We took the reading paper this morning; Wolf Story was the title and it was all about wolves – and Jungle Book!
The questions weren’t too bad and we tried really hard as we are aiming high. It’s the Spelling and Grammar papers tomorrow – wish us luck!
HMS Illustrious at the gates of Westminster Palace!
Today we left school at 7.15 am to arrive in London in plenty of time for our appointment at the Houses of Parliament. We were going to find out many things about how Parliament works and about the history of the buildings.
As we were a bit early, we went in to the park beside Westminster…. to find that Auguste Rodin’s Burghers of Calais were no longer on their plinth; so we filled the gap!
Then it was off through security (including lanyards with our own security photo) and into Westminster Hall; 900 years of history and a beautiful hammerbeam roof over our heads - but it was so COLD in there…. 
We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, which was a shame as it’s spectacular. We did learn that Parliament means ‘talking place’ – very appropriate for us! We saw the difference between the House of Lords and the House of Commons (the House of Lords is MUCH prettier!), we learned about the Speaker’s Chair and the Woolsack and stood where David Cameron faces Ed Milliband over the Despatch Box.
After a drink and snack in the warmth of the Cafe, we headed up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square and Covent Garden, taking in all the sights along the way. Miss Carty told us the story of Charing Cross.
At Covent Garden there was a display of decorated eggs which we loved, as well as some living sculptures and a Buddhist monk who gave us bookmarks. 
We hugged our favourite egg!
Then we caught the Tube to Russell Square and walked on to Coram’s Fields for lunch and a playtime.
What next? Well, we needed a warm-up (it was less than 3 degrees Celsius outside) so we headed for a really quirky museum; the Grant Museum in the University of London’s Dept of Zoology. We came face to face with all sorts of animal skeletons, slices of microscopic creatures and jars of pickled mammals, fish and birds. A real taste of the 19th century – fascinating!
Finally we caught the Tube again to Embankment, crossed the river on the footbridge and went into the Royal Festival Hall to ride in the Singing Lift (all glass) to the 5th floor for a view of the River Thames and to picnic again.
We made it back in perfect time for the coach – just the long journey back home- or a concert at Neville Lovett for Conor, Ben, Reece, Euan and George!
THANK YOU Miss Carty, Mr Bainbridge and Mrs Southworth for a great day out!
Just a quick comment from the teachers…….
Because of the new Health and Safety regulations at Nethercott, we all became very familiar with the combination of wellies and waterproofs worn by each child! This is because, every time the children came back from a task, wellies had to be cleaned and mud removed from waterproofs.
That means between us, we scrubbed about 1250 legs over the week!
It got to the stage where we could recognise people by their waterproofs and wellies as a combination; we didn’t need to look up…….
Notice how CLEAN the cobbles are; that’s due to the litres of disinfectant that are used every day ensuring the children go into the house as germ-free as possible. My wellies have never come home so spotless!
Every year when we go to Nethercott, part of the whole experience is the competition between dormitories for points; up to 10 for tidiness, plus up to 10 for how well everyone as a team settled to sleep in their dorm. This year was no different; well, at least it STARTED no differently! The teachers go round as a team of judges while the children are in the schoolroom and allocate the points, based on whether the beds are tidy and everything is in its place – or not! There might be the odd note, but not much else……
The week started pretty well; average scores, about 8 or maybe 9 out of 10. But by Wednesday, each of the rooms had taken the competition on in their own way. The girls began it, but the boys soon cottoned on - and then the girls had some tough opposition!
On Wednesday morning, we went into Burrow, to be greeted by this intrepid character:
and then, each of the beds had a theme. I hope you can read each of the scenarios….
-even a tender loving couple and a sad teddy weeping over a letter from home!
It was similar in Parsonage…..
While the boys in Candlelight had mathematically tidy toothbrushes! Here I was introduced to Crazy Frog, who was to feature in some Dorm Tidy adventures. Torridge, not to be outdone, had educated teddies who read books…..
Possibly best of all was the poker playing teds in Torridge!
From here we had Bungee Crazy Frog in Candlelight….
And teddies in all sorts of scrapes in Torridge, Burrow and Parsonage…….
And even a vicious creature which attacked from above!
Not to mention Candleight upping the game with the mathematically tidy toiletries….
This was a real Nethercott first and such fun to be part of; the children really entered into the spirit of the competition and used their imaginations. Mr B and I loved it!
Thank you, HMS Illustrious for participating with enjoyment and a real sense of fun!
