Our wildlife pond is a haven for a host of amphibians and mini-beasts and the children love pond-dipping to see what plants and animals they can find.

Unfortunately, over the years, leaves have fallen in and decayed making pond-dipping a very smelly activity. And, it has failed to fill, even in the rainiest of months, making us suspect a tear in the lining. Drastic action was needed!

After appealing for help, Matilda Green’s Auntie Keira offered her expertise and assistance as she is a gardener and pond expert. The pond was measured, materials were ordered, the date was set - it needed to be done as soon as possible in order to be ready for the frogs and newts to return in early spring.

On the last day of January, in freezing temperatures and with the help of Mrs Ventriglia, Matilda’s aunt and grandparents, Mr Allen and Miss Draper, the pond was emptied, hoovered, relined and refilled, and plants were split and repotted – all in one day!

The plants and mini-beasts will take a while to repopulate, however we are crossing our fingers that the frogs find the pond welcoming and lay lots of frogs spawn for us to watch in the next month or so.

Before: low levels of water over the summer term and clogged full of decaying leaves in the winter.

Emptying the pond and hoovering up debris and dead plants:

New pond liner:

 After: all ready for frogspawn and newts!

On Thursday 5^th July, 6 children set off for Moulton College. They were about to take on the best teams from each of the Northampton districts in a Quicksticks hockey tournament to see who would become the best team in the county. It was a blisteringly hot day, with temperatures on the pitch quickly reaching 30 degrees. The tournament kicked off with a nervous start, and Irchester went 2 goals down in the opening match. However, this didn’t last long, as they suddenly came to life, to turn things around and win 4-2. This was a sign of things to come. All children performed heroically throughout, never letting their heads drop if they went a goal down, and defending as if their lives depended on it. They won every game in their group, beating the best teams from all of the other districts. This meant a final, against the other East Northants team – ‘Our Ladies’ from Wellingborough. It was a superbly fought match, which eventually ended in a 2-2. The 2 teams decided to settle for joint first place, and had the pleasure of collecting their enormous trophy and beautiful, golden medals on the main stage at the end of the day. They should all be extremely proud of themselves, and will go down in Irchester history, for being the first ever sporting county champions. Well done Kye (Captain), Hannah, Fenn, Katie, Ronnie and Hazel.