Day 3

School #5: Wyke Regis Infants

Starting out, the day, though warm, was somewhat grizzly. Look at that sky.....is anyone else's first thought 'eeeeeek what's that going to do to my hair'?


Here's where I picked up the NCR 26 just after the A35/A354 roundabout outside Dorchester. 

Rodwell Trail selfie
(I really liked that tree)

Route 26 linked up seamlessly with the Rodwell trail, which carried me from Weymouth town centre out to Wyke Regis, along with countless other cyclists, joggers, dog walkers and the odd skateboarder. A really well-used path and another superb wildlife corridor.

I'd never been to the Wyke Regis Primary Federation schools before, but they are a friendly and well-organised bunch and I received a warm welcome.  Mrs Machin had invited me because Year 1 have spent this term doing a work on recycling that she was keen to share. There are 3 Year 1 classes, so after seeing their recycling work I was to do a Bee Kind workshop with each class. That's the one with the seed bombs. So that's 90 children, a lot of compost and potentially a lot of mess.......was I up to this?

Were they up for this?

I had no idea what kind of recycling project to expect, but as I approached the school some of it became apparent!

The fence opposite the main entrance has been vividly decorated and is so colourful and eye-catching that you easily notice it from the road. When I got in, Mrs Machin and her representatives from Year 1 were waiting and ready to explain it all to me.

They had been learning about the problem of plastic waste in the ocean. One child told me the staggering fact that soon there might be more plastic in the sea than fish! They had also been looking at recycling and making new things out of old things, so they decided to combine the two in this nature-themed art project.  

Together they collected plastic items - bottles, tubs, and bags especially. Then they held a Saturday event for families to help turn the plastic waste into a marine-scape to go on the school fence. With some skilful cutting and some acrylic paint, they fashioned an array of fabulous sea creatures and plants that you can now see on display. The children are very proud of their creation (quite rightly!) and the artwork provides a bold splash of colour to the school entrance, while reminding us of the critical plight of our marine life.

A huge well done to everyone involved!


The outside display wasn't all they'd been up to. Inside the Year 1 corridor were more amazing displays of clothing made from recycled items including sweet wrappers, crisp packets and drink pouches.


Mrs Machin's class also told me about their efforts to improve rubbish and recycling in school - they've noticed some rubbish and banana skins in the playground at breaktime so have written to their Head to ask for more bins to solve the problem. Great to see children so young learning about taking action :)

Apart from the honey, the beans, the strawberries, melons, apples,
 broccoli etc etc etc.....what did the bees ever do for us?

Then I visited each class in turn for their Bee Kind activity. We all knew that bees make honey, but what was the relationship between bees and baked beans? (Answer: beans are seeds that need pollination by bees to form), and looked at some of the other crops that also rely on insect pollination. Strawberries and watermelons were among the favourites. Oh, and cacao beans. No bees, no chocolate.....a terrifying prospect!


A really useful resource for this session was the Friends of the Earth Bee Cause schools pack - you can download it here.


Some children already knew lots about bees, and many had stories of seeing bees in the school grounds - well done Wyke for already being very bee-friendly!


Come the messy part (making seed bombs), and I was very grateful to staff and children alike for the great gusto with which they got their hands dirty! Fortunately they had a handy courtyard that was an ideal mess-containing space.

Oxeye daisies by the Weymouth relief road
(slightly past their best!)

The wildflower seeds we used in our seed bombs were a mixture of native oxeye daisy, yellow rattle, birdsfoot trefoil and knapweed (thank you to the DCC Landscapes Team for donating!). In fact, it's  the same mixture that was sown on the verges by the Weymouth relief road. At this time of year the tall, swaying carpets of daisies are a familiar sight.
Between us we made about 270 seed bombs. They are now drying out in the sun, and the children have promised to sow their seed bombs and help create nectar-rich forage for our important little friends.


Sadly I have no photos to share (that will be remedied soon!). But if you're passing the school entrance by the Portland Road roundabout, please take a moment and admire the colourful explosion that is their school fence and remember their important message - save our seas from plastic! 

Day 3

Bikes, tarmac and the people that make it all good....

