Holy Trinity and St John's Church of England Primary School
Courage | Compassion | Community
Woodland School
WELCOME TO THE WOODLAND SCHOOL PAGE !
This is the place to come for all the news from Woodland School and the School Garden.
APRIL 2026
500 House point activity day in Woodland School
Some children chose to make these salt dough mini beasts in Woodland School during the 500 house point treat day. We used leaves, petals and sticks for the legs, wings and eyes. Well done everyone!
Gardening news…
Some kind local gardeners generously gave us all of these plants for the School Garden! Thank you!
Here we are putting in some broad bean plants in the raised bed in the school garden.
Planting up some pansies in the School Garden...
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NATURE NEWS!
A friendly robin lives in Woodland School. We often see it hopping about near the den. Sometimes it sits on the Woodland School gate. When we are gardening it often watches us because it is on the look out for bugs and worms to eat. We saw it with a big green caterpillar in its beak!
A family of blue tits has been using one of the nest boxes in Woodland School. The chicks have now fledged. Did you know that a blue tit only weighs around 11 grams? That’s about the same as a dessert spoon of sugar!
OUR OBSERVATION STATION FOR THE MONTH OF APRIL:
Here is all of the wildlife that we spotted in Woodland School during April.
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MAY 2026
There are lots of grey squirrels in woodland school. They are very agile climbers! Did you know that squirrels have ridges on the soles of their feet? They have a texture abit like the tred on a bike tyre or a car tyre. This allows squirrels to grip really well onto the big fence in Woodland School, and onto the trees. They are attracted by the bird food and they like the tall trees where they can nest and hide. Look out for them when you come into school in the morning!
DD tarp shelter:
Here are some children from Year 1 learning how to use the mallet and tent pegs. Then we used our skills to make a simple diamond shelter with a DD tarp. Well done everyone!
We have some new Hungarian Army tents!
Some children from KS2 had their first try first try at putting up one of the new Hungarian Army tents. We had to adjust it a little and the buttons were tight to do up BUT we didn’t give up and in the end we were successful! Well done all!
NATURE NEWS!
We have noticed lots of red admiral butterflies flying about in woodland school at the moment.
The JAY is back in woodland school! Look out for the distinctive turquoise flash on its wing.
A wren has made a nest in the den in woodland school. Wrens have a very LOUD song, despite their tiny size! Look and listen for the wren when you come up to woodland school.
Here is a photo of the wren’s nest, in the den, in Woodland School. The nest has been made from a ball of dry leaves. There is a small entrance/exit hole at the top.
NO MOW MAY !
It is NO MOW MAY. This means that we should leave our lawns to grow all this month so that small wildflowers like red clover, buttercup and wild pea can grow. These will then provide nectar for bees, butterflies and moths.
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In the heavy rain this afternoon, we stayed in the den in Woodland School and got creative with the pine cones and teddies.
Pine cones can be used for all sorts of creative play!
Salt dough mini beasts
A salt dough spider by Oliver in Otter class
A salt dough dragonfly by Louis in Otter class
Wildo fire strikers
Some children from Key Stage 2 learnt how to use the Wildo fire strikers.
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We really like using the wood chunks to build things! It is like playing with a giant construction set!
Working together, we built this wooden teepee then surrounded it with a low log chunk wall.
Nature news!
A clever crow is visiting us in Woodland School. We watched the crow as it dipped some small pieces of hard, dry bread into the bird bath. It was doing this to soften the bread, making it easier for it to swallow. A very clever crow!
We noticed two pied wagtails scuttling about by the staff car park. These birds are black and white. They have a long tail which they bob up and down, hence their name!
The RSPB:
If you are interested in learning about birds, why not have a look at the RSPB website ! It is at rspb.org.uk
There is a section on the RSPB website called “Find a bird”. It has photos and all sorts of information about British birds. It is well worth a look if you are interested in wildlife.
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Teddy bear parkour in Woodland School!
Here are a selection of our teddy obstacle courses! Each obstacle course had to include something for the teddies to go over, go under, go up, go down and go through. There were some excellent creative ideas including drop-slides, a maze, bridges, tunnels and diving boards! Well done everyone!
OBSERVATION STATION FOR MAY:
Here is our record of the wildlife that we saw in the month of May.
