story. 

Today Year Four launched their topic of Celts and Romans by having a day dedicated exploring The Celts (we will come to the Romans later). We learnt how the term 'The Celts' wasn't actually given until long after these people were around and that actually this term covers many, many groups of people over quite a long period of time. We looked specifically at some groups of Ancient Celts in Britain who would have been known as many things but primarily as 'The Britons'. We had some information to explore and then our own research to conduct in order to create our tribes. We worked to be as historically accurate as possible and included in our tribes - roundhouses (complete with hole at the top for fire), looms for weaving, iron workshops, farms with crops and animals and much more. All of the tribes made sure they were based on a hill fort to ensure they had maximum protection from other tribes. The children were very interested to hear how the Ancient Celts in Britain would not have got along and in fact would have all belonged to different tribes, with different Kings of Queens and very different appearances. 

We have a lot more to learn but we had a brilliant day exploring this time in History and working in collaboration - lots of team work all round! 

Our children in Years 5-6 surpassed our expectations and they baked and created some fantastic cakes for our first Bake Off competition here at Great Binfields. This event, organised by our School Council was a success and one representative, stated that she thought 'Everyone was a winner in her eyes as she could tell everyone had tried so hard!' We concur - it was great seeing the children work collaboratively and with extreme care. They also took their time and were unflappable!

It was great seeing the variety of designs and the judges enjoyed the tasting session too! Some scrumptious sponges and fillings - all perfectly formed!

Well done Children - you should all be so proud of your achievements and i hope your families enjoyed tasting them at home afterwards too. The winners will be announced in Achievement Assembly on Friday. Who will be crowned the winner for taste and decoration?  1 lovely prize is up for grabs for each category!