Today was my biggest trip yet.  My destination was Wyke Regis Infant School - more about them later, but first I have a few things to mention. In true Wizard of Oz fashion, some of the fun of today was in the getting there.


Firstly, the e-bike! Travel Dorset have a couple of electric bikes available for DCC staff to use. Today was the first day I actually took the battery and planned to make proper use of the electric bike and all it's magical powers. Until now I'd only tried it out in e-mode around the not-terribly-challenging terrain of the County Hall car park. It seemed ok, but I couldn't quite tell what it would be like when properly in action.

Kalkhoff Pro Connect e-bike, minus battery. Henceforth known as the Hoffmeister

Until now I also had an uncomfortable suspicion that any extra force provided by the battery would only compensate for the effort I was having to make to get this, let's be honest, impossibly heavy contraption to move at all.


So what does it do? I'm no expert, and apparently different e-bikes work in different ways. But what seems to happen is with this one is when you give it power by pedalling, it amplifies the power and takes you a bit further. It's wonderfully morale-boosting. Pedalling is no 'easier' than on a normal bike - when you're going up hill you still feel it - and you can't stop pedalling (it's not a moped!). But I found it gets you there quicker and slightly less sticky, puffed out and exhausted than if you did it entirely on your own. I'm a fan.


And basically the more power you give it, the more it gives you. Metaphor, anyone?


After a day's riding, I can easily and honestly answer the e-bike questions that had been bugging me;


Is it cheating? No.
Do you still get a workout? Good heavens yes.
Is it worth it? YES.

National Cycle Route 26



Pyramidal (?) orchids by the
Weymouth relief road

A word about National Cycle Route 26, which runs from Portishead in Somerset down to the Isle of Portland. I might be a bit late to the party here, but this stretch of cycle path is just brilliant. It can take you from Dorchester to the heart of Weymouth, on wide, purpose-built tracks and through beautiful green corridors.


Even when you're cycling next to the relief road, you find yourself next to wide verges that are thickly vegetated and buzzing with life. If I had stopped to photograph every orchid on that stretch I'd still be there....
I recommend you check it out.

Richard

Lastly, the highlight of the journey: bumping into Richard. I was trundling/creeping uphill at Bincombe, grateful for my battery assistance,  when he overtook me, unassisted, on his road bike.


'Morning!' he said as he passed by, and then as an afterthought, turned and dropped the stinger: 'I was 61 yesterday!'.


In my defence I had 10Kg of compost weighing me down, but still. He was lithe and speedy and clearly enjoying himself.


Bless him, once we'd summited the hill Richard slowed down to chat to me, and I'm so glad he did.
No surprises, Richard has got the cycling bug. This was his daily commute from Dorchester to the adult care centre where he works in Weymouth. He's calculated that in his career he's cycled approximately 57 000 miles in commuting alone. He seemed to know every other cyclist we passed and as he greeted them cheerily it dawned on me that here, just like on my morning bus, was a community. We only had one thing in common, our chosen mode of transport, but that was enough.


During our short chat, it became clear that Richard is a generous and community-minded soul, with a daredevil streak. Over his life he has raised thousands of pounds for various charities by doing skydives and bike rides. His partner has a physical impairment but that didn't stop them cycling the length of the country on a bike that Richard modified especially for her.
He also looked about 41, so that's the magical effect of cycling and a positive attitude right there for you.
'It's another car off the road' he shouted, as we parted company and he whistled off into the distance.


When I grow up I want to be a Richard.

Day 2 Addendum

Join us on the green side!

.....how did I forget to mention THIS?

This is Charminster First School's Eco Code.

  

Every Eco-School needs to have one. Not many Eco-Schools make theirs Star Wars-themed.

Well done Charminster, the force is strong with you!



Day 2

School #4: St Mary's CE VC First School, Charminster

Much excitement for me on this journey as it's the first time I've used the new-ish bit of cycle track that goes from the north end of Dorchester up alongside the B3147 and A37. And it was smooooooth! Despite being on what I'm sure is the world's heaviest bike, I shot along it and reached the school in barely 10 minutes. Driving would hardly have been quicker.


