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Nightingale Cottage

We were very lucky to have the wonderful Ben, a local artist, come in and teach us how to use resin and UV to create door hangers.

Also very pleased that one of our children decided to use the sea glass I’d brought allll the way back from Watergate Bay! 🌊🐚

#holisticeducation #hybridlearning #homeeducation #reallifelearning #kent #sevenoaks #sevenoaksmums #tonbridge #tonbridgemums #progressiveeducation #morethanschool #outdoorlearning #alternativeeducation #pioneeringeducation

We were very lucky to have the wonderful Ben, a local artist, come in and teach us how to use resin and UV to create door hangers.

Also very pleased that one of our children decided to use the sea glass I’d brought allll the way back from Watergate Bay! 🌊🐚

#holisticeducation #hybridlearning #homeeducation #reallifelearning #kent #sevenoaks #sevenoaksmums #tonbridge #tonbridgemums #progressiveeducation #morethanschool #outdoorlearning #alternativeeducation #pioneeringeducation

A lesson in physics, learning about fire, resulted in us making our own Nightingale Cottage firelighters out of soya wax and fine wood chippings🔥🔥

#holisticeducation #hybridlearning #homeeducation #reallifelearning #kent #sevenoaks #sevenoaksmums #tonbridge #tonbridgemums #progressiveeducation #morethanschool #outdoorlearning #alternativeeducation #pioneeringeducation

A lesson in physics, learning about fire, resulted in us making our own Nightingale Cottage firelighters out of soya wax and fine wood chippings🔥🔥

#holisticeducation #hybridlearning #homeeducation #reallifelearning #kent #sevenoaks #sevenoaksmums #tonbridge #tonbridgemums #progressiveeducation #morethanschool #outdoorlearning #alternativeeducation #pioneeringeducation

I am feeling very fortunate to have found Nicola, who will be taking over the maths this summer 🎉

Nicola is Head of Science at a local independent school and uses her engineering masters from Oxford to teach the subject to pupils in KS2.🧪

We are busy working on a plan to offer science and engineering from September 2025 - exciting updates coming soon! 🤩

I am feeling very fortunate to have found Nicola, who will be taking over the maths this summer 🎉

Nicola is Head of Science at a local independent school and uses her engineering masters from Oxford to teach the subject to pupils in KS2.🧪

We are busy working on a plan to offer science and engineering from September 2025 - exciting updates coming soon! 🤩

The power of teamwork.

Happy @globalrecyclingday !

@rubbishsnooker #progressiveeducation

The power of teamwork.

Happy @globalrecyclingday !

@rubbishsnooker #progressiveeducation

A slightly belated celebration of @worldwildlifeday making our own bee hotels 🐝

#progressiveeducation

A slightly belated celebration of @worldwildlifeday making our own bee hotels 🐝

#progressiveeducation

We got our cosy library up and running again this week 📚

Having a second classroom means we can split the group when needed, helping us target different levels in subjects such as maths.

We got our cosy library up and running again this week 📚

Having a second classroom means we can split the group when needed, helping us target different levels in subjects such as maths.

🌞☀️An empty classroom because the sun finally came out ☀️🌞

One of the benefits of small classes is we can respond to the children’s right to fresh air and breaks without loss of learning time. Brains are reenergised and focus regained 💪

I had to include this FABULOUS model of our 🦷😀

🌞☀️An empty classroom because the sun finally came out ☀️🌞

One of the benefits of small classes is we can respond to the children’s right to fresh air and breaks without loss of learning time. Brains are reenergised and focus regained 💪

I had to include this FABULOUS model of our 🦷😀

This morning we had an appointment with Dr. Hannah, an NHS GP with an English degree from her pre-medicine days.

Dr. Hannah shared poems from her book, ‘Blood, Bones & Bladders’ (https://bloodbonesandbladders.co.uk), teaching us about the little characters in our blood, why our brain is so bossy, and what our spleen has in common with a vampire!

We then examined our heart rates before and after exercise, using a pulse oximeter and stethoscope.

This morning we had an appointment with Dr. Hannah, an NHS GP with an English degree from her pre-medicine days.

Dr. Hannah shared poems from her book, ‘Blood, Bones & Bladders’ (https://bloodbonesandbladders.co.uk), teaching us about the little characters in our blood, why our brain is so bossy, and what our spleen has in common with a vampire!

We then examined our heart rates before and after exercise, using a pulse oximeter and stethoscope.

