Welcome to our end of half-term newsletter, where we celebrate the endless achievements here in the PT Hub. This edition is dedicated to sparking your adventurous spirit and encouraging creativity through the natural world around us. Join us as we highlight our remarkable accomplishments. Get ready to be inspired and explore the many possibilities the Hub has instore.
Forest Foraging
On a walk through the woods, one of our Hubsters found lots of wild garlic and flowers. He picked the leaves and learnt how to distinguish them from other plants. He then dug down to see how the bulbs differs to garlic bought from a supermarket. Some of our other Hubsters did a taste test before they were used to make some garlic dough balls, topped with the flowers from the plant. Our Hubster even chose some wild flowers to make a bouquet to take home. So many skills developed through getting out in the forest and exploring 💐🌱🍞.
The Great Outdoors
There have been plenty of opportunities to get outdoors now we have some warmer weather and the Hubsters have been fully embracing this! They have immersed themselves in nature and as a result, the air of positivity has been infectious. Outdoor learning not only promotes physical wellbeing but also offers fresh air and freedom to students. Hubsters have also been enjoying creating scavenger hunts and undertaking some orienteering whilst outdoors.
Dinosaur Excavation
We have an archaeologist here in the Hub, who embarked on an exciting adventure, excavating dinosaurs from ice, jelly, and dinosaur eggs. Armed with various tools and his own hands, our Hubster dug into each of them with determination and curiosity. Extracting the dinosaurs from the ice required significant problem-solving skills! Once all the dinosaurs were successfully unearthed, he enjoyed playing in the sensory mixtures. The ice felt cold and slippery, the jelly was squishy and wobbly, and the dinosaur eggs provided a fascinating texture to explore 🧊👋🏼🦖.
Colour Mixing
We love some active learning at the Hub! What better way to learn about colour mixing than to mix it using your own hands!? During this fascinating activity, we discussed primary and secondary colours and made our very own visual mixing board to go in the art room! 🎨🖌️👋🏼
World Bee Day
To mark World Bee day 🐝 a student was learning about the importance of bees for pollination and how we can attract them to our gardens. We made a bee hotel using our woodwork skills and filled it with lots of natural materials to make it inviting for bees 🐝 We’re hoping they give us a 5 🌟 tripadvisor review!
Fitness
The Hub has been full of activity 🥊.Two of our Hubsters organised and led boxing techniques and skills to both staff and students. They started with a warm up and then moved along the different stations to practice the skills they had learnt. Great fun all round 😁
Cooking
Ready, Steady, Cook 🧑🍳. Amazing skills shown in the kitchen at The Hub! Both teams were given the same ingredients and had to decide what they were going to make. The end result was a curry and an open burrito 😋. What an absolute treat 😋
Highlights from this half-term
Plant Hospital
The Plant Hospital has been busy and our Plant Doctor has been hard at work diagnosing sick plants and exploring how best to make them healthy again. A few weeks ago, he had a Rubber plant that had a disease caused from too much light and water. After some careful research, the plant was moved to the shade and our Doctor made a fungicide treatment. This was sprayed onto the plant and the disease infected leaves were trimmed. The Rubber plant as you can see, is now looking so healthy and even has a new leaf coming through! How lucky are we to have such a caring Hubster to look after our plants.
National Art Week
During National Art Week, we had the incredible opportunity to welcome Safi’s mum into our Hub. She led a captivating watercolour workshop that introduced the Hubsters to the enchanting world of watercolours. Through her guidance, the Hubsters became skilled at various techniques, mastering the art of stretching and blending watercolours to create mesmerising pieces that uniquely captured their artistic expressions. This experience developed their artistic skills and Hubsters expressed their enjoyment and pride in the artwork they produced. The session proved to be an inspiring event, leaving a lasting impression on all who participated.
Birthday Display
One of our Hubsters has helped to plan a Birthday display. He said rather than having birthday balloons, clouds are more calming and they’re different ☁️He went around The Hub asking when everyone’s birthday is to write on individual clouds to go onto the display. We think this is a wonderful way to show everyone’s birthday so we can celebrate together 🥳✨
Soap Making
One of our Hubsters went on his very own nature hunt to find different flowers, herbs and leaves to make some nature inspired soap. He melted the soap before pouring it into the moulds and then added his finds from the hunt. Our student then wrote out some cards to add to them for presents for his family. Such an amazing act of kindness 🥰.
Food Technology Assessment Preparations
Did you know we offer opportunities for our students to complete their Food Technology qualification? Our students were busy preparing for their final assessments by choosing two course meals to cook. They had also been evaluating and sharing their recipes with each other, which not only enhanced their learning experience but also encouraged a sense of ownership and motivation. Yesterday, the three students received their certificates for Level 2 Home Cooking Skills and passed with flying colours 🎉 we are so proud!
