A beautiful day and lots of babies (monkeys, giraffes and a leopard) made this annual trip with the First Years particularly relaxing and memorable! Marwell Zoo is committed to conservation and has an extensive breeding program, so this gave us an opportunity to think about the role of zoos as well as looking at adaptations to particular habitats. The hot, steamy conditions of ‘Tropical World’ house the menacing leaf cutter ants as well as the popular and deadly jewel coloured poison arrow frogs. Outside, many of the animals were sunbathing and highly visible which made a change from previous years! We also spent some time looking at the Madagascan lemurs and the extraordinary Fossa who preys on them.

A fantastic day was had by all Nursery & Pre Prep children at their recent Pet Day. Numerous dogs came to visit including a Rough Collie, a Golden Retriever, a Springer Spaniel, two beautiful cats, Rabbits, hamsters, chicks & even Ozzie, Charlotte Schryver's pony came to see us. Ozzie was amazing & stood perfectly whilst practically every child groomed him! The children were delighted with all the visiting animals & behaved impeccably throughout the day. A very big thank you to all the parents who brought in pets and helped to make this such a memorable occasion.

We were greeted by smiley staff in bright red T-shirts. We knew this was going to be a great day. We went in through barns of horses, chicks, pigs and a herd of alpacas to name a few and then saw the huge selection of activities in the grounds.
There were set show times that we didn’t want to miss and lots of supervised activities for the very adventurous or those requiring a more gentle experience.
Tovi and Thomas went on the stage to feed the sheep and Daisy the cow ate lots of oranges… and wouldn’t leave the stage without being given yet another orange!
Bug ride zoomed around the park and you really had to hold on to your hats, well actually the steering wheel, we were soaked by pirates shooting water at us!
Crazy golf was a challenge with the hidden bumps and curves and a variety of styles were observed to get a hole in one, from gentle swings of the club to a little helping hand or foot to secure success!
Bumper boats caused a splash and an excuse to bump in to a friend.
‘Land ahoy’ as Reception climbed aboard the big ship which was standing room only!
Lunch in our very own covered picnic area was a real treat and lots of birds followed us.
Spider towers, tractor rides and a great wooden adventure area left the children just wanting more.
We ended the afternoon with ice-lollies and we thanked the staff at the farm for their kind attention. They told us it had been a pleasure to have Alton Convent School visit for the day as all the children were very polite and well behaved. What a great day!

As part of this term’s science programme on teeth and eating, Year 3 had a great day at Marwell Zoo on Monday. They learnt lots about how carnivore, omnivore and herbivore teeth are fitted to their function in a really interesting workshop session, before touring the zoo and meeting lots of animals. Particular favourites included the penguins and meerkats.

All children from Nursery to Year 2 enjoyed a wonderful day last Thursday when Miller's Ark animals came to visit, bringing with then an array of friendly animals.
The children were able to groom a very patient pony, stroke and cuddle two very delightful goat kids and even stroke a lamb when her mother would allow! The guinea pigs were a hit with the older children who were able to confidently handle them. All the children seemed fascinated by the chickens, ducks and geese and were amazed at the difference in their eggs.
Nursery and Pre Prep were delighted with the Kuni Kuni piglets who were very accommodating and enjoyed all the attention, seeming not to mind being sat on!
One of the goat kids aptly named 'Trouble' delighted everyone with her antics. She particularly enjoyed wandering off to the adventure play area to say hello to the older children much to the amusement of the younger ones!

The AS level Biologists, accompanied by Dr Otter were fortunate to have the opportunity to attend a Revision Day at Surrey University in Guildford. The speakers were all Senior Examiners and so had an excellent understanding of the kinds of things that students find difficult and the ways in which they can improve their grades. All this was illustrated with some fabulous pictures and interesting biological stories so the experience was enjoyable as well as very useful!

The IV Form biologists we took to the Surrey field studies centre at Juniper Hall near Dorking were a credit to the school. The three day residential course included a vegetation survey on Box Hill and sampling of invertebrates in the River Mole.

The enthusiasm and focus of the girls coupled with the good weather, impressive facilities and a good supply of chocolate all contributed to a thoroughly enjoyable trip for both staff and girls.

Dr Imogen Gate

We went to Selborne today to look at the Gilbert White Museum. A woman called Jenny showed us around before we went on a three hour walk across the countryside to collect woodland items. We all got very dirty! We finally went down the zig-zag path. It had about twenty zig-zags! It was tiring, but we made it and got back to the Museum safely. We got back to the field studies centre and looked through a bucket of dead leaves (leaf litter) with a magnifying glass to search for insects and then put them onto a big television screen to see them close up. We really enjoyed the day and learnt a lot about the woodland ecosystem

Year 3 were blessed with near perfect weather for Monday’s visit to the Royal Horticultural Society’s gardens at Wisley. Strolling through the beautifully landscaped gardens we caught sight of snowdrops, crocuses and early daffodils as we made our way to the splendid new glasshouse where we spent much of the morning. We explored dry and moist temperate zones, looking carefully at the differences and similarities between the plants in these contrasting climates, as well as being overawed by the vibrancy of colour in the tropical zone, particularly from the many orchids on display. The root zone provided opportunities for hands-on interaction with the below the surface life of plants. Our walk back took in the wild woods and the rockery, before we settled down to our picnic lunch.