A casual mention by @forbesmilburn about her time at St John Ambulance and pub quizz-worthy knowledge of all the bones of the body was the inspiration for this lesson. Next week, we have a doctor coming in to teach us about the blood and human organs through poetry, and thus a lovely topic on the human body is born!

Thanks to @mcdonaldsuk for your (granted, unknowing) donation of coffee stirrers and sauce pots.

A casual mention by @forbesmilburn about her time at St John Ambulance and pub quizz-worthy knowledge of all the bones of the body was the inspiration for this lesson. Next week, we have a doctor coming in to teach us about the blood and human organs through poetry, and thus a lovely topic on the human body is born!

Thanks to @mcdonaldsuk for your (granted, unknowing) donation of coffee stirrers and sauce pots.

Today, we welcomed Keval to our little community to help elevate our maths game! 💪 💪🤓🤓

Keval is a specialist maths & science teacher with over a decade of experience in teaching from early years all the way through to the end of Year 13, working in schools such as Harrow & Orley Farm School.

After graduating from UCL in Chemical Engineering in 2017, Keval worked in global medical education before running his own online tuition school during lockdown.

Keval is also a football coach & fully qualified swimming teacher where he works in a special needs school in London.

Today, we welcomed Keval to our little community to help elevate our maths game! 💪 💪🤓🤓

Keval is a specialist maths & science teacher with over a decade of experience in teaching from early years all the way through to the end of Year 13, working in schools such as Harrow & Orley Farm School.

After graduating from UCL in Chemical Engineering in 2017, Keval worked in global medical education before running his own online tuition school during lockdown.

Keval is also a football coach & fully qualified swimming teacher where he works in a special needs school in London.

It’s @internationalmountainday this week, so we learned about the features of mountains, with a Christmassy twist ! 😂

It’s @internationalmountainday this week, so we learned about the features of mountains, with a Christmassy twist ! 😂

Shining a spotlight on maths at Nightingale Cottage!

1+ 2. It was National Tree Week, so I challenged the children with the following problem: how would you measure the height of a tree using only a tape measure? (No ladders etc!)

One way of doing this is to bend over and look at the tree between your legs. When you can see the top of the tree, you’re in the right spot! Measure back to the trunk and you’ve found the height. Real-life trigonometry - a creative introduction for our older pupils! We then used the drone to see who was most accurate. Next week, we will calculate the amount of carbon dioxide our trees can store, based on their type, width and height.

3. Some of you may recognise the game synonymous with univeristy that gave me the idea for this fun way of reinforcing our times tables! 🤪 🍻

4. Addition pyramids! Adding a time limit meant both speed and accuracy were vital. A well-aimed rubber was ready to knock down an unsuspecting pyramid at any moment… Children used rounding as a method to quickly recalculate answers and rebuild their pyramids ➕

4 + 5.💰 Not much greater motivation than money, money, money! Our Christmas decoration enterprise project has inspired an endless amount of maths problems. Pricing decorations and coming up with sensible offers, quick mental maths totting up sales for customers, calculating revenue and profit, discussing the fact that the use of our card reader means SumUp will charge 5% on all sales, & agreeing on percentage to donate to charity. The list is endless!

We’re on the hunt for a maths teacher who can teach years 3-8 - please spread the word ! 👀

Shining a spotlight on maths at Nightingale Cottage!

1+ 2. It was National Tree Week, so I challenged the children with the following problem: how would you measure the height of a tree using only a tape measure? (No ladders etc!)

One way of doing this is to bend over and look at the tree between your legs. When you can see the top of the tree, you’re in the right spot! Measure back to the trunk and you’ve found the height. Real-life trigonometry - a creative introduction for our older pupils! We then used the drone to see who was most accurate. Next week, we will calculate the amount of carbon dioxide our trees can store, based on their type, width and height.

3. Some of you may recognise the game synonymous with univeristy that gave me the idea for this fun way of reinforcing our times tables! 🤪 🍻

4. Addition pyramids! Adding a time limit meant both speed and accuracy were vital. A well-aimed rubber was ready to knock down an unsuspecting pyramid at any moment… Children used rounding as a method to quickly recalculate answers and rebuild their pyramids ➕

4 + 5.💰 Not much greater motivation than money, money, money! Our Christmas decoration enterprise project has inspired an endless amount of maths problems. Pricing decorations and coming up with sensible offers, quick mental maths totting up sales for customers, calculating revenue and profit, discussing the fact that the use of our card reader means SumUp will charge 5% on all sales, & agreeing on percentage to donate to charity. The list is endless!

