Glamour was bottom of the agenda when the IV Year biologists enjoyed three days of glorious spring sunshine on their field course based at Juniper Hall in Dorking.

“Getting muddy and really experiencing ecology has been great fun," said one.

Another commented on “So many new experiences with just a river and friends”, and “Finding leeches was one of my favourite bits”

“Counting grass was never this fun” “I wish we could stay longer” are just a few more of the positive evaluations we received.

Year 3 made the most of an opportunity to visit RHS Wisley last week. In the morning they explored the three different climatic zones in the huge greenhouse, comparing the way plants adapt to a variety of growing conditions. They investigated the Root Zone and were surprised to find how many roots and tubers we use for food, spices and medicine.

After enjoying a sunny picnic lunch in the sheltered garden of the Clore Learning Centre, they took part in a workshop, “Come Wind, Come Sun”. They were instructed in how to take air and soil temperature, and how to monitor wind direction and strength. Armed with this knowledge they set off to five different sites to collect data and then analyse their findings. Back at school the children completed a similar exercise. In both cases they were surprised at the variations in a relatively small area, and began to understand what a microclimate is.

On Tuesday afternoon we did cookery. We made salsa and it was really cool (well, a little bit spicy maybe). We used tomato, green pepper, red onion, coriander and lemon juice. It looked like a piece of art work because it was very colourful. We served it with corn chips. It was delicious and my whole family loved it.

Kiera, 4A

Year 5 were chopping onions, chillies and avocados with enthusiasm, when they made Guacamole with Mrs Munt and Mrs Duffy from the Senior School. Having chopped, mashed, sprinkled and stirred, the children then had the opportunity to taste their wares with tortilla chips. Even though the groups had used the same recipe, the finished product was slightly different, both in consistency and taste, which was great as it meant that everyone had to try both types. When they had eaten enough the next treat was a drink of hot chocolate using real Mexican chocolate.

The prep school are going green. We have registered our school with the Generation Green website and are working towards earning 'leaves' for the school. Recently we held a 'green' assembly, led by Mr Walker, who showed the children a picture of the world at night. It was shocking to see how many areas were not lit up. All those places that do not have electricity at night, worse still, it really showed how much light some countries were using.

As part of our science topic we wrote poems about the sounds we would miss. Here are a few of them.

The sounds that I would miss
are many different sounds,
like lots of small children
playing in the school grounds.

And the splashing of the puddles
that lay around the street.
And the screeching of laughter
when we tickle someone's feet.

The barking of a happy dog,
the crying of a baby.
A hopping frog that's in a pond.
And the chatting of a young lady.

These are all the things I'd miss
and everything I like to hear.
I'm really, really happy that
I have a healthy ear.

I woke up today
And all my sounds had gone away.
I woke up
And I thought about the sounds.

The squeals of new born animals,
The beeping of a tractor
As it ploughs the fields.
The Easter eggs being eaten.

The splashing of waves,
The songs as the ice-cream vans come,
The rustling of the trees
As the wind blows through.

The crunch of the leaves in Autumn,
The sound of fire burning.
The fireworks popping
On Guy Fawkes night.

The crack of ice
As you stamp on it.
The sound of snow
As it falls to the ground.

The clip-clop of a horse's hooves,
The sound of my mum's voice.
The sound that music makes.
The swish of a paintbrush.

I woke up this morning
And thought how lucky I was,
Because my sounds came back.
Some people don't have sounds.

When I was five on exactly this day,
I became deaf straight away.
All the sounds I miss...
The jokes of my friends,
The song of the birds,
The crying of a baby
With all those first words.

The crackling of a Christmas cracker,
The little robin's tweet.
Think about how horrid it would be
Missing all these things, like me.

The singing of the birds,
The shaking of the trees,
The splattering of the rain
And the rustling of the leaves.

The ringing of the church bells,
The singing of the choir,
The waves in the sea shells
And the crackling of the fire.

The snoring of my dog,
The purring of my cat,
The softly falling snow
Meltng on my hat.

One day a man came,
He took the sounds away.
It took a whole day,
He didn't even tell his name.

The creaking of a chair,
The swishing of the light,
The whispering of the night,
A bell on a bike.

The laughter of my friends,
The vrooming of a Mercedes Benz.
The scribbling of a pencil
And the shading of a stencil.

The mooing of a cow,
And the grunting of a sow.
The barking of a dog.
And the croaking of a frog.

Year 5 went to Intech's planetarium. First we spent some time exploring Intech for ourselves; we went on all sorts of fun things. My favourite one was the system for moving grain around: there were four things that you had to turn to make the grain go round the whole system.
At 11:30 it was time to go into the planetarium. When we went in, we were surprised to see that it was like a cinema. We sat down in the most comfortable seats and watched the show. It was funny because when the start exploded it made a big, loud bang, but in space you wouldn't hear it because there's no atmosphere. I found it very interesting.