St. Francis of Assisi – School Blog

We went to How Hill and our favourite thing was owl pellet dissection and the boat ride. We also enjoyed playing in the massive garden together; we played hide and seek. It was so funny. There were scary woods as well but amazing hiding spots. The nature was amazing and breath taking we saw; kingfishers, swallowtail butterflies, and amazing crazy creatures. When we woke up we saw a wonderful sunset and the squirrels eating breakfast. The food was very yummy and filling. Overall the experience was very fun and  we  would love two go again.

By Megan and Aedin.

How Hill was very fun for me because we thatched a house and went on a wherry it looked very shiny. My favourite activity was going on the boat because we saw lots of wildlife on the Barton Broad. The weather was chucking it down but it didn’t stop us doing our activity. The beds were very comfy. Also I really liked the weaving because it looked cool when it was finished! I slept in a room with Felix, Enda, David, Benedict, Risard and Gabriel!

This is a picture of How Hill House

By David, Gabriel  and Benedict.

Dyke dipping

We were dyke dipping and we had rods to catch water animals and we had to put them in a tray with water so they did not die and if they did it would be our fault about the death of it.

After we had the instructions told to us and then we put our rods in side of the water to start.

The animals we had to find were on a list so we knew if it was allowed for us.

The people in my group were Me, Toby and Kasper and it was so fun at dyke dipping.

On the 23^rd – 25^th  of September 2019 we went to How Hill.  At How Hill the activities were amazing.  Personally, my favourite activity was the nature trail because the secret garden had beautiful plants.  The tree, that had toffee apple scented leaves, was my favourite plant; it is really rare because it comes from Japan and even at one point people thought it was instinct.

The accommodation was very comfortable and enormous. The rooms were exquisite and all the beds were cosy.  The garden was like a maze full of wonderful flowers and the view was fantastic. In the morning there were rabbits in the garden and birds flying gracefully in the misty morning sky.  The food was brilliant and delicious.   There were numerous meals to eat and enjoy.  The shop had plenty of souvenirs to treasure the memories.

Overall, the trip was an amazing and awesome adventure. I can’t wait to go to Lake District!

By Rosavell and Ann Leigh

On Monday at 9am, 5M went to How Hill in The Broads.  It took one hour to get there but it was worth it. When we got there we were told the rules and unpacked our suitcases/bags.

Willow and Caitlin were in a room shared by Marnie, Isabel and Rachel! After we unpacked we had lunch.  Willow had jam sandwiches and Caitlin did too!

After lunch we went on a nature trail to the marsh.  It was kind of gross because it smelt of rotten eggs but cool!  While at the marsh/forest we played some games and spoke about the wildlife and the nature in the forest…

After around two hours later we headed back to the How Hill house.  When we came back from the marsh, we started weaving while they made dinner. It was a bit hard and not our favourite activity. They called us for dinner and it was pizza. It was delicious.

We went to our rooms and some of us had showers and some played outside. We went into our bedrooms and changed into our pyjamas. We talked until we fell asleep. Two of our roommates were talking all night!

Willow woke up at 6 in the morning, and then woke everyone else up!  I took a shower and changed into some day clothes.  We went down to the activity room and started to finish our weaving for a while, and then others watched TV.

Soon later, breakfast was ready so we all walked to the dining hall.   For breakfast, there was cereal, a cup of sugar, some butter, jam, milk and a basket of different kinds of toast. (Willow preferred the brown toast and Caitlin preferred white bread).

Soon after breakfast, we finished our weaving or some played infection outside in the garden! After that we got onto our 1st activity The boat ride across part of the broads! I went with my group and sat with my friend / roommate at How Hill Izzy! It was hilarious! We got of the boat and went to explore a shop made in an old cottage that belong to a family of eleven that lived long ago , we explored it and estimated how many people lived there (11)! We left and went to explore a real life wherry! It was brown with comfy couches, leaflets and much more!

We went back had lunch and did some more activates like Owl Dissection and stuff, then we came back for Dinner.   It was spaghetti – it was delightful!

I had a shower, changed, then went to play in the garden with them.  We played infection!  After around an hour Miss Mendham called us inside to finally go to bed!

At How Hill, I enjoyed Owl pellet dissection because we got to discover what the owl’s meal was.

My second favourite thing was thatching because we got to sharpen up the but of the reeds.

My 3^rd favourite thing was dyke dipping because we got to catch a massive water boatman and a humongous dragonfly nymph.

My favourite thing I did was environmental art and I built a den . My other favourite  thing is when we did the nature walk and we saw a kingfisher and we went into a hut for bird watching.I also enjoyed the dyke dipping because it was really cool.