We’re on the hunt for a maths teacher who can teach years 3-8 - please spread the word ! 👀

🎅🎄Handmade, festive decorations for your home, made with love 🎄🎅

1 pack of 3 : £5
2 packs of 3 : £8
3 packs of 3 : £10

Perfect gifts for loved ones ❤️

Please message to place your order - limited stock!

Celebrate your decorations in their new home by tagging us @nightingale_cottage_shipbourne 🤩

*The children have worked very hard to make these decorations, price, photograph and write the above advert as part of their enterprise project 😊*

🎅🎄Handmade, festive decorations for your home, made with love 🎄🎅

1 pack of 3 : £5
2 packs of 3 : £8
3 packs of 3 : £10

Perfect gifts for loved ones ❤️

Please message to place your order - limited stock!

Celebrate your decorations in their new home by tagging us @nightingale_cottage_shipbourne 🤩

*The children have worked very hard to make these decorations, price, photograph and write the above advert as part of their enterprise project 😊*

🎶Our very own soundscape - created by recording sounds from our wander through the woods, experimenting with percussion instruments and writing poetry. I’d recommend a listen if you’re looking for a way to unwind, it’s very relaxing!🎶

A huge thanks to audio artist, Jack, whose expertise made this possible. We have sent a press kit to a few radio stations, so hopefully our work will be heard by a few more 👂 !

🎶Our very own soundscape - created by recording sounds from our wander through the woods, experimenting with percussion instruments and writing poetry. I’d recommend a listen if you’re looking for a way to unwind, it’s very relaxing!🎶

A huge thanks to audio artist, Jack, whose expertise made this possible. We have sent a press kit to a few radio stations, so hopefully our work will be heard by a few more 👂 !

Felt a little 🥹 today!

We had an additional three faces in the classroom this morning (including a parent!) and it really started to feel like a lively, busy, purposeful classroom - the ‘micro-school’ that I’ve always dreamed of creating.

Just two photos today - both showcasing the hard work our children put into everything they do:

First, our youngest becoming a published writer. I had people in the village messaging me to say how impressed they were by the poem George wrote and how excited they are to see next month’s entry!

Second, the power of teamwork. I don’t want to say too much about this photo just now as there will be exciting updates coming next week … 👀👀

Felt a little 🥹 today!

We had an additional three faces in the classroom this morning (including a parent!) and it really started to feel like a lively, busy, purposeful classroom - the ‘micro-school’ that I’ve always dreamed of creating.

Just two photos today - both showcasing the hard work our children put into everything they do:

First, our youngest becoming a published writer. I had people in the village messaging me to say how impressed they were by the poem George wrote and how excited they are to see next month’s entry!

Second, the power of teamwork. I don’t want to say too much about this photo just now as there will be exciting updates coming next week … 👀👀

We had a flying lesson! 🧙‍♀️

Well not quite … but there was a lot of fun and laughter whilst learning about the key skills, software and equipment used in photography & photo manipulation!

We had a flying lesson! 🧙‍♀️

Well not quite … but there was a lot of fun and laughter whilst learning about the key skills, software and equipment used in photography & photo manipulation!

🎵🎤🎶🎼 This has to have been one of my favourite lessons this term ! 🎵🎤🎶🎼

Audio artist, Jack, worked with us over two sessions to write and record our own track.

We started by recording the sounds we heard in the woods, before using special software to put them together to make a Nightingale Cottage soundscape.

Using the poetry we wrote in English, we finished by recording and adding lyrics.

We’re looking forward to sharing the finished product soon. Next mission is to get this on a radio station - very radio 6! 🤞🤞

🎵🎤🎶🎼 This has to have been one of my favourite lessons this term ! 🎵🎤🎶🎼

Audio artist, Jack, worked with us over two sessions to write and record our own track.

We started by recording the sounds we heard in the woods, before using special software to put them together to make a Nightingale Cottage soundscape.

Using the poetry we wrote in English, we finished by recording and adding lyrics.

We’re looking forward to sharing the finished product soon. Next mission is to get this on a radio station - very radio 6! 🤞🤞

Quentin Blake or 7 year old ?! 🤯🤯

Quentin Blake or 7 year old ?! 🤯🤯

I’m finding it very difficult to choose a photo that sums up today - there was so much going on & we didn’t finish half of what I planned 🫣

So here’s a wonderful photo dump that will hopefully give you an idea of the sort of fun we get up to on a typical day at Nightingale Cottage!!

