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Years 5 and 6 went for a day of outdoor learning in Jubilee Woods last week – Tuesday 8th November – as part of their Art and DT project work. The day was split into two parts; morning for DT and afternoon for Art. In the morning Year 5 were building leaf shelters using only natural products they found around them and a little twine if needed; Year 6 were setting up camp in a mock-survival situation using tarps, twine and wire saws. All boys were only allowed to use fallen items, i.e. nothing from living plants or trees so that we made as little impact on the woods as possible. They had a great time hunting for the right materials and setting up shelters – which they ate lunch in! We were very kindly assisted by Mr Warner who spoke to the boys, before we started the activities, about survival and the key things to remember – more specifically jungle survival as he has spent many months with Bear Grylls travelling and surviving in jungles around the world! Before lunch Mr Cash also shared with the boys his expert knowledge of survival and how best to find fire wood and set a fire even in torrential rain and wet conditions – very useful information!
In the afternoon they were mixed together and put into the same groups they had been in for Willow Day last half term. They were given examples of work from artist Andy Goldsworthy and then had to create their own interpretation of it using the materials they could find on the ground.
The results were stunning and the boys all thoroughly enjoyed the whole day, despite the damp and cold weather.
The structures that they built and the Art work that they produced were left in place once all the string and other ‘unnatural’ materials had been removed, so if you’re passing through the woods in the near future, you may well see some of their fantastic ‘landscape art’ or leaf shelters still standing!
Here are a few accounts from boys in Year 6 of their experience:
My visit to Jubilee Woods wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. It was on Tuesday 8th November when we started our walk. It wasn’t a long walk and I was ready for the tasks I would have to do.
The things I learnt in class that helped me were tying knots, finding dry pieces of wood for a fire and how to split wood with an axe. But the most helpful thing I remembered from class was how to build a fire.
The new things I learnt through the activities were how to build a shelter and how to make a picture with different coloured leaves.
At first the team were stuck on finding a place to put the shelter. Max said that we should put it in a thorn bush! At first I wanted to stay away but when I did go in the thorn bush the team worked great and we came 3rd for camp building.
If I could go there again I would change the place of our camp to somewhere where there are no thorns, and I would put more time into building a fire.
Now I think I’m more able to survive in the wild because now I can build a shelter and a fire. Benjamin Smith 6SM
On 8th November the whole of Years 5 and 6 went to Jubilee Country Park. We went there on a DT and Art based trip. First we made a shelter from trees, string, tarps and willow. Then we made patterns on the ground with leaves. Overall, I really enjoyed the trip.
I think the work in class did help a lot in the woods because I remembered the structure of fire building and how to sharpen a stick to clear the area of all rotting leaves. On the trip I learnt how to build a fire and how to use dry sticks from the trees and not moist sticks from the ground. Our team worked together very well because I would get the tinder, Arnav got the kindling and Ben got the dry sticks and logs.
If I were to do it again I would pick a better place to camp and clear the area of all leaves and sticks. I think if I was in the wild I would survive because I now have a stronger knowledge of the wildlife and it’s surroundings. Oliver Micallef 6SB
On the 8th of November Year 6 and Year 5 took a trip to Jubilee Woods. We learnt how to build shelters and fires, we were split into groups, given a tarpaulin, wire saw, length of string and then told to get cracking! Our group made our camp deep in the woods with an empty ditch beside it to help us move about. We won the competition for the most useful and well constructed camp. All of us were very happy about it and I hope Mrs Wheeler thought we deserved it. It was all very exciting because we thought about what would happen if we really were stranded in the wild! I really enjoyed it.
The work we did in class before the trip was very useful because we knew how to tie knots, use a wire saw and split wood. We specifically enjoyed cutting wood with the wire saw.
I learnt how to get dry, dead wood from trees without damaging them and put them together to make a fire. I think my team worked extremely well together because we all did something that we liked. I would have improved our weather drainage system though, by putting a large log upright in the middle of the tarpaulin so all the water wouldn’t collect in the middle of the roof if it rained. I think I could survive in the wild alone better now, especially if I had the same people with me! Saul Luboff 6SM
Have you ever put up a shelter? Have you ever made a fire using tinder, kindling and logs? Well, on Tuesday 8th November all of year 5 and 6 went to Jubilee Woods to learn about survival. I was really excited to be building shelters and collecting logs. First we had to choose a spot and set up our tarpaulin using string. Ours was in a nice, cosy spot with lots of leaves covering the shelter. Then we had to build a fire using tinder (dry leaves), kindling and logs. I found it really fun smashing logs against tree trunks to get the tinder out. However, it was hard getting dry leaves as it was raining the day before. I learnt that the top of your tarp should be slanted so the rain flows down. I also learnt that your basic structure should be rigid unless you want to pull a string and have your whole shelter collapse! However, the biggest mistake you can make is putting thorns in the place where you are going to sit! Mr Warner also helped us as he knew lots about survival.
Afterwards, we went to the fields to make pieces of Art based on Andy Goldsworthy. Overall, it was great being around nature all day.
The work we did in class was very useful as it helped us set up our shelters and use new techniques, for example we used our willow skills from Willow Day to tie a stick to a tree as we had run out of string. I learnt that you should always use the dry twigs to make a fire and that the location of your shelter is very important. It should be in a covered spot and where you can get food and water easily.
I think that our team didn’t really work very well together, as everybody was doing their own thing. I think that’s the reason we made a few mistakes. If I were to rate us it would be 5 out of 10. If I were to do the whole thing again I would make sure that the roof of the tarp was slanted and I would spend more time building walls and looking for wood than trying to raid others’ camps. I would definitely be more able to survive in the wild as I now know most of the basics. Arnav Barry 6SB
Dee Wheeler
Head of Design Technology
