Blackberry mission

 Over the last few weeks, we've been on a mission to make Blackberry jam.

We started by going on a walk around Taddington (led by the locals) to collect the Blackberries. The children worked so well together as a team that they were very fruitful. The children decided that whilst we were walking, it would be a good idea to take some bin bags and do a spot of letter picking at the same time, this proved to be less fruitful, which we were delighted about. On our return, we froze the berries, ready for the next week.

The following week, we made the jam. The children split into 3 groups and rotated around the different activities. As a collective they managed to; split the wood using a bill hook and mallet ready to use for kindling, collect birch bark to start the fire, light the fire, maintain the fire. They also, prepared the Blackberries, added the other ingredients to the mixture and cooked the jam on the fire. The jam was then left to cool and transferred into jars for this week.

                             

  

Finally, this week, the children did the same process with the fire but this time also made and cooked dough on the fire so that we could have some bread to eat with our jam. We then ate it together around the fire.

                                                            

  

It has been a fantastic process. As always, the children have showed so many of school values, particularly resilience, perseverance and team work. I have loved seeing them shine together. Well done juniors.