Sibford Scene Archive

Sibford Scene 378 December 2015

Click on the cover image to download the complete edition

A close up of a snow covered field

Sibford School

Pupils at Sibford School in the Ferris are creating a new heritage apple orchard. Fifteen trees of different varieties that have originated in Oxfordshire and neighbouring counties have been planted in Holly Tree Field at the edge of the school’s campus.

The seed of the idea came from villager Bill Crabtree who uses the field to graze his sheep. Explains Andy Newbold, Director of Studies at Sibford and a keen Horticulturalist, “Bill noticed that two apple trees in the field had come to the end of their natural life. We talked about replacing them but the idea quickly took root so that in the end, rather than having a couple of new trees, we have created a whole orchard.”

Group of people in a fieldThe apple trees have been supplied by Marcus Roberts, founder of the Mid Shires Orchard Group, and have been sponsored by parents and staff together with Bill and his wife, Barbara. They were planted by members of Sibford School’s Year 10 & 11 horticultural class with the help of teacher Angy Bovill, Andy Newbold and members of the school’s grounds staff.

Bill Crabtree also came along to ensure that everything went to plan. He is pictured above with some of the members of the planting team.

Sibford Gower Primary School news

Although high winds and cloud cover meant that we had to postpone our Family Stargazing Event, the night sky above the school was filled with stars and sparkles in early November thanks to our fabulous PTA. Once again, they organised our spectacular annual Firework and Bonfire Evening. This was a huge success and it was lovely to welcome so many members of the local community into our school grounds.

An arrangement of twigs and seedsWe’ve been busy in school too, creating, exploring and inventing. Acorn Class have been making diva lamps and finding out all about Diwali. Miss Kempson’s Beech Class have been outside creating environmental art with found objects. Willow Class have been listening to Sinfonia Antartica by Vaughan Williams, exploring cold tones in colour and taking a line for a walk(!), as well as designing healthy, balanced meals with Mrs Fletcher. Mr Cameron’s Maple Class entered the Dragons’ Den when they pitched their business plans for a chocolate product to a panel of experts, including the headteacher and school governor Julian Ransom. The whole class are going ahead with the winning plan and the finished product will be on sale in time for Christmas. Mr Lecznar’s Oak Class have had wires, batteries, bulbs and switches out, exploring all things electrical.

In final news; strange symbols have been appearing around the school and our pupils are busy investigating to find out what they might mean. They have discovered a connection to the Fibonacci Sequence but the mystery remains…

Above, you may see one or two items of historical interest from this edition. To see the whole edition, click on the front-page image to download it as a pdf.