1. Nature Journaling: This is our morning activity for this half-term - I think it’s so important we learn about the plants & animals that surround us. Today we experimented with cyanotype paper.

2. Perfecting our pitches: We started these on World Entrepreneurs’ Day and finally finished them today using persuasive techniques taught in last week’s English lesson.

3. Maths in a Matchbox: First, we challenged the children to see how many objects they could fit into their matchboxes and started to discuss the types of maths questions we could ask about them. For example, what fraction are green? What percentage come from a tree? What’s the measurement of your longest and smallest object? How would you find the difference? We will finish these next week as we ran out of time!!

4. We had a midday meeting with a local business consultant, Jo, who gave us feedback on our pitches and pricing. Jo also gave us advice on how best to make our money ‘work for us’ and the types of businesses we could start ourselves. I definitely think this has huge potential for a future project … 🤔

5. Lunch & reading in the woods: Today is Roald Dahl Day, so we were treated to Sally reading us ‘Danny, The Champion of the World’. We work on our reading comprehension through oral discussion of a text, including its vocabulary and language, building on each other’s thoughts and interpretations.

6. Art with local artist: Our afternoons are completely off curriculum and can be on any topic or skill! Where possible, we get in professionals to teach us. Today, we learnt how to make quills in order to produce illustrations in the style of Quentin Blake. We will use watercolour to add colour next week! We’ve been very interested in the mushrooms popping up at this type of year, which gave me the idea of using them as names for our illustrations - such as Mr. Stinkhorn. Very Roald Dahl!

I’m finding it very difficult to choose a photo that sums up today - there was so much going on & we didn’t finish half of what I planned 🫣

So here’s a wonderful photo dump that will hopefully give you an idea of the sort of fun we get up to on a typical day at Nightingale Cottage!!

1. Nature Journaling: This is our morning activity for this half-term - I think it’s so important we learn about the plants & animals that surround us. Today we experimented with cyanotype paper.

2. Perfecting our pitches: We started these on World Entrepreneurs’ Day and finally finished them today using persuasive techniques taught in last week’s English lesson.

3. Maths in a Matchbox: First, we challenged the children to see how many objects they could fit into their matchboxes and started to discuss the types of maths questions we could ask about them. For example, what fraction are green? What percentage come from a tree? What’s the measurement of your longest and smallest object? How would you find the difference? We will finish these next week as we ran out of time!!

4. We had a midday meeting with a local business consultant, Jo, who gave us feedback on our pitches and pricing. Jo also gave us advice on how best to make our money ‘work for us’ and the types of businesses we could start ourselves. I definitely think this has huge potential for a future project … 🤔

5. Lunch & reading in the woods: Today is Roald Dahl Day, so we were treated to Sally reading us ‘Danny, The Champion of the World’. We work on our reading comprehension through oral discussion of a text, including its vocabulary and language, building on each other’s thoughts and interpretations.

6. Art with local artist: Our afternoons are completely off curriculum and can be on any topic or skill! Where possible, we get in professionals to teach us. Today, we learnt how to make quills in order to produce illustrations in the style of Quentin Blake. We will use watercolour to add colour next week! We’ve been very interested in the mushrooms popping up at this type of year, which gave me the idea of using them as names for our illustrations - such as Mr. Stinkhorn. Very Roald Dahl!

Forest bathing whilst being serenaded by our Red Kites 🌳🦅😌

Forest bathing whilst being serenaded by our Red Kites 🌳🦅😌

Today, we celebrated World Entrepreneurs’ Day by:

🖌️Designing and manufacturing a product

➗Using our maths skills to work out a sensible price, discussing key considerations such as cost of materials, labour & profit

📝Writing pitches to persuade our local entrepreneur (a business consultant who will be coming to chat to the children at the beginning of Autumn term!) to invest in our product

🤩Such a fun project that utilised so many key skills!

Today, we celebrated World Entrepreneurs’ Day by:

🖌️Designing and manufacturing a product

➗Using our maths skills to work out a sensible price, discussing key considerations such as cost of materials, labour & profit

📝Writing pitches to persuade our local entrepreneur (a business consultant who will be coming to chat to the children at the beginning of Autumn term!) to invest in our product

🤩Such a fun project that utilised so many key skills!

🗺️ When mathematicians talk about colouring a map, they’re trying to figure out the fewest number of colours they can use so that no touching areas are the same colour. 🗺️

🎨 The Four Colour Theorem states that you’ll never need more than 4 colours for any map drawn on a flat piece of paper. 🎨

This formed an interesting maths investigation that the children lovedddd solving.