When we arrived at How Hill we unpacked our stuff and went to our rooms. I shared a room with Callum, Jamie and Kasper.

On the second day we went in the morning and did some weaving and then went and had breakfast. At breakfast I had 5 pieces of toast and some orange juice.

After that we got 10 minutes in the garden and we played Monster, a game we made up in year 4. When we came in we went to our rooms and got ready for the next activity… The Nature Walk. On the nature walk we went to the wet marshlands and dry. On the next day we went downstairs to breakfast. At breakfast I had toast with jam and my second one with honey. In the garden we played Monster again but this time we couldn’t find Callum.  We spent 30 minutes looking for him.  Finally Miss Mendham called Callum to get out of his hiding place so then we started the round again.  At lunch I had a tuna mayonnaise sandwich and prawn cocktail crisps for a treat. Then we got on the coach and the driver drove us back to school.  When we came back we took are belongings to the studio.

Borys

At How Hill I did dyke-dipping and I found a creature in the water. It was a water-boatman.  He was swimming very fast.  A water boatman is a minibeast.

I also found another creature. It is called a common frog.  It was jumping.

I enjoyed this activity because I found lots of creatures. I learned how to put the creatures gently into the water tray so that I could look at them.  You have to do a figure-of-eight with the net to get the creatures.

Leanne

I liked playing hawks and blackbirds because it was fun, we ate  dinner  a few minutes later  and waited for  Sophie and Lizzy to tell us the next activity. Next  we went back to the house and we got ready for bedtime and before that we watched a movie  miss farrow read us all a story roof toppers now time for bed.

Kian: At How Hill, I enjoyed the dyke dipping because I was really good  and I caught a shrimp a ,scorpion and a boatman.  Personally my favourite  thing was thatching  because you had to be strong. On the 25^th of September, my birthday, we did orienteering.   I enjoyed it because it was mind tricking.

Ashton: At How Hill, my favourite thing was doing the orienteering because you had to go around the garden which was humongous.  My second favourite thing was owl pelleting because you got to see what the owls ate. The food was really nice at breakfast everyone got a sugar rush.

At How Hill I enjoyed the boat trip to Barton Broad!   The trip was calm and also beautiful.   The wildlife surrounded us as we went down the River Ant.   At How Hill I also enjoyed orienteering and weaving.   When we did orienteering we used a compass.  Whilst we were doing orienteering the rain was pouring.   It was like a flood outside! Weaving is like knitting but it isn’t you use something like a rectangular thing.

In summary you should come and I forgot to mention that the gardens are gigantic.

DYKE DIPPING

Our teacher,who was Sophie, told us how to catch creatures that we might find in the dyke.  Sophie told us the equipment we needed to catch the creatures that we would find.

Then we got to the dyke and started to catch the creatures with our net.  We caught some creatures.   There were two rare and two common ones.

The creatures that we caught were a Water Scorpion, a Silver Beetle, and two water snails.  When the Lesson was over we put the equipment away.

After that, we went to the wooden classroom to do  owl pellet dissections.  We used tweezers, a magnifying glass and a toothpick.   Then, we picked the bones of a barn owl and looked at them with a magnifying glass.   After that, we got either a vole, a shrew  or a mouse’s head to take of their teeth and bones.

How Hill

At How Hill I loved the garden because it was like a confusing maze.  I also liked the beds because they were really comfy.  The activities that we did were dyke dipping, owl pellets, boat trip, nature walk, thatching, environmental art and orienteering.

The food there was amazing I really liked the orange juice.  From How Hill, I have learnt how to weave, how to thatch and how to use a compass.

Finally, my favourite activity was dissecting owl pellets because we got to look at animal bones.  We used tweezers and a cocktail stick to get through the fur and to the bones.  Owl pellet dissecting was also hard because you had to clean the bones that you found.  After that we found out what animal we had collected the bones for.

In summary I really liked our trip to How Hill because it was really fun and exciting.

We went to How Hill in 2019 on the 23^rd of September  to the 25^th of September.  Whilst we were  there  we did dyke dipping.  In dyke dipping we found a few water boatmen.   We also found a dragonfly nymph. As well as that we found a blood worm and a leech.  After every activity we had a biscuit or two with a cup of water again two.

The rooms were nice and I slept in a room with Gabriel, Felix, David, Benedict and Risard . The food on the other hand was good and on the first night we had spaghetti bolognese and the second night we had a roast dinner and we didn’t  have a 3^rd night.  In thatching we thatched a roof by getting reeds and lining them up, then we nailed the frame and saw if it was waterproof ours was completely water proof no-one got wet.