5-Oak have been taking part in the Heartstone Story Circle project (as did last year's 5-Oak class). This is an innovative literature-based project which aims to tackle prejudice and intolerance due to race, gender, faith and disability. At the heart of the project is a book by Arvan Kuma, 'The Heartstone Odyssey: Chandra's Story'.
Each participating school has set up part of an exhibition in Greenhill Library (Harrow town centre) and the exhibition can be visited - if you're in town, go and take a look!
The attached video shows a small group of Year 5 children setting up the exhibition and talking about the Heartstone Story Circle project.

Isn't it exciting that all our children have been involved in the development of our school grounds today?

We've planting hedgerows, a micro-forest, fruit trees and seeds with the aim of improving our grounds and raising awareness of biodiversity for our children. We want to help our children to understand that biodiversity is such a vital aspect of sustaining natural ecosystems for food, water and clean air. 

This has all been made possible due to our partnership with biodiversity experts Ground Control.  They were part of the team which worked on Headstone Park and now they're supporting Pinner Park! We are blown away by the generosity of the company and their team.

The project is part of a wider plan to continue to develop our outdoor learning areas. This part includes 150m of native hedgerow, a micro-forest, fruit trees and a section of wildflower meadow.

All the trees planted reflect the soil at the school and include 22 native species of trees and shrubs including Alder, Hazel, Hawthorn, Hornbeam, Oak, Poplar and Willow. They're small saplings now, but we will watch them grow over the coming years. The wildflower meadow, to be planted when the ground is warmer and drier, will be a native mix designed to attract pollinating insects.

We're so pleased to be working closely with Ground Control. They are biodiversity experts and know everything there is to know about enhancing and improving the physical environment. Ground Control has a commitment to plant one million trees by 2025 and we're doing our bit to help!

Teaching about sustainability and biodiversity is very much part of our curriculum so it is exciting for the children to have the opportunity to see this in action in the real world.  We hope that the children's experience today, and over the coming weeks, months and years, will reinforce the importance of looking after nature and local wildlife in their own communities.

We're so grateful to the team at Ground Control, who have been so generous with their time, resources and expertise!

This video is a pre-recorded version of the presentation we shared with Year 6 children and their parents.  The presentation was intended to support families to support safe and appropriate use of devices and online resources.  Below the presentation are some additional resources and links.

Please use the links below to watch a recording of the parent briefing and to access the presentation slides.

We know how vital it is to have trusted information to turn to when children are asking questions about what is happening in Ukraine.  As a school, we subscribe to 'First News' , the award-winning newspaper for children.  Their journalists have written a 6 page Ukraine special in this week’s First News, that will provide children with an age-appropriate background on what’s happening, answer their most urgent questions and showcase how people are finding ways to help.

First News are giving free access to this week's newspaper, which can be accessed at the link below.