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Beds going in nicely

It was almost a year ago that I started my Explorer Award, and it hasn't turned out as I expected - it's been a year that has changed my life and unsurprisingly the lives of millions of people across the world, in many ways. In October I joined the online book launch of The Lost Spells, the latest book by Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris - along with thousands of others - and heard them speak beautifully about the new connection with the natural world that many had found during the tightest restrictions of 2020 - "green became the colour that we drank to keep us alive", and "we heard birdsong with ears we had never known". Waking up super-early this morning with a head overfull of thoughts, I got a coffee and finished reading The Lost Spells and found one description in the Gorse spell that could sum up this year..."all helter-skelter points and angles". But also just as apt "quiet life is harboured in its criss-cross places" - for some of us this year has given us the chance and the time to remember the things that reset us - waking up this early for me would normally have been to race for a train to Inverness or to pack a van full of tools, and instead I am under a blanket reading about gannets, moths and thrift and quietly starting the day soothed by nature, before even going outside.

While we were out walking, and when we were working, we were litter picking to keep the school looking tidy. Every little bit helps. Miss Gold regretting her choice of footwear!

Week 3, we were building hedgehog houses. We went for a walk around the school grounds to find suitable, quiet spots to build them.

The back stairs at science looked terrible, Much better now!

Planning our journey What are we going to do? Let's get tidying!!!!

Despite the chill of the breeze, biking along the Thames was quite a refreshing experience. The wind in your hair as you bike along the river with the sun starting to dip in the horizon. The tree had lost a lot of leaves in the space of two weeks but the autumn leaves were great fun anyway. There are many ways to enjoy the Thames Valley, today I went biking, but you can go for a walk, jog or canoe trip!

A view from the top of the allotments