First hand experiences from Tenterden Infants visit to the Rare Breeds Centre.
Our four KS1 classes have just returned from a day full of fun and learning after a fantastic visit to the Rare Breeds Centre, Woodchurch. We decided to concentrate on the animals and to save the delights of the Mysterious Marsh, Venture Trail, Rainbow Woods and Secret Lake for our whole school visit in June. This proved to be a wise strategy, because the children were captivated by the variety of animals and when it was time to let off steam there were opportunities to explore the Indoor Play Barn and the Swing Bridge.
As we were a large group the staff kindly extended their 'Meet the Animals' session which was hugely popular with everyone. Our Geography Coordinator had drawn up a detailed map and plotted routes around the area to avoid bottlenecks - this will be placed in Gill Lancaster's file for Cluster use - It does work!
We had support from Judy Burvill who took some great photos in the Animal Barn and, all in the same day, produced a fantastic Clicker Book for us all to share back in school. Our three reception classes will visit the Rare Breeds Centre next week and, having heard all about our exploits, they cannot wait.
Many schools are now taking advantage of their Rare Breeds Passport and enriching their curriculum in a multitude of different ways.
Plans for the Creative Arts Harvest Week (Mon 25th - Sat 30th Sept 2006) are going well. There will be workshops provided by Homewood and local artists. Schools will be visiting between Monday 25th - Thursday 28th September. Headteachers and teachers will be holding a Celebration and Sharing of Good Practice day on Friday 29th September 2006. On Saturday 30th families will be invited to share the weeks activities, with what can best be loosely described as a 'production'.
Steve Pusey from Homewood School music/drama department has many great ideas for a collaborative performance at the rare breeds centre. He is providing morning and afternoon workshops for children. It is likely one will be music based, one dance and one drama.
Schools have expressed an interest in residents from rare breeds visiting schools. Hamstreet are piloting this. A class of Y1/2 children visited the Rainbow Gallery, and having made friends with the artists Sarah and Sam arranged that three of the residents should visit Scotney Class and teach them felt making. We now have a fantastic felt apple tree wall hanging, and will try and put a picture in the gallery as soon as we can. What was so special was the experience of working together and the friendships made. Our next plan is for a visit from the Rainbow Nursery, and we are really looking forward to it.
This part of the partnership is extremely valuable, but must obviously be developed sensitively. All friendships need to be based on trust, and the best way of developing relationships is by meeting the people who live and work at rare breeds. If your school would like introductions, I am happy to help.
ARC schools have access to an amazing offer - a PASSPORT to the Rare Breeds Centre which allows the schools FIVE visits for the price of ONE. Thats a 'buy one get four free' offer!! For details of the offer and how to claim it, contact Ben at the PEP office on 01622 749974.
