Category: New site

So many things and the plans of so many people have been affected by the Coronavirus. We too, have been frustrated. The process of obtaining planning permission to put up a base building on the plat has been significantly delayed.

So, while we wait to be permitted to build something permanent, a temporary structure will be sufficient to provide cover in extreme conditions.

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This was quite a big job, but the result is a firm and substantial structure.

Looking across the plat, one can see the whole impression of a rural kindergarten site developing.

“We are perplexed, but not in despair.” We are not deterred.

At the heart of the nursery site is the school ground or plat. In a series of phases over the past week, the bounds of the plat have been circumscribed with fencing.

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First, the posts were erected around three sides of the plat, and then the stock-proof fencing was fixed.

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Then came picket fencing across the front of the plat: the school railings as they were in days past.

Last of all came the gates.

Here is the delivery point for little people first thing in the morning.

And then an extra gate was hung, offering a shortcut to the woods and an emergency exit from the plat.

So nestling beside the woods and on a large site, we have been able to create a protected enclosure for the young children entrusted to our care.

An essential part of the seasonal risk assessment is at tree level. Dead limbs are a potential danger and must be removed, and the tree made safe.

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Yesterday our tree surgeon did his work on one after another specimen, going higher and higher to the capacity of the machine: a full 17 metres.

Of course, we are all about young children, but we have livestock too. God’s creatures have to be accommodated, and so work has begun on a prominently located run for guinea pigs, rabbits and chickens.

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It is not yet finished, but it is certainly looking good.

The idea is simple: a place to locate the shacks, and give a good space for the animals to wander safely.

Before it is completed, it is proving essential for keeping apart, not the fauna and the pet rabbits, but the flowers from wild rabbits.

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I always tell the children that this is what the angels say: “Fear not!”

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Perhaps the car park needs to be a little larger. We are extending it. First comes the hardcore …

Concern was expressed that vehicles passing on the single track might struggle. So today there was another clearance job done.

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Now it looks much easier.

The land having been prepared, we began work on our first structure on this new site. A kindergarten (or literally, a children’s garden) is either a garden where children are grown or one for children to grow things. So it made sense to put up a place to do just that.

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And all decked out with welcoming hydrangeas, here is the hub of our garden for children.

This week is to be interesting. It started with mowing all but an area of reeds growing in a heap of rough soil.

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Then the ‘rough and reedy’ area needed to be cleared.

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And now we are ready for some structures.

Whether it be the natural environment or the things we introduce to it, all is to be very beautiful.

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When I first worked with children I was influenced by a chapter of Edith Schaeffer’s in which she discusses flowers and meal table decoration. She urges us not to say: “Oh, it doesn’t matter, it’s only the children.” She reasons: Children growing up in an atmosphere where beauty is considered an important part of daily life cannot help being inspired to develop their own original ideas in these areas, nor can they help being prepared to live aesthetically themselves. *

A little enhancement has been made: a visual boundary in hessian. Some boundaries are really solid and some are just signals. Whatever the material, we must try to preserve the natural beauty and let children learn from its glory.

* Edith Schaeffer (1971), Hidden Art, Norfolk Press, page 104.

Another aspect of making the site safe is the removal of hazardous objects dumped and half-buried over time. The more that is moved, the more I see as my eyes become attuned to potential danger.

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Nothing as glamorous as an archaeological dig for Roman remains, but essential nevertheless.

We weren’t expecting this work till the next week. By the end of Friday it was done. Chestnut posts were driven into the ground and a beautiful protective barrier created.

There is more fencing yet to be done, but this has been a great start to an important aspect of the project.