St Mary's in Charminster is another one of those schools that feels like a family and where you always get a warm welcome. Mrs Brake has been running the Eco-Committee for several years now and never rests on her laurels. She and the children are always thinking of new thinks to do, and Mrs Brake is brilliant at letting the children make decisions and lead the rest of the school.

The Eco-Committee's official name is the Get Greener Than Kermit Gang....does that tell you something about how enthusiastic they are? It was love at first sight for them and Reg (note: in this photo the table is clean....)

School tour

First on the tour we looked at some of the children's displays. When it was Earth Day, the Eco-Committee set a quiz for the rest of the school. They put pictures of animals all round the school, and the other children had to guess how endangered they were. Everyone was shocked to find out how many of their favourite species - leopards, rhinos, gorillas and elephants - were critically endangered.

The classes then did their own work on their chosen animal species and made eco pledges about how they would look after the world. Reg approved!

On their Eco-noticeboard, the children showed me their work on food waste that they did with the Dorset Waste Partnership. One of the Eco-Committee girls had won first prize for her recipe for pasties using leftover veg.
Mrs Brake demanded a taste test.


You might be able to see a map on the board next to Reg. This is because the children have been doing lots of work on active transport with the local Sustrans officer.

The map shows a route, worked out by the children, that is a safe 5 minute walk from school. Instead of driving all the way to school, families who have to travel by car are encouraged to park a short distance away and walk the rest.

This reduces traffic at the school gate and gives the children some brain-boosting exercise!


Children are also encouraged to cycle and scoot to school. The school took part in the Big Pedal recently and this week had a 'Bling Your Bike' competition - see the school blog for photos of some serious bike bling!

This next bit is quite special!
The school have 12kW of solar panels on their roof, and this nifty monitor shows the school's energy balance.

The children knew all about it and explained  that the red on the graph is the electricity the school is using (see how it goes sharply up around 8am!) and the green is the amount they are making for themselves with their solar panels.

Some days when it's really sunny the school make more electricity than they can use! When that happens there's a yellow bit on the graph, showing that they are feeding electricity back into the grid.

This Key Stage 2 work, using the data from solar panels and their school energy consumption shows how well they understand energy!  

Everyone in school takes responsibility for conserving energy. They have a system for labelling light switches and plugs so everyone knows what to do:

Green - anyone can turn it off if not in use

Yellow - ask and adult before switching it off

Red - don't switch off

Simple, and super-effective!

The children's understanding of energy was most impressive....I'm sure DCC could recruit them as energy advisers!

Next we went outdoors to see how the gardening club have been making the school beautiful!

Mrs May and her gang of hardworking gardeners are responsible for these jazzy flowers by reception.

Next, to the field and a very special tree! This little oak tree (aka 'the Harry and Meghan tree') was grown from an acorn from Windsor Great Park to commemorate the Queen's 90th birthday. The children are very proud to have a royal connection!
It's got some growing to do before it's the size of its neighbours. Made me wonder what Charminster will be like when this is an adult tree?
Then the children took me to see the Forest School area. This made me a trifle nervous as I could see we were entering a slug-rich environment and couldn't guarantee Reg would behave himself....

Sure enough, the children found this log which was home to at least 3 different slug species and many, many woodlice!

If you're wondering why Reg isn't in this photo, it's because he's being restrained (kindly).

Workshop

Today's workshop was Bee Kind. As you'll have guessed from the terrible pun, it was all about the important role bees have pollinating plants, including so many crops we rely on and enjoy eating.

Some children were already really knowledgeable about the problems of pesticides and habitat loss that bees face.

We ate strawberries, remembering to say 'thank you bees' as we did. Mr Galloway just happened to walk in at that moment. That's one excellent sense of smell :)

Then the messy bit! We made bee-friendly seed bombs by mixing compost and seeds with flour and water paste.
Let's just say the clean-up took a while, but it was all for a good cause!

Eco Mission

Last of all there was an Eco Mission to choose!

The children wanted one to do with plastic; here's what they chose:

Do an assembly or show & tell all about ways people can avoid using plastic.

A difficult challenge, but an important one! The children thought they were up for it and I've no doubt they are!

