There are lots of opportunities for pupils to take on additional responsibilities throughout the school and their time with us. This enables them to develop skills and experiences beyond the classroom.

Children from Year 6 are invited to prepare speeches as part of democratically held elections for the positions of House Captains and Sports Captains. The children from each of the four houses: Arden, Halls Croft, Hathaway and Shakespeare listen to the speeches and then vote for their house captain choice. The chosen children represent their house throughout the year, adding all the house points and acting as ambassadors for school as necessary. They are role models that demonstrate our Character Strengths in the way they conduct themselves around school and in lessons. Sports Captains also prepare speeches but it is the children in Class 4 who vote to select the pupils they wish to hold the post. Children in Year 6 can also apply to be librarians and ICT monitors supporting the school and other staff in using these facilities. All children in Year 6 are buddies to the children in Recption adn take the responsibility very seriously, helping the children settle into school life with the routines and expectations beyond their classroom. Friendships form that we know are kept well beyond the year.

School also has various committees which children can apply to join - some are through elections (such as school council) and others are through an application process where children apply for the position - such as Eco-Council and Junior Road Safety Officers. These positions help the childdren shape school life and priorities and encourage commitment to initiatives and charities beyond school and in the wider community.

This year Eco-Council have beene working with Mrs Nash towards obtaining our Green Flag Award which involves different aspects of the environment in and around school and the curriculm itself. See our progress report below!

Junior Road Safety Officers will work with Mrs Silk towards obtaining our Gold Safe and Active Travel Award. This involves the whole school in various assemblies and competitions and encourages active travel where possible. We are excited to be taking part in the WOW project from Living Streets where children can earn badges for actively travelling to school; we will take part (as we do each year) in the Walk to School Week encouraging pupils and staff to walk at least once to school that week.

We also have an active school council who meet regulalry supported by Miss Barnett. These children contribute to various aspects of school life and raise money for charities, either local or national, including the local foodbank who we support around Christmas. Last year School Council achieved the Silver Woodland Trust Award - we are working towards Gold.

Eco Club Updates!

Over the academic year, our wonderful Eco Committee members have shown great enthusiasm for making our school an even greener place to learn and play in. We wanted to share some of the progress we have made with our action plan and what we would like to do next!

1.    We designed and put up some anti-littering posters around school to help encourage people to place litter into the correct bins and pick it up!

2.   With support from FOSS who had applied for an ECO grant, we introduced litter pickers in school so each class could work to support a big school clean up. This was very successful!

3.   We weeded some flower beds to tidy them up and planted some new lavenders to support the growth of ‘bee friendly’ plants.

4.   We placed a new hedgehog house in Forest school so there would be the opportunity to create more micro habitats.

Next for Eco!

We are going to be planting some wild flower seeds outside so over the summer we get lots more flowers for our pollinating insects.

We hope to add a bird bath on to our field so in the hotter months the birds can have a drink and a cool bath.