EACH month the Standard will be visiting a different school to discover a little more about what pupils are learning and report on life in the classroom.

For the first edition of our In The Classroom page, we paid a visit to Chesterton Primary School in Cirencester.

While there, staff and students talked to the reporter Brendan McFadden about how lessons are kept entertaining and interesting while young pupils learn important skills for the future.

Dinosaurs, firemen and the natural world are just some of the fascinating things that young pupils from Chesterton Primary School in Cirencester have been enjoying learning about.

Days in the pre-school class in Apsley Road in Cirencester are carefully designed by teachers to be fun and enjoyable while teaching the youngsters important skills for the future.

Role plays like ‘going on a day out to the seaside’ encourage the children to use arts and crafts imaginatively.

Nursery teacher Becky Greenow explained that an example of this is when they used paper and scissors to create their own ‘train tickets’ for their adventure.

She said: “It encourages them to make things imaginatively.

“We are very proud that the children show so much pride in their learning and are motivated to challenge themselves and persevere. This helps them to achieve new goals all the time and they have truly blossomed.”

She explained that the children keep learning diaries which helps teachers to keep track of their progress and plan what to teach them next.

She said: “The learning diaries help key people to plan next steps. For example, we discussed an interest in scissors and how this may start by the adult creating pictures by tearing paper, then the child using support scissors and then moving onto real scissors first with and then without support.

“It is also a great way to work with parents and carry on learning at home.”

Children often do presentations on things that interest them such as dinosaurs and fireman, or places they have recently visited such as Disneyland.

After the presentations the children put together bright and colourful wall displays to reflect what they have learnt.

Mrs Greenow said: “This helps to share information with parents as well as showing children in a variety of ways how much they are valued. They have incredible potential and the room is theirs.”

Teachers encourage the children to carry out tasks such as washing up after themselves to let them be as independent as possible.

The children also learn about numeracy using everyday routines, such as counting items at snack time.

There is also an outdoor wildlife area at the school which teaches the children about the natural world such as how things grow and decay.

Mrs Greenow said: “It provides concrete learning experiences. For example, we discussed seeing real frogspawn in its natural habitat, pond dipping and handling the frogs.”

The pre-school is currently run by a management committee which is not part of Chesterton Primary School, but from September, it is set to become part of the main school.

 

Would your school like to be featured on our In The Classroom page?

Call 01285 627319 or email wgsnews@wiltsglosstandard.co.uk