On Tuesday 10th September, Year 4 explored their learning question “What lives in and around our school grounds?” at Hawthorns Urban Wildlife Centre on Southampton Common. It was a beautiful, sunshine-filled day and we made the most of it by exploring the Common and the wildlife that live there. We took part in lots of activities through which we learned about hibernating squirrels, camouflage in caterpillars, the life of a tree and the migration of birds. We also discovered that bread is not good for ducks at all and puts the ducklings at risk from rats! We now know that we should feed them mixed grain, cooked rice or sweetcorn and peas. At the Centre, we explored the nature trail and examined creatures under the microscope. We used our observational skills to draw scientifically and identified plants and animals on the nature trail.

Back at school, we used our learning from our trip to explore the school and find evidence of the variety of life that shares our school grounds. We knew we might not see any animals but we looked for signs of them instead.

The Common and Hawthorns Urban Wildlife Centre are free (and we spotted a playground too), so lots of us are going to try and go again soon!