We planted a tree in our orchard in the Walled Garden today to commemorate the Coronation of King Charles III. We don’t know what kind of tree it is so it will be a surprise to see what grows. Our children think it will grow really tall and maybe it will give us some pears or apples to eat for our snack 🤞🏻
We were very pleased to welcome Kay and Heather from Echoes Ecology to our woods this morning. They have picked a beautiful, warm, sunny day to visit!
Kay and Heather are are conducting a Preliminary Ecological Appraisal (PEA) of our site in the woods which will document the range of habitats present and will look for signs of any protected species. This initial appraisal will inform the requirement for any future surveys.
Kay is known to us at CVN having helped us put up squirrel and bird feeders in the woods a couple of years ago. We are hopeful that our children can again be involved so that we can learn more about the creatures that live in our woods.
We were pleased to join with so many people at the mid month volunteer session in the Walled Garden at Gillies Hill Community Woodland today. The garden is literally springing into life and there were many jobs on the go including digging over and planting potatoes in a new bed, fixing the door to the poly tunnel, clearing the ever present glass and rubbish, planting strawberry plants and planting a new willow dome. It’s great to see changes and improvements as a result of everyone’s hard work. Despite the long list of jobs on the go there was time for a chat while enjoying a well earned cuppa.
Our job today was building a willow dome and, if we say it ourselves, we were very pleased with the result. It has a little bit of growing to do as we were maybe a little bit over ambitious with our planning but ambition is never a bad thing 😉
We are looking forward to watching it grow!
Our children have been out today picking up litter in Gillies Hill Community Woodland as part of the Community Clear Up Month. We collected a lot of litter and the bag was very heavy by the time we were finished. We hope you notice that the woods are so much cleaner now as a result of our hard work!
Thank you to Cambusbarron Community Council for lending us the litter pickers.
Our children have been very interested in learning about how to keep safe and healthy like their Wellbeing Buddies Safe Stella and Healthy Henry. Children have been asking about the roles of doctors, nurses, paramedics and first aiders too as we’ve had a lot of “accidents” in nursery requiring emergency treatment!! We were delighted therefore to welcome Lynsay Allan with Mini First Aid Fife & Forth Valley and Teddy to nursery yesterday. Teddy is very accident prone and Lynsay showed the children what to do if they have an accident too. Our children learned how to clean a small cut and put a plaster on it, how to put a cool pack on for 10 minutes if they have a bump on their heads, how to help a very poorly person lie on their side and how to call 999 to get help for them.
Lynsay thought all of our children were Superstars!
It was a privilege to spend several days in Chatelherault Country Park this week with my Learning through Landscapes colleague, Gordon, delivering Forest Kindergarten training to a group of early years professionals from South Lanarkshire council. It was great to see their enthusiasm and confidence grow over the course and I look forward to hearing how their Forest Kindergarten adventures progress.
Sharing what we do at CVN with others, motivating and encouraging then to take their children outside is so rewarding. It also serves as a reflection point for me with the opportunity to explain the huge benefits to children (and adults!) of being outdoors in nature. It shows how far we have come at CVN and is a reminder that we shouldn’t take what we have here for granted. We are so lucky to have the amazing Gillies Hill Community Woodland as a resource on our doorstep and to be able to spend so much time there playing and learning.
Meeting new people, sharing practice and exploring such a beautiful location (if, like me, you’ve never been to Chatelherault before, I’d definitely recommend a visit) is reward enough, but lovely to receive positive feedback from participants too 🥰
“I have to comment on Gordon and Jane. They are so knowledgeable, friendly, welcoming, supportive and genuinely nice people. When you have people that are so passionate about what they do it ignites and fire in you and you just want to get out there and do what you have read, learned and spoke about. Thanks to them for making the three days for training memorable and fun.” South Lanarkshire FK participant.
To celebrate World Poetry Day, here is one of our favourites, Dirt on my Shirt by Jeff Foxworthy performed by our class of 2021/2022.
Despite the very cold temperatures of recent days our children were thrilled to spot some positive signs of spring in our woods this week! The beautiful sunshine emphasised the different shades of green starting to appear all around.
Cambusbarron Village Nursery 