After all the excitement of yesterday, it has been good to get back to our last full day of routine jobs before we (SO sadly!) have to leave for home.
This morning, as we sat at breakfast, the mist came rolling in from Dartmoor; we could see it move towards us like a giant white blanket, creeping over the frosted fields and skeleton trees.
Group 1 set off on the trailer for Bridgetown, while Group 2 let out the poultry and Group 3 went down to Burrow to feed the tiny calves. It was a cold but beautiful morning; group 2 enjoyed a long trailer ride down to the lower fields by the river to feed the cows with calves from last year. It was magical to see the ice and frost turning everything into a shade of white, with the promise of sun to come.
After breakfast, Group 3 went on the stock walk and were privileged to have Tom for company (Miss Carty came too because it was Tom…); they went down Death Hill and shouted ‘Yoh!’ across the valley to hear the echoes. We counted at least 5!
Group 1 had the pleasure of Forest School with Barry in the roundhouse. You may not recognise us after we have made charcoal and created some very alternative egos!
Because Group 2 had missed out on Forest School on Sunday due to the visit to Chapel, Barry fitted in an extra session for them in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, Groups 1 and 3 had a Nethercott Quiz with Stuart, going over all the things we had learned during the week. Teams were: The Marshmallows, The Cheesy Pickles, The Ugly Turkeys and The Crazy Frogs (look out for this character later in a blog….). The Cheesy Pickles won: Ali, Anna, Myah, Lauren and Owen.
Before we knew it, the day was drawing to a close and it was time for last jobs. Group 1 were the last to be out working, down at Burrow where we started. A tired but very happy and proud group of children wandered back up Burrow Lane with Stuart……. and our magical working week came to an end.
See you all tomorrow!!!
When we (eventually and sleepily) made it out of bed this morning, we had NO IDEA that today would be really special. We thought we were in for our usual routine, but with the added excitement of the special Nethercott ‘Pop-Up Shop’ to buy Nethercott souvenirs for ourselves and our families (maybe!).
All groups were out for their usual routine of the three jobs (you know them all by now) before breakfast.
As usual, we just missed babies being born; there were new lambs AND new calves, but we had to make do with seeing them already with their mums. Lambs and calves were standing within minutes! At Parsonage, Sausage Roll the retired Kune-Kune pig was feeling a bit grumpy. She had come out to see Group 1 yesterday, but didn’t feel like talking to Group 2 today. It took some persuading from Stuart before she would come out of her house.
At breakfast, Miss Carty had some Good News for us. Our excellent persuasive letters had paid off; a certain Very Important and Famous Neighbour had been impressed by them (and probably the accompanying letter she put with it!) and….. MICHAEL MORPURGO WOULD BE COMING TO SEE US at 11.45!!
We went out for the second part of our jobs in a state of high excitement; Group 1 to groom the ponies, turn them out into the field and muck out, Group 2 to walk round the farms on a stock check and Group 3 to cook pizzas for tea!
11.45 was here in a flash and we were sent upstairs to check our dorms (the dormesto tidy competition is turning into a real contest between all 4 dorms – more of this later!) and to keep out of the way until Michael was here.
At 11.45 he arrived while the staff were having coffee; and there was a scream of excitement from the hordes gathered at the top of the stairs! We came down into the Quiet Room and sat to listen to him. He spent about half an hour with us answering questions; something he hardly ever does any more, because he is so busy. We felt very privileged to be one of the very few. We had to rush the shop and visit it in shifts, as we spent so much time talking to Michael. He answered our questions very skilfully – and very entertainingly!
After a filling lunch of bangers and mash with carrots and cheesy leeks (followed by fruit salad) we split into 2 groups; Groups 2 + 3 to shift stones and fill potholes in the lane for the milk lorry and Group 1 to Bridgetown to crush barley and make ash faggots for the fire. Group 1 were also filmed for David’s local cricket team DVD, showing what the team members do ‘in their spare time’!! We also witnessed the arrival of David’s brand new £30,000 tractor – he’s going to plough with it tomorrow.
The home-made pizzas went down well with some salad for tea and followed by delicious chocolate brownies. Only Group 3 went out this evening to the dairy, as Group 1 had done their task at Bridgetown at 4pm and Group 2 brought in the ponies also at 4pm.
After such a memorable day, some community games, hot choc and a story then bed was a great wind-down.
