On Thursday 25 June, Year 3 spent a lovely day in the New Forest at the Countryside Education Trust in Beaulieu. 

The day was going to be another hot one in our current heatwave, so it was terrific to spend the day in the beautifully cool New Forest. When we first arrived, we met our leaders, Lewis and Livvy. We dropped our bags off in the treehouse, played a bird call identification game and then went into the woodland to find minibeasts. Any poor, unfortunate little critters that hadn’t managed to burrow out of the intense heat in time, were speedily scooped into pots for just a very short time. We found millipedes, beetles, woodlice, slugs and many other different insects along with quite a few tiny toads! 

On the way to our leaf identification task, we experienced life as a burrowing bunny, digging our way through a camouflaged tunnel. This provoked much hilarity and was declared one of the many highlights of the morning. 

Managing to identify leaves independently, using charts, whilst strolling through the trees, was a great nature learning point for the boys. Next, before lunch, we played a ‘wiggly worm’ game which involved the boys adopting bird of prey characters and swooping on different coloured ‘worms’ to see how insects try to protect themselves from predators.   

We ate our lunch inside the treehouse or on the outside deck before Lewis showed us a bee population that had identified another treehouse as a desirable place to spend some time. The boys really were fascinated by the diverse life found inside the woodland. 

Having had a wonderful time, we then grabbed our bags and headed back to the minibus where Mr Alford was waiting for us. We had such a super day and learned a great deal as well. Special thanks to Mr Alford and Mrs Byrom (who very kindly accompanied us with tremendous enthusiasm at short notice). 

The boys were a credit to the school: great company, great curiosity and great fun!  

Anne Erasmus
Year 3 Teacher