 

Thank you Mrs Brake and all of the Greener than Kermit Gang for leaving me smiling at the end of Day 2 :)

Day 2

School#3: Puddletown First School

I'll start by confessing that this one felt somewhat like cheating. I live in the village so my inspirational, virtuous cycle to visit this school lasted all of 2 1/2 minutes. But it's the principle that counts, right?
For non-Dorseters,  Puddletown lies 5 miles east of Dorchester on the River Piddle, and counts among it's many charming features a flock of doves, an antique map and book shop, the most incredible children's playground you've ever seen and two excellent schools, the First and the Middle school.


This was the first school I'd visited where the Eco-Committee turned out to greet Reg and I at the school gate after our arduous cycle. Unfortunately I ruined the impact somewhat by arriving at the wrong gate (no plan is idiot-proof where I'm involved!). Nonetheless we were tickled by their efforts!


The Eco-Committee at Puddletown are lovingly led by Mrs Roff, and together they are true pros. To kick off their tour of the school they treated me to a presentation summing up all the eco work they had done this year. The children spoke beautifully. Here's a summary:

Reducing plastic waste

Like many of us around the country, the Eco-Committee are very concerned about plastic pollution in the environment. And these guys are taking some serious action!

They're completely on top of plastic recycling in school and are now trying to reduce the amount of plastic waste they make, starting with a 'Zero Waste Lunch' on 3 July for Plastic-Free Day. Best of luck with the challenge!

 

School gardening

As you can see from their slide, all the children at Puddletown have the chance to do some gardening as part of their learning. They've done this for a few years now and always have some produce to sell for charity.

 

Growing things at school is helped by a majestic plastic-bottle greenhouse, made by the whole school. I was so in awe I forgot to take a photo from the outside, but here's one of Alfie showing Reg the inside where he grows seeds. He assured me it was nice and warm in there!

 

I really liked the pattern made by the mixture of green and transparent bottles in the walls.

 

The children also showed me their shed, with it's water butt on one side and a whiteboard on the other where the children can record bird sightings. Lots of birds are seen, including starlings earlier in the year making funny shapes in the sky!

 

 

School pond

 

This year's other big project was finishing their pond! This has been an ongoing project for several years so it was exciting to see the pond finished and full of life.

 

 

The children here LOVE having a pond on site and told me all about the creatures they've seen there, including dragonfly larva. Did you know dragonflies spend up to 7 years living as wingless nymphs in ponds? And don't get me started on how the move......eugh!

 

And here it is.....

It has a mixture of microhabitats, from a shallow beach at one end to the deep bit at the other that I'm told would be over my head it I tried to get in, so I didn't. The prodigious depth is all thanks to Alfie's dad and his digger :)

They let the pond fill up naturally with rainwater, and apart from some sticklebacks which were introduced by them, all the other wildlife has found its way naturally to colonise the pond.

 



Birdsfoot trefoil, clover & oxeye daisy
by the path, and butterflies everywhere!



Now for a quick, totally shameless, plug for my colleagues in the Landscapes team at DCC. They landscaped and planted the grounds during the building phase using a high proportion of native plants to establish natural-feeling habitats. When the school was first opened, the grounds might have appeared a bit bare, but over the few years the school's been in use, the plants have established themselves and the effect is an outdoor space that is visually lovely, rich in wildlife (especially the all-important pollinators) and full of endless possibilities for playing and learning.

 

The school really make the most of these amazing surroundings. Besides their statutory PE provision, every class spends at least one lesson every week doing learning outdoors. They've added some really cool features as well to enhance the area.....

 

Roundhouse

Here's their roundhouse! Last year the children helped to create the walls by weaving hazel and oak branches into the frame. The next stage will be to cover the walls with a wattle and daub finish. The children are going to help with this job, which sounds messy and extremely fun :)

Den-building area 

This is a permanent collection of poles and tarps which the children can use at breaktime to build their own dens. A bit of extra playtime supervision is required but Mrs Roff told me it was totally worth it for the teamwork and physical skills the children learn.

Reg checked it out and thought he could probably den-build along with the best of them.