JUNE 2026
30 DAYS WILD
Get closer to nature this June! Sign up for a free “30 DAYS WILD” pack from The Wildlife Trusts. Go to wildlifetrusts.org for more information.
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TOOL TIME IN WOODLAND SCHOOL
We learnt how to use the loppers, secateurs and peelers today, and we wore safety gloves to protect our fingers from the peeler! Some children wanted to use the sticks to make magic wands. We used wool and yarn to create stripes on the wands. Some children chose to make stick man and Jackson chose to make a stick dog! Well done everyone!
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GARDENING NEWS:
The vegetables are growing really well in the school garden, the broad beans and lettuces are almost ready to pick! The new potatoes should be ready to dig up at the end of the month.
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CHILDREN NEED GREEN TIME....NOT SCREEN TIME! Spending time outdoors is hugely beneficial for both mental and physical health.
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Collaborative castle-building in Woodland School!
A magnificent castle for the woodland teddies! This was begun in the morning with children from year 1. In the afternoon year 4 added the roof made from lime and sycamore leaves and then finally year 5 added a path and two watch towers, plus furniture inside the castle. A fantastic collaboration and so many creative ideas! Well done all!
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KNOT TIEING
We have been learning how to tie knots. We learnt how to tie a reef knot and then we tried the figure of 8 knot. We used two colours of paracord to make it easier.
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PAPER PLATE CATERPILLARS
We like getting crafty in woodland school. Today some children from year 1 and 2 made these caterpillars, using natural materials for the stripes, the legs and the head. Some children used the centre of a daisy for the eyes!
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A FOX IN WOODLAND SCHOOL !
At least one fox lives behind the big wooden fence at the back of Woodland School. Miss Spickett saw this one today as she came into school...
Getting creative in Woodland School …
A wonderful wooden teepee for Mr Owl...
Adam and Christopher in Osprey built this delivery car...
Harvey from Kestrel class built this amazing car. It’s big enough and strong enough for us to sit in!! Vrooom!
Maddison designed and made these seats in the teddy cafe...
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WHAT ARE THESE STRANGE BLACK AND RED CREATURES IN WOODLAND SCHOOL ??? READ THE CLUES AND FIND OUT!
Did you guess correctly? These strange bugs are LADYBIRDS!
WOVEN BUTTERFLIES by year 3, 4 and 5
We have been getting crafty with these marvellous woven butterflies!
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Dexter from Robin class learnt how to use the bow saw today. Great job Dexter!
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WOOD COOKIE NECKLACES IN KEY STAGE 1
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Term 6 Week 4 whole class sessions in Woodland School!
We have been singing The Soda Song and the Pizza Man song at the log circle, and we’ve been doing the Hokey Cokey too! We have played Pass the Clap at the log circle and also we have done a Mexican Wave! Woohoo!
We’ve been busy in the mud kitchen, made magic wands, watered the garden, made a giant log house and teepee, made decorated snails and completed a Go Find It treasure hunt…WOW… what a busy week!
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Children from Year 5 and Year 6 have taken part in a “Go Find It” challenge in Woodland School this week. There were ten challenge cards to find and undertake!
The winning person or team from each class won a prize.
The winners are:
Year 6 Hawk class: Jack
Year 6 Red Kite class: Isla and Evie
Year 5 Kestel class: Justas, Elliott M, Alfie C
Year 5 Osprey class: Taya and Scarlett
Here are some of the GO FIND IT challenge cards...
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SPECKLED WOOD BUTTERFLY IN WOODLAND SCHOOL...
We saw a speckled wood butterfly in Woodland School today!
THERE ARE LOTS OF HARLEQUIN LADYBIRDS IN WOODLAND SCHOOL AT THE MOMENT...
Wyatt from Hawk class found a Harlequin ladybird on the fence. We have noticed lots of these bugs lately! They have an orangey shell and LOTS of spots!
JULY 2026
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WOODLAND SCHOOL INFORMATION:
Woodland School has community links with:
The Dane Valley Woods project
The Wilderness to Wonderland project
The Windmill allotments
Woodland School has county links with:
The Kent Wildlife Trust
The Kent Bat Group
Mrs Chantler has been teaching children in Kent primary schools since 1992. She is also a qualified Level 3 Forest School Association teacher. She started teaching in Woodland School in 2020.
Here are some of our awards!
