BRINGING THE OUTDOORS IN AT NORBURY HALL

Our school is fortunate to have the most amazing school grounds.  All classes have the opportunity to work outside through a weekly discovery slot. In this session the children explore the local grounds, the living things there and begin to understand the eco systems and habitats right under our noses. To do this we use the pond, the butterfly garden and our many bird boxes allow us to see at first hand the life cycle from building the nests to the eggs hatching and the birds taking their first flight.

We have our own hens and with that comes the responsibility of feeding, cleaning out and using the eggs for good purpose.  Each year we set the children an ‘Enterprise Challenge’, this challenge is to design and manufacture a product or a service / company and using a start- up grant of £50 look to make as much profit as possible.  Last year, funds acquired went back into the chickens to upgrade their coop.

Classes sought sponsorship from local businesses as well as manufacturing products such as recipe and joke books, home- made sandwiches and even a sponsored chicken run.  Each cohort raised an amount with Y6 raising over £1,000 for their chickens.  From this, the children drew up business plans, project costs and expenditure and considered where best to make the most profit.  This lesson in economics ensured that our children had a good understanding of cost and this is now a common feature in all our curriculum themes.