At Da Vinci, we love active learning!

The students from Years 2 & 3 were able to admire the beautiful autumn colours during their forest walk in Peerdsbos.

Students studied a micro habitat and classified the interesting creatures who live on the forest floor.
They looked at the four different layers in the forest and were lucky enough to spot a red squirrel! After a picnic lunch and a stop on the playground, they teamed up to create land art in the style of Andy Goldsworthy.

What a lovely way to enjoy the sunny weather!

The city of Antwerp invited us to join their Clean School Clean City Project. Our children from Y1 to Y4 enjoyed two workshops that encouraged them to grow into responsible and caring adults.

Fist, the Litter Princess told them all about how her country used to be a very dirty place with lots of rubbish everywhere. Thankfully, they came up with the solution of sorting the garbage into different bins and recycling the waste into new products. We were also given useful tips of how to produce less litter. Simple things like using a lunch box or bringing a water bottle really do make a difference!

The second part of our workshop was all about keeping our fantastic city of Antwerp clean. Children immediately took action and started sweeping the street with mini-brooms, but the most exciting part was sweeping the street with the sweeping cars! What a great way of learning about respecting our environment!

Every year, Middle School has an amazing Cultural Day. For this year’s Cultural day - We had an eventful day in Lier!

Cultural Day - Lier by Erika & Gabriele (Y9)
We were first welcomed with a beautiful boat trip down the river Nete. As we all squeezed into a boat and travelled down the Grote Nete (85 km long) and the Kleine Nete (50 km long) - we discovered the beautiful scenery around us full of nature and colour. The boat trip in itself was entertaining as we ducked under bridges and touched the top of the bridges (as it was said to bring good luck). The boat trip was an extraordinary introduction to start the day in Lier.

After the joyful boat trip, we stopped off just outside the Gummarus Tower - the famous bell tower of Lier. There we took a little break and were welcomed by another tour guide. The guide told us the story of this amazing tower:
The Gummarus tower is 83m tall - and it almost took four centuries to build the entire structure! A long time, right? Throughout the centuries - the architectural styles changed, which on the tower we could clearly see as it was square at the bottom and at the top turned to an octagonal shape. We went inside the tower and climbed up a total of 296 stairs and were introduced to all of the mind-blowing bells, and the guide showed us how they functioned.

After ‘discovering’ the Gummarus tower we went to the Zimmer tower (also known as the Cornelius tower). The Zimmer tower is a tower with a big clock containing 13 smaller clocks. The big clock was invented by Louis Zimmer. Each of the 13 clocks has a specific meaning - and the clocks were truly stunning because of the colours and how beautifully they were made.

Thankfully, after a long walk and hike - it was lunch time! We ate at an Italian restaurant called Rosaria. There we all ate a lovely mouth-watering pizza. It was the best part of the day as we could finally sit, relax and enjoy the aromatic smells of the pizzas and their amazing taste. After a quick hour of resting - it was time to continue our journey again.

Our final tour wasn’t exactly what we were expecting - because this time it was a mission as the teachers gave us a treasure hunt to explore the little city of Lier. We went to many different and interesting places where there were clues to find on our treasure map. Sadly, the treasure hunt came to a stop as it was the end of the day. However there was one more surprise! We got to try the famous Lierse Vlaaikes. They are a locally well-known pastry. They were created 300 years ago and are one of the oldest pastries in Belgium!

Like every year, the Cultural Day was amazing and mind-blowing. We went down the long River Nete, we hiked up 296 stairs in an 83m high building, saw the amazing Zimmer tower clock and finished the day with a lovely pizza and a treasure hunt with a traditional pastry. It was a day to remember. Next time you are bored - go to Lier for a peaceful little adventure!

For our entry point to the topic 'How Humans Work' Year 4 have been learning some first aid skills.