Tree nursery

The saplings you see in this area are part of the school's work with Trees For Dorset. I loved how the programme brings the whole school together in learning about the importance of trees and growing trees for future generations to enjoy. Here's what happens:

• Year 1 go foraging and collect tree seeds
• Year 2 plant the seeds
• Year 3 transfer the seedling trees into this tree nursery
• Year 4 plant out successful saplings in to the grounds.

Here's Reg and Alfie with a 3 year old oak sapling. Wonder what it will be like in 100 years?

Back inside, we did a workshop about the Life Cycle of a Plastic Bottle. Here we learned all the steps and resources involved in turning oil into plastic. Given how much energy and resource goes into making a plastic bottle, the children thought that throwing away plastic was really wasteful.

We then looked at how plastic can be recycled, into more plastic bottles or even into school uniform! School Uniform company David Luke kindly sent this resource, showing how bottles are turned into polyester yarn to make school jumpers and blazers.

We also looked at these nurdles which were collected by Dorset Wildlife Trust volunteers in Kimmeridge bay and Studland. There are 10 000 nurdles* just in this bottle! Sadly that means there are millions more still out there in the marine environment.

*Pre-production pellets of microplastic.

Lastly, the children chose an Eco Mission! They chose a difficult one:

Write to the companies that supply your school milk or fruit and ask them to find an alternative to plastic packaging.

 

Fortunately these children are bold, strong and committed to fighting plastic waste so they bravely accepted the mission. We look forward to hearing how they get on!

After that I jumped on my bike, waved goodbye to the children and scampered off to Dorchester.

Thank you Puddletown for a fascinating morning!

Day 1

School #2: St Mary's Catholic First School, Dorchester

Another gentle tootle across town in the afternoon took me to St Mary's Catholic First School in Dorchester. St Mary's are a caring school with a family feel about them, and another one of Dorchester's Green Flag Eco-Schools.
This afternoon I was to visit the Eco-Committee (the organisers!) and the Eco-Club (the do-ers!) and their wonderful leader Mrs Gannon.

The willow dome was full of insect life!

Now, I've met a lot of wildlife enthusiasts in my life, but I never came across a more enthusiastic and knowledgeable bunch of children when it comes to all things wild! Despite being a 'town' school surrounded by housing and adjoining the train track on one side, St Mary's have managed to attract a whole load of wildlife to their school grounds. Some of the features introduced include:

• an unmown bank to encourage wildflowers
• log circle for Forest Schools (and bug hunting!)
• young trees
• a hedgehog box
• providing fat balls for the birds
• numerous bug hotels!

(Rumour has it plans are afoot for a school pond...watch this space!)

Naturally, Reg sniffed out this hedgehog hotel which he thought would make a very comfy home. The school had a hedgehog visitor last year, proving all their minibeast habitats have attracted plenty of slugs and worms to feed a hungry hedgehog!

🐛🐚🐛🐜🐛🐚🐛

Eco Box contents

Needless to say, these children are expert wildlife spotters! So much so in fact that one of the jobs of the Eco-Club is to help other children to hunt for creepy crawlies at playtime. Their brilliant invention is this 'Eco Box'. At selected breaktimes an Eco-Club member collects it from the office and brings it outside for the other children. It contains all the stuff an expert bug hunter would need;

• magnifying pots
• ID sheets for minibeasts, birds and plants
• a card to remind bug hunters to wash their hands when they get back to the classroom. Endlessly practical!

My favourite thing though were the green hats! They identify the Eco-Club children as 'Wildlife Wardens' for that breaktime, and they love wearing them!

All this nature makes it into lesson time as well, with some classes took part in the RSPB Big School's Birdwatch, and others doing the Pod's What's Under Your Feet survey later this year to contribute to some important citizen science!

After blowing my mind with their wildlife knowledge, the children learned a bit about butterflies with yours truly. 70% of butterfly species in the UK are in decline due to a combination of habitat loss, pesticide use and the changing climate.

We learned about the importance of nectar-rich meadows for providing butterfly food, and played with these home-made butterflies and meadow. The butterflies are made from old magazine pages.....thank goodness I kept all those old issues of Plumbing & Heating News :)

There are some alarming statistics out there about the huge numbers of children that don't have opportunities to go outside and explore what's around them. Fortunately 'nature deficit disorder' isn't something that children experience at St Mary's. The opposite - children explore, and when they do, they love it.


