St Mary’s and St Peter’s is a voluntary-aided Church of England school based in Teddington. It is one of the oldest schools in the Borough of Richmond, having been founded in 1832 but not quite as old as Bushy Park, the Park they chose to visit, which has been settled for at least 4,000 years! Year 4 pupils took a day out from the classroom to be inspired by the 450 acres of wonderful green space.
The group of pupils had a very inspiring visit to Bushy Park. With the intention of focusing on seed heads including lime trees, rowan, elderberries, dock leaves, mushrooms, ragwort, burdock to name only a few. They also found some vibrant cinnabar moth caterpillars in yellow and black and some red spotted cinnabar moths. The children drew with water colour pencils as they investigated the natural habitat. This was followed by a well-timed shower which turned the drawings into beautiful paintings. Back at school, the classroom was covered in dust sheets and working with waterproof black ink, the children created a strong black surface with sponge and waterproof black ink. After some drying time, the children drew their designs on to the black backgrounds in pencil and then used very small headed brushes to neatly paint their designs with white acrylic paint; a challenge for even the steadiest of hands!
A hurricane in 1987 left Bushy with its famous "Crocodile Log". It was Charles I who commissioned the spectacular Arethusa Fountain in the middle of Bushy's mile-long Chestnut Avenue.
Bushy is home to some of Europe's finest swamp cypress trees, with their aerial roots, which poke up like knobbly knees above ground and provide stability.