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The children at The Paragon shared their annual Pre-Prep day with some extra special guests this year. The theme was owls, in part suggested by the school’s sponsorship of the Minerva Owls of Bath Sculpture Trail as well their new Owl and the Pussycat wood carving in the playground.

It began with the arrival of Falconry UK, a birds of prey specialist, who care for and train birds for educational and movie industry purposes. They brought a few gorgeous creatures including Sahara the white faced scops owl, Blu the blue-winged kookaburra and their latest edition, a six-week old owlet. It was so sweet to see their youngest owl and The Paragon’s youngest pupils looking at each other. The children were able to get up close with the birds and learned about their features and habitats.

Later they took part in a workshop dissecting owl pellets. The children were able to explore the animals’ diets – they found feathers and small bones including a jaw bone. One of the birds had obviously eaten a mouse!

Out in the woods, the boys and girls embarked upon a treasure finding mission. Using their map-reading skills, they looked for clues on owl decorated stones. On the back of each stone was a letter and the children had to work out what it all spelled. The final word was V I N C E N T – the name of the school’s beloved Minerva Owlet whose decoration is inspired by the artist Vincent Van Gogh.

Everyone enjoyed their worm spaghetti and owl ice-cream, a lovely lunch-break to recharge their batteries for an afternoon of creativity. Each year group undertook their own owl inspired artistic endeavours including hand print owls in Nursery, wooden ornaments in Reception and Year 1, whilst Year 2 created clay owls with Miss Hucks in the Art Room. The day concluded with a range of other owl stories, owl maths and owl writing. It is true to say that The Paragon has gone owl crazy this year and it’s a hoot!

www.paragonschool.co.uk