Experiences Offer
Experiences Offer for our children at Church Lench CE First School
For With God Nothing is Impossible
Luke 1:37
We believe that our children should have a broad and balanced offer of experiences inside and outside of school. Like many of us, children learn best through action rather than instruction – that’s why first-hand experiences are so vital to early development. Children thrive on the exploration and discovery that shapes their knowledge and understanding of how and why things work. The information they gather in this way is not simply filed in a memory bank for later reference, but worked through and repeated countless times in different situations, allowing them to process and make sense of what they have learned.
Research suggests that direct action, physical and intellectual engagement with experiences, in addition to problem solving and repetition, ensures that synapses – our brain’s wiring – become stronger (Bruce 2004).
So what does this mean for our practice? Well, this type of hands-on learning occurs in everyday contexts when children are engaged in activities that matter to them. They need to be the directors of their learning, and it has to be real and meaningful for them. In turn, through observation, this learning will power others’ interests and desire to engage, and thus provide a scaffold for group learning.
We offer a variety of experiences at Church Lench in line with our Christian vision. We aim for our children to grow with confidence, independence and resilience. We enable our children to be respectful of others beliefs and backgrounds knowing we are all children of God and created in his image. We encourage our children to have high hopes, feel happy and take risks and have the courage to persevere. With this in mind we have created our experience offer for our pupils who attend Church Lench CE First School.
We have listed our experiences below which are planned over a two year cycle. There will be occasions when new venues or experiences are added or cancelled due to curriculum circumstances.
Class 1
Reception and Year 1
In school
Class based
A variety of role play and drama experiences related to in class topics and themes including
Famous pirates,
Victorian children at school
Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot
The Royal family
Diwali
Real Life superheroes including Florence Nightingale
Forest School
Weekly forest school sessions at our community orchard
Sport
Rugby sessions
Cricket sessions
Visitors
Emergency services including air ambulance, paramedic, nurse, police and fire
Religious Leaders including Reverend Canon Richard from local church, a catholic Priest, an Iman from a local mosque and Buddhist Monk
Vet
Farmer
African Drummers
Local artists
NSPCC
Outside School
Lower Smite Farm
Working Farm in Alcester
Class 2
Years 2 and 3
In school
Class based
Experience Tudor times cooking, art etc
Stone Age experience
Intra school football competition
Forest School
Termly Forest school sessions at our community orchard
Sport
Year 2 Dance Festival
Rugby taster sessions
Cricket taster sessions
Swimming every year summer term
Visitors
Author
Religious Leaders including Reverend Canon Richard Budhist Monk, Catholic Priest, Imam
Local artist
NSPCC
Outside of School
Roman Museum in Alcester
Bishops Wood Outdoor centre
Safari Park Kidderminster
Rock climbing Actionpoint Worcester
Redditch town centre/ place of worship
Jewish synagogue Birmingham
Worcester cathedral
Elgar Museum Worcester
Class 3
Years 4 and 5
In school
Class based
Experience day Egyptian
Shakespeare experience day
WW2 experience day
Intra school football competition
Forest School
Termly Forest school sessions at our community orchard
Sport
Year 4/5 Cross Country
Year 4/5 orienteering
Bellboating/ Paddle Boarding Fladbury Boat Club
Bellboating Festival every two years Evesham
Swimming every year summer term
Inter school football tournaments
Cricket taster session
Rugby taster session
Music
Music Festival at Art Centre Evesham
Visitors
Author
Local Artist
NSPCC
Outside of School
River trip on Severn in Worcester
Royal Shakespeare Company Stratford
Redditch town centre/ place of worship
Hindu temple in Tiverdale
Malvern Residential x2 nights