PS Watch out for the Dorm Tidy competition in a future blog – this has been the best year ever for participation and sheer ingenuity. It will be a hard act to follow, Year 5!! Challenge!!
IT’S TUESDAY!
From today we begin to say: ‘that’s the last time we will do this job!’ each time we complete one of our set farm tasks – that means we try to do it extra well and leave behind a really good impression for next year’s Yr 6 to live up to!
It was almost a ‘normal’ day for us: out at 7.30am, back for breakfast at 9am, out again to do the second half of the job at 10.30.
Group 1 were feeding calves, forking silage and stock check walk (including building stone dams in the river – just for fun!).
Group 2 travelled in the trailer to feed cattle and some of the sheep in the lower fields.
Group 3 fed and let out the poultry.
After breakfast, Group 2 worked with Leanne the cook to make pasties for tea!
This afternoon we had a special treat; Tom’s Talk.
Tom is a real Devon farmer; he grew up in Iddesleigh and went to the village school (now the village hall). He farmed in the area for most of his life and has all sort of intriguing things to show us and to talk about. He is a countryman through and through and helped to make the life of farmers in years gone by seem real to us. He showed us all sorts of things, like a ‘granny’ (not a person, but a stick for lifting sacks!).
We also spent a fair bit of time in the schoolroom (yes, there is one of those here – it has fantastic views towards Dartmoor), recording all the information we have learned this week about farming. For example, we found out that Graham’s herd of cows produce enough milk to feed 4,000 people one pint of milk!
We are heading for an early night, as we are ready for our beds; story, hot chocolate and straight to bed by 9pm tonight!
Our working Monday has been FREEZING! We awoke on time to the wind rushing through the trees which are all around us. A good night’s sleep was had by all, which was just as well, as there was a hard day’s work ahead.
In the far distance, Dartmoor was beautiful with its layer of snow, but here at Nethercott all the mud was frozen and it was bitterly cold; no snow to compensate! At least it was sunny (to start with….)
Each group started off at 7.30 for one of our 3 set jobs: dairy, poultry or cattle (on the trailer!). Group 2 were frozen as they fed the hens, geese, turkey and ducks and let them out. Groups 1 and 3 were at least inside for most of their jobs, feeding calves, forking silage and feeding beef cattle. David had moved one of the unexpected twin lambs born yesterday away from the ‘granny’ ewe who was their mother and on to a ewe whose lamb had died.
Breakfast was great as usual (scrambled eggs) and set us up for grooming Shetland ponies, checking stock (Group 3 had to walk UP Death Hill!) or cooking the most scrumptious jam tarts for lunch!
The afternoon tasks were: 2 groups working in the kitchen garden (compost spreading and collecting apple sticks for tinder) and Group 2 up at Bridgetown Farm preparing pens for lambing. Miss Carty forked out enough compost for us to barrow into the kitchen garden and cover an area bigger than most people’s back gardens – and the compost heap was FROZEN on its outside edge. She also pierced an egg left deep in the compost; it was rotted and burst with a loud POP. Boy, did it STINK! 
Lucky Group 2 were allowed to climb up the haystack under David’s watchful eye…. the rest of us are dead jealous.
By this evening, we have completed everything in our set tasks once and we begin the rotation all over again, learning new tips and wrinkles along the way.
We are all playing quiet games in the Quiet Room now:
And…… everyone has showered at last! phew!
Although it was Sunday morning and most sensible people were still in bed, we were out by the green doors at 7.30 sharp for our morning farming tasks.
We were going to complete our second set of farm jobs and we had to work in double quick time as we were off to the chapel in Iddesleigh after breakfast.
We walked with Hilary to the village, past the home of War Horse and up to the Methodist Chapel, where a friendly, informal service had been prepared specially for us. We had a chance to meet Philip the pastor and the villagers of Iddesleigh.
Walking back with Tom, a retired farmer, was a treat as he can’t resist pointing out plants and signs in the hedgerows. By the time we reached Nethercott, we were ready for our roast lunch. HOWEVER, we did spend time preparing our special Mothers’ Day message for all our mums!
The afternoon walk is always a pleasure….. well, nearly always! Diagonal snow and a cutting wind made it more of an endurance test: and some of us failed!
Despite our cold fingers, we all completed our evening jobs early so hat we could thaw in front of the stove in the quiet room after tea. Matthew has fun getting out of his very tight wellies! 
Much fun was had this evening, playing party games in front of the fire!
By this time tomorrow, we will have completed a full round of farm duties and hopefully we’ll be experts!