Until tomorrow.....

Day 1

School #1: Prince of Wales First School, Dorchester

Easing into Day 1 with a gentle cycle up the road from County Hall to Prince of Wales First

School. I'd visited many times before so I knew what to expect..... so there was a moment of confusion on going through the front door when I found myself not in Reception but an airport check-in desk!
Some (very friendly) baggage handlers were hard at work and a full-scale airport security procedure was in place for all pupils entering the school. Turns out today was the start of a fortnight of globally-themed work to tie-in to the world cup. All staff were in fancy dress, so just a normal day for Prince of Wales school.


Anyway, Reg and I were there to find out about their eco work so we tracked down Air Marshall, I mean Mr, MacBean who coordinates all things eco.  Escaping a Literacy lesson, three accomplished Eco Committee members - Reece, Sophie and Jasmine -  showed Reg and I around the school.

First stop was the office and a marvellous machine! It's called the 'Eco Turtle' and the children told me that it's made of recycled car parts. What's it for? It dispenses cleaning products....and not just any cleaning product. These are plant-based and therefore biodegradable, non-toxic and very child-friendly. What's more, they dispense into recycled plastic bottles that are then refilled and used again and again! Every Monday after school the children sell cleaning products to parents in their own micro-business.


The machine and products are provided by Delphis Eco. The school caretaker has switched to using these for all his school cleaning, and he assured me that as well as being low-waste, eco-friendly and good value, they really do the job!

In the foyer the children showed me their recycling collection box from Terracycle. Reg peered in and saw all kinds of things - wet wipe packets, spray heads from squirty bottles, caps from cleaning products.....Terracycle can recycle all these things into something new, and they also pay the school for sending them such useful materials....winner!

The school also collect used stamps and batteries.  If you bump into someone from Prince of Wales school, ask them how many times all the unwanted batteries kicking around in our homes could stretch round the Earth......the answer is staggering!

After that it was off to look outside and first stop were these lovely new members of the school! There are 8 hens, some which were bought as adults and some that the children have reared from chicks this year. Everyone is looking forward to eating their eggs and maybe even selling them to parents. These ladies clearly enhance school life!

Prince of Wales school have beautifully developed, wildlife-friendly school grounds and loads of spaces for learning outdoors.

The Farrington Meadow was bussing with bees visiting the clover and knapweed.

Inside the roundhouse, Reg found this nest (don't worry, it's one from last year!).

The children have done a lot to create habitats for nature in the school grounds. Reece was delighted that this sapling, which he planted as a tiny whip last year, is now as tall as he is!

Lastly we walked by their Eco-Schools Green Flag - not doing much fluttering today!

The children are very proud to be part of a school that is so committed to learning and looking after the environment.

Ever wondered what the Eco-Schools logo represents? I hadn't until now. We discussed what the Eco-Schools logo might represent - we thought it must be something to do with the world and learning, but I had to confess I didn't really know.

By happy coincidence, that very question was answered later in the day in a Twitter post by Eco-Schools Scotland. Thank you for clearing that up!

Back in the classroom, Year 3 played the 'Resources Challenge' board game. It's a great activity for thinking about the 3 Rs and how we can use the world's resources more carefully. Thank you to Bristol Sustainable City for putting together such a great resource. You can download it yourself from the Sustainable Learning website.

Read more about Eco-Schools at Prince of Wales and the GSWTD workshop on the school website:

Year 3 Blog

Eco-Schools page

My final task before leaving the school was to present Mr MacBean with a copy of the beautiful book The Lost Words.

Copies of the book are being donated to all primary phase schools in Dorset thanks to a Crowdfunder campaign by local conservationists. Over the next few months, a gang of energetic volunteers will be delivering them to schools all round the county. Follow @dorsetandbeyond to find out more!

Due to a camera failure, there isn't a photo of the grand presentation - if you could just imagine it for me that would be great :)



Reg and I are due to set off on Monday 18th June

Welcome to the Green Schools World Tour of Dorset!