There is a facility about which many have asked. We must satisfy the demand for information.
We do have one for adults and a separate one for children. (Luxury!)
And here is the provision.
I always find restrictions frustrating. 5 mph is an absurd speed, and I see no reason why I should not drive further.
Prohibitions are so unfriendly. But a welcome awaits all our children
… just as soon as OFSTED registers Mr Noah’s Nursery School CIC.
Rules and regulations!
The children always turn aside from play to see a passing truck or tractor, but yesterday offered a better sight by far.
The machine was heading directly towards our little people’s school.
Then it turned. It went back and forth noisily, until the job was done.
How the children would have loved it! If only they had been here – the language of regret.
Most of the blogs posted here portray a specific project that has been pretty much completed. In fact, all the while, there are other things in the process. So today here is a sample of some of the work that is currently progressing.
We start with the bark path that leads around the plat. If you look very carefully, you will observe that the prayed-for rain has caused the grass seed to germinate.
Then there is a tyre park and a sandpit (– without sand as yet).
There will eventually be a garden for children to work, as well.
The tomatoes growing here were sown by the children last February. The plants have been taken to the Gills Green site where they are ripening.
Then lastly, bordering the ‘veranda’ that is nearly complete, a rockery with a colourful display of flowers.
All the time, there is so much that is happening in preparation for receiving the first cohort of children.
The interminable delay in the process to obtain planning permission for a small building has created the problem of where to store equipment and resources. A remedy had to be found. Here it is.
A storage container has been brought to the site and into the woods.
A nook was levelled and prepared, and the container lifted into position.
It would be rather nice if all life’s problems were solved just like that.
We are certainly experiencing some afflictions and frustrations.
Many hours were spent preparing the ground. It was dug, levelled and cleaned of all sorts of debris. Grass seed was then sown and watered.
But we then had weeks of dry days and beating sunshine. Covering the ground to prevent evaporation seemed to make no difference.
Eventually, last Friday, there was rain in the early hours. That has been the only thing that could bring about the necessary germination.
The question is, how long will it be before we have a lawn?
What we do have, neatly camouflaged, is an unexpected plague …
The high, forbidding railings round today’s academy schools always seem excessive. Nevertheless, our softer version of boundary security is about the same things: we cannot risk strangers entering uninvited, or children leaving unaccompanied.
So the length of the woods has been fenced to provide the necessary protection.
The task has been completed.
Evening comes and all is well.
Safeguarding is the highest priority.
Sometimes it is assumed that the specific areas of the curriculum like literacy and maths cannot be addressed outdoors. That always seemed strange to my mind. For example, you don’t have to be indoors to display signs.
These labels are lightly engraved such that children can trace the letters with the forefinger, as is encouraged in the Montessori method.
Structures, tree surgery and fencing are significant aspects of the work that is being done, but there is attention to detail too.
Inside the polytunnel, a beautiful stone floor has been painstakingly created by using material quarried on this very site.
Surely, that is what you call ‘local stone’.
The older children at Mr Noah’s Nursery School will be able to tell you that although some creatures entered Noah’s ark in twos, of some, there were seven.
Today, the run being complete, our livestock was transported to the new site at Gills Green.
None was travel-sick, and all seemed to take to the new home immediately.
At the moment there are only two of each.