Curriculum Enrichment

 Going Beyond the Curriculum...

TEACH:

Promoting a varied Curriculum:

To ensure we have a varied and ambitious curriculum children take part in a range of workshops delivered by external agencies and experts such as:

NSPCC Assemblies, STAR Program, Workshop on County Lines, Make £5 Grow (Enterprise Project).

Themed Days within the Curriculum:

What we do: Circus Day, MFL Day, Black History Month Assembly, Safer Internet Day, Anti-Bullying Week, Mental Health Awareness Week, Science Day, World Book Day, Hopes and Aspirations Week, Art Dy, Health and Fitness Week, various author visits, Jubilee and Coronation celebrations.

Residentials

St James CE Primary School, we understand the importance in providing our children with the chance to take part in residentials.  These take place within Key Stage 2 across Years 4 and 6. 

Within these visits, we aim to provide all our pupils with a range of activities, that not only enhance the curriculum, but to also provide opportunities to a wide range of experiences to share with their friends.

During 2021 – 2022, the following residentials took place:

• Year 4 – Oaker Wood Outdoor Adventure Centre – children do various adventurous activities including rafting and ziplining.
• Year 6 – Visit Liverpool which included visiting an Art Gallery, taking part in a music tour and much more.

School Trips

Each year the children go on extracurricular trips. These benefit the pupils learning in various topic areas, as well as their wellbeing. A range of the trip’s children get to go on are:

 Barry Island – We realised some time ago that some of our pupils have never been to the seaside. Therefore, every other year, the whole school goes to Barry Island.

We also go to: Young Voices, The Science Museum, we have the Explorer Dome in school every year, The Discovery Centre, The Black and White House in Hereford, we visit a Mosque and Hindu Temple in Birmingham, The Butterfly Farm, Queenwood, The Safari Park and all other places local to the school such as the swimming pool, the river and the local nature reserve.

Individual trips are not set in stone each year. They depend on the topics being learned in class and the cohort itself.

Forest School

We use Forest School to provide a quality range of new experiences in the natural environment to give children creative and fun opportunities where they can access risk and challenge. We want children to learn through their play in the outdoors, to develop skills such as independence and resilience, allowing them to embed these skills in their everyday life.

Typical activities in Forest School include:

• Den building
• Making sculptures and art with natural materials
• Tool work e.g., shoves, loppers, bow saw, knives.
• Cooking on the open fire
• Climbing
• Tying knots
• Whittling
• Team games
• Imaginary play

Sport

Football Teams
We offer pupils the opportunity to represent the school by being part of the school football team. We have two teams: one is for all pupils in years 5 and 6 to be part of the school team, and the other is for girls in years 5 and 6. They have also had the opportunity to take part in a coaching session with a coach from a local football club.

Children take part in a range of after school club activities including Football, Multiskills Badminton, Dance, Archery and Athletics.

Sports Leaders
Some of our year 5 children have recently taken part in Young Sports Leaders training. They participated in a range of activities which helped them to develop their leadership, teamwork, and communication skills. They listened and watched demonstrations carefully and followed instructions with confidence. They are now applying their new skills, when helping other pupils in school, during sports activities, break times and lunch times.

Health and Fitness Week: The children do a range of activities such as: Boxing at the local gym, rock climbing at Green Spider, cycling, skipping, dodgeball and learn all about healthy eating and diet.

NURTURE:

 We access STRIDE through our Sports Premium Grant. 

Being part of Stride Active means children get to take part in:

• The School Value Games
• Multi Skills Tournament
• Netball Competitions
• Rounders Competitions
• Athletics
• Football Competitions
• Tag Ruby Competitions

Many of these competitions and games are designed for vulnerable school groups to attend such as children with SEND.

Moving Targets:

Each year, Year 5 take part in a large-scale dance project with 12 other schools. The intention of the project is to build confidence, work as a team and enjoy every moment, performing on a big stage in front of family and friends. Children perform their dance at the Courtyard Theatre in Hereford.

Clubs:

We run a range of acter school and lunchtime clubs: These include:

Chess, Mindfulness Colouring, Construction, Sing for Fun, Coding and Computing, Maths 24 Club, Eco Club, Science Club, Book Club, Art Club and Film Club. 

Parenting support and family learning

We offer the following Parental information sessions: Maths, Times Tables, Sex Education (SRE), EYFS Induction, Early Reading, Using Tapestry and EFYS assessment, drop-in sessions for pastoral and Thrive.

50 Things to do before you leave St James:

To expand the opportunities of children outside of school, to enrich the curriculum and pupils’ cultural capital we have created a 50 things to do before you leave St James.

Transitions:

What we do:

Home Visits

Taster Sessions

Nursery Visits

High School Visits

SENCO meetings

SEND transition days.

 Buddies

Each year our year 5 pupils write to the new children coming into Class R the following year. They each have one buddy. They communicate regularly, read to each other, play with each other on the play ground and go on trips together. This eases transition and has had positive impact on the pupil’s happiness in school. 

Music

At St James CE Primary School, we pride ourselves in the wide range of music opportunities we offer to our pupils.  We believe that it’s an essential part of every child’s education - all children are entitled to play instruments, compose and listen to music in school, every week.

Alongside our music curriculum, we enhance the music through a number of wider curricular opportunities.

Children sing every week in assemblies and are taught songs for specific events through the year.  At Christmas and in the summer, children prepare performances in which they have to sing or play instruments.  Recently, we have put on a performance of Shakespeare Rocks.

All children have the opportunity to learn an instrument from Year 2 during their time at school. Children also have the opportunity to continue and develop their learning in Key Stage 2 with visiting instrumental tutors who deliver lessons in violin, guitar, clarinet and drums.  Performances are given regularly to encourage children to perform their instruments in front of their peers and parents. 

CELEBRATE:

Music Evening:

The school also runs a Sing for Fun Group, which performs throughout the year at events in the local area. The also take part in Carol singing, Young Voices, I-SING POP Concerts.

Celebration Collective Worship:

Every Friday parents and grandparents are welcomed to the church with the pupils to celebrate the children’s success. These are both in school achievements and those out of school.

Awards given throughout the Year:

The Jane Cup – For Living out the School Values

The Jubilee Cup – For service to the School

There is also a cup for each subject awarded to pupils who have achieved exceptionally in that subject.

We then have a class cup awarded for anyone who has applied themselves with extraordinary effort and achieved well as a result of this.