Whirlow Hall Farm 2019

The moment we’ve been waiting for since Y2 began, was finally here… time for our holiday to Whirlow Hall Farm!

To say we were excited was an understatement and we couldn’t wait to get started and enjoy ourselves!

When we arrived, it was time to unpack and have some lunch!

After lunch, we were able to go and explore the farm with our tour guides. First up was the pig unit. Inside were lots of piglets of all different shapes and sizes. Some were newborns while others were getting ready to go to market.

Did you know a male pig is called a boar, a female pig is called a sow and a baby piglet is called a piglet?

Female pigs are pregnant for 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days.

Pink pigs can get sunburnt really easily so they like to have a wallow in the mud for protection.

Next up, it was time to see the hens. The hens at Whirlow can roam wherever they like. We were lucky enough to be able to stroke a hen too!

There were lots of other birds down at Whirlow too. Do you know what these animals are called?

We met Frankie the Shetland pony and gave him a stroke.

Can you remember how many hands high he was? Can you remember what he felt like when you gave him a stroke?

We also met some of the other ponies on the farm.

Once the farm tour was over with, it was time for tea!

After tea, we had a wander around the farm and found lots of different things to do.

Mr Little even brought his dogs out to see us!

Soon it was time for hot chocolate, marshmallows and crumpets before bed! Everyone went to bed, dreaming of all of the lovely things they saw that day.

Everyone was up bright and early the next morning, excited for what the day had in store!

With breakfast finished with, it was time to start with some farm jobs!

First up was feeding the rabbits, guinea pigs and goats! Everyone needed their breakfast and water bottles cleaning. The best bit was pulling out the brushes from the water bottle because the water splashed everywhere and gave us a bit of a shower!

Next up, it was time to groom the rabbits and guinea pigs.

Our final farm job was to go into the hen house to collect some eggs! They are sold on the farm at Whirlow so you can have fresh eggs whenever you like!

Our final job at Whirlow was to ride a pony. The ponies were called Brandy and Ruby and it was so exciting as many of us had never ridden a pony before.

We had to wear a special helmet to keep us safe and a lady called Alison told us how to make the pony turn left or right, stop and start.

To make the pony stop, we had to say ‘Whoa!’

To make the pony start walking again, we had to say ‘Walk on!’

Whirlow Hall Farm was by far the best school trip we have ever been on! We would like to say a massive thank you to all of our teachers for taking us and thank you allowing us to have the best time ever!

Wear it Wild 2017

This year we celebrated Wear it Wild Day again in association with WWF. We raised money to help endangered animals all across the globe. We came to school dressed as our favourite wild animals. 

Some of us didn’t know what endangered meant so we used the WWF website to help us and we learnt about some animals.

Endangered means when a species of animal is at serious risk of being made extinct. 

Did you know that these animals were endangered?

• Giant Panda
• Borneo Orang-utan
• Emperor Penguin
• Black Rhinoceros
• Polar Bear
• Snow Leopard

We also linked this to the work that we continue throughout school linked to the 17 Global Goals. Click here to read our post about The World’s Largest Lesson and a little bit more on what the Global Goals are. We learnt that the work we have done link to the Global Goals 14 and 15.

We researched using fact sheets about these endangered animals to help us to learn more and then create posters to make people aware of the dangers these animals face.

Akram – We need to look after these animals before they are gone forever.

Alfie – We don’t want them to go the same way as the dinosaurs!

Oliver – Animals find it difficult in nature to survive if they haven’t got enough food or water or shelter.

Dannilou – Our money will help lots of animals forever!

Thank you to all of the parents and carers who donated money to this worthy cause. The children in Pearl class loved coming to school dressed as their favourite animal. 

 

 

Whirlow Hall Farm

This week, we had the most amazing opportunity to visit and stay at Whirlow Hall Farm on our first every residential. It might have been raining whilst we were there but that didn’t dampen our spirits and we had the most amazing time!

Here is just a little peek at some of the things that we got up to while we were there…

Getting excited on the minibus on the way there

Eating lunch

Being outside

Supper time

Grooming the ponies

Grooming the rabbits and guinea pigs

Visiting the hen house and collecting eggs

And our favourite part of the whole trip was being able to have a pony ride on Ruby and Bonnie.

Pearl class would like to say a great big thank you to Whirlow Hall Farm and our 480 sponsor Best Solicitors for making this trip possible. We really have had the best time ever.

 

Whirlow Hall Farm Residential

Just a reminder that Pearl class will be visiting Whirlow Hall Farm on their first residential on Monday 5th June and Tuesday 6th June.

Here is a reminder of what you will need:

• A small hold-all or rucksack
• 2 pairs of tracksuit bottoms
• Waterproof jacket/tracksuit tops
• 2 -3 t-shirts
• Sweater/hooded top for if it is cold during the day or night.
• Suntan cream and sun hat
• 2/3 pairs of underwear and socks
• Pyjamas/dressing gown and maybe slippers
• Indoor footwear (e.g. clean trainers or pumps)
• Wellies or boots for a muddy farmyard
• Toiletries: toothbrush, toothpaste, hair brush, shower gel/soap, shampoo
• Towel & large plastic bag for storing wet & dirty clothes.
• Teddy bear
• Spending money £2 max in a clearly labelled purse/wallet/envelope.

Keep your eyes peeled for lots of updates on our class blog to see all the fun and activities that we get up to on the farm, including pony riding, egg collecting, grooming animals and a farm tour to name just a few!

Thank you to our 480 scheme sponsor – Best Solicitors – for allowing us to take part on our first ever residential!

Click here to visit Whirlow Hall Farm website.

Gymnastics

Today, we had our first gymnastics session with our PE coach Rachael.

From our science lessons, we know that exercise is important to help us to be fit and healthy. Exercise makes our hearts beat faster to pump more blood filled with oxygen around our bodies.

First we had to warm ourselves up to make sure that we didn’t hurt ourselves. Rachael told us that we needed to follow one golden rule today. ‘Keep our bodies straight.’ This was harder than it looked. We had to try and touch our toes without bending our legs.

We learnt that there are lots of different moves that we can perform in gymnastics. The first three we learnt were straddle, pike and tuck.

Then we looked at different moves that included animals. This move is called the ‘seal’.

This is a star shape.

Other animals we have looked at were: rabbit, spider, frog and caterpillar.

We have had lots of fun and are looking forward to working with Rachael again next week.

REMEMBER:

You need to make sure that your PE kit is in school on Wednesdays. Burgendy or white t-shirt, black shorts and black pumps.

Wear it Wild Day 2016

Today, we have been celebrating the WWF Wear it Wild Day to help raise money for endangered animals. If you decided to dress up, you needed to bring £1 to school.

We came to school dressed as different wild animals. Some of us wore masks, animal onesies and some of us even had face paint on!

There was a prize for the best costume. In Pearl class, the lion costume won. An excellent costume choice today!

If you would like to learn more about WWF and Wear it Wild Day, please click here.

Things that you could do at school with your child:

• Talk about what the word ‘endangered’ means.
• Look at the website on the link above.
• Think about how we can look after endangered species.
• Maybe visit a local park or wildlife centre in the holidays to take a closer look at some wild animals.