Somerhill Review 2023/24

THE SOMERHILL REVIEW 2023/24

The children started the year by sharing and explaining ‘All About Me’ boxes that they had put together over the summer holidays.These included items that were special to them and photos of their family. This helped them gain insight into each other, and the children learnt about their peers’ interests and hobbies. We read stories about being special and unique, learning that our school is a community that cares for us and keeps us safe. Our journey to India in the Michaelmas term meant eating Indian cuisine, trying on colourful saris and learning traditional Indian dancing.The first trip of the year was to the spectacular Big Cat Sanctuary in Smarden.The children saw many big cats and learnt about their habitats.The Indian tigers were beautiful, and the children even saw leopard cubs which had only been born a few weeks earlier. The Lent term began with discovering a mysterious egg in our classroom! The children created nests for the egg out of natural resources and studied who it might belong to. As our ‘Frosty Footprints’ topic continued, we learnt about Inuits, investigating how they live, including how they prepare and cook food. After washing and cutting our own vegetables, the children used the open fire in the woods to cook vegetable soup. On a cold wintery day, it definitely warmed us up! A visit to Eagle Heights helped the children learn more about huskies. Excitedly, the children met and stroked Shebby, discovering why dogs like huskies are essential to people in colder climates. In the Trinity term, our ‘Down on the Farm’ topic evoked lots of discussion about animals and farming.With a focus on history, the children busily researched the history of farming and compared the old practices to now. A visit to the Cranbrook Museum and Union Mill solidified this learning, with many pictures to study and equipment to hold.The children climbed to the top of the mill, seeing the five sweeps out of the windows.They ground their flour in the mill and used it back at school to make delicious rolls.We visited the bees at Somerhill to learn why bees are important on farms and visited the science block to learn about tadpoles and frogs.To finish the year, the children learnt and performed several songs for the pre-prep performance of The Bee Musical. Dressed as mice, they danced to many show-stopping songs with the rest of the pre-prep.

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