Year 4 had a fantastic trip to Creekside Discovery Centre last Tuesday, on a glorious, sunny day.
We spent some time in the classroom, learning about the history of Deptford Creek and showing off our Geography knowledge (cue a VERY proud teacher) before donning our waders and waterproofs and getting into the creek itself.
We made 3 stops – the first being to look at a swan’s nest, where we also saw a heron and several coots. At the second stop we used a rubber duck race to measure the speed of the river. At our final stop, we got nets and buckets out and did some river dipping in order to find some of the creatures living on the river bed.
It couldn’t have been more successful – we found shrimp, eel, some flounders and even a Chinese mitten crab!
After lunch, we went back to the classroom where we looked at artefacts thrown up by the river and used them to work out which river-related industry they belonged to.
There was a final chance to look at the creek from the nearby bridge before we left – we couldn’t believe how much the water level had risen with the tide.
Do go and visit Creekside if you get the chance – it’s a little slice of heaven squished in between the DLR and the train line and is only 20 minutes from school via bus and DLR. They run lots of free and family-friendly events throughout the year. http://www.creeksidecentre.org.uk
