Message from the Head of Primary

If I take this week for example, I was lucky enough to witness the youngest children in our school be completely absorbed when they had the opportunity to meet animals, hold them and feed them. Their curiosity was captivating as they used their observational skills to notice the key features of the animals and compare the similarities and differences. Their questions delved further, wanting to understand why the iguana needed more warmth than the rabbits and why the desert guinea pig had much larger ears than the Asian guinea pig. They wanted to understand why we couldn’t feed the same food to the snake as the iguana even though they were both reptiles. They wanted to feel the difference between the fur and the skin and to understand why some animals needed hooked beaks and claws or had hooves or padded feet.

This one simple activity of meeting, holding, and looking at a few animals gave such a rich and deeply engaging learning experience that could be taken much further well beyond their years connecting to learning concepts such as adaptation and environment.

As I write this, I am aware that the Year 5 students will be looking forward to their survival day. Not necessarily a British National Curriculum requirement but a very powerful experience where the children can connect their learning about the world around them, and use their scientific knowledge about materials, forces and friction to create fire. They will construct a raft, testing ideas of floating sinking and apply their communication skills to work as a team and then reflect and write instructions for others to use in the future.

Of course, we could teach about forces, writing instructions and living things in a classroom, from a book or video clip, but what great schools do is make sure learning happens by making connections across the brain through rich activities that children can engage in at a deeper level.

You only have to look at the events taking place, the Julliard visit to enhance dance, the animal rescue petting zoo visit, the trips to Tanzania, the snow sports trips to Switzerland, Survival Day, the sustainability visit, and much, much more to know that children are having rich experiences both in and out of school to feed their curiosity and deepen their learning. 

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