This technique, where you colour as much as you can with one colour before moving onto another is called, ‘The Greedy Algorithm’!

🗺️ When mathematicians talk about colouring a map, they’re trying to figure out the fewest number of colours they can use so that no touching areas are the same colour. 🗺️

🎨 The Four Colour Theorem states that you’ll never need more than 4 colours for any map drawn on a flat piece of paper. 🎨

This formed an interesting maths investigation that the children lovedddd solving.

This technique, where you colour as much as you can with one colour before moving onto another is called, ‘The Greedy Algorithm’!

💐1st. attempt at a Nightingale Cottage bouquet! 💐 Although half the flowers in our garden have been decimated by the rain…

I’ve always thought the art of flower arranging would make a lovely, really unique lesson!

If anyone knows any local florists, let me know 👀👀

💐1st. attempt at a Nightingale Cottage bouquet! 💐 Although half the flowers in our garden have been decimated by the rain…

I’ve always thought the art of flower arranging would make a lovely, really unique lesson!

If anyone knows any local florists, let me know 👀👀

🌧️ Rain doesn’t stop play!🌧️

🌧️ Rain doesn’t stop play!🌧️

Working with an artist to create a ‘Buzz bowl’ ! 🎨🐓

Working with an artist to create a ‘Buzz bowl’ ! 🎨🐓

Sometimes Little Wool likes to leave a note with her eggs for our children.

She is still working on her spellings so has to be creative sometimes…

Can you work out what she’s saying ?

Sometimes Little Wool likes to leave a note with her eggs for our children.

She is still working on her spellings so has to be creative sometimes…

Can you work out what she’s saying ?

🔗One of our key aims is to make links with local professionals, specialist teachers or just enthusiastic hobbyists!

📸We were very lucky to have a photographer give us a lesson and were especially excited about the use of a photographic flash light that went off when the camera was ‘tethered’ to the laptop.

🐓How gorgeous is this portrait taken by one of our children staring our resident cockerel, Buzz ?! (Instagram cut the beak off 😂)

🔗One of our key aims is to make links with local professionals, specialist teachers or just enthusiastic hobbyists!

📸We were very lucky to have a photographer give us a lesson and were especially excited about the use of a photographic flash light that went off when the camera was ‘tethered’ to the laptop.

🐓How gorgeous is this portrait taken by one of our children staring our resident cockerel, Buzz ?! (Instagram cut the beak off 😂)

I had far too much fun coming up with this concept of a human clock - as my friends who I was excitedly explaining it to on Friday night will confirm 😅

Time is always such a tough concept to teach - it feels like there are endless possibilities for confusion.

For example, when it’s ‘ten to’, the minute hand points at the ten, but this correlation isn’t there for any other ‘to the hour’ times.

Or, consider this: when else would we connect a 7 with 25 (as in ‘twenty five minutes to’), a 8 with 20 (‘twenty minutes to’) or a 9 with 15 (but wait, you must remember we don’t say ‘15 minutes to’!!!)

And so on and so on…

I still have vivid memories of sitting on a carpet at school being called on to tell the time my teacher was showing me on a big plastic clock - and not having a clue.

Hopefully the kinaesthetic nature of today’s lesson made it far more understandable, memorable and, most importantly, enjoyable.

🕰️ Time really does fly when you’re having fun!! 🕰️

I had far too much fun coming up with this concept of a human clock - as my friends who I was excitedly explaining it to on Friday night will confirm 😅

Time is always such a tough concept to teach - it feels like there are endless possibilities for confusion.

For example, when it’s ‘ten to’, the minute hand points at the ten, but this correlation isn’t there for any other ‘to the hour’ times.

Or, consider this: when else would we connect a 7 with 25 (as in ‘twenty five minutes to’), a 8 with 20 (‘twenty minutes to’) or a 9 with 15 (but wait, you must remember we don’t say ‘15 minutes to’!!!)

And so on and so on…

I still have vivid memories of sitting on a carpet at school being called on to tell the time my teacher was showing me on a big plastic clock - and not having a clue.

Hopefully the kinaesthetic nature of today’s lesson made it far more understandable, memorable and, most importantly, enjoyable.

🕰️ Time really does fly when you’re having fun!! 🕰️

One for the classroom wall! 🌱

One for the classroom wall! 🌱

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@nightingale_cottage_shipbourne

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