Class 3 were incredibly excited to set off on our first school outing of the year. For some, the highlight of the day was the simple joy of being on a coach with their friends on the way there and back!
We arrived at Brackenhurst NTU campus and were immediately transported back in time with the help of Simon, our guide for the day. We looked at Hicking house, learnt about the fates of those who stayed at nearby Southwell Bishop’s Palace in the time of Henry VIII before arriving back in the stone age! After getting into costume, we set about building our very own Stonehenge (though on a much smaller scale!) and appreciated that if we were finding it tricky to place small blocks of wood in a pre cut stencil, doing it with enormous pillars of rock was quite a feat of engineering. Being in the stone age, survival was key so we set about making our shelters for the day using branches from the forest and tarpaulin (which would have been animal skin if we were being authentic!). The children were thrilled to eat their lunch in these shelters and were incredibly proud that none of them fell down!!
After lunch, it was time for some activities. Simon taught us to use a bow saw to cut medallions for each of us to wear; Mrs Kulkarni watched in awe as children created impressive cave painting inspired art, Mrs Allen got trapped in a pen the children made from willow weaving; Mr Magner explored a variety of stone age artefacts and Mrs Moonsamy oversaw children creating clay heads to scare away evil.
As you can see from the pictures, the children had a fantastic day out and really got into the spirit of being in the stone age! A huge thank you to our parent helpers and Willow Brook staff who helped make the day a success.
