'Our Four Thumbs Up!'
"Our Four Thumbs Up!"
At Callis Grange, pupil voice is an integral part of curriculum planning. The staff at Callis Grange are driven and work tirelessly to plan, design and create learning experiences that we believe will excite, motivate and engage our young learners, giving them a love of learning and responding to their interests and needs. When reviewing our curriculum, our pupils were asked to share what made Callis Grange special to them. This led to the formation of “Our Four Thumbs Up!”
Being Happy and Caring
Our pupils felt that being happy and caring was very much part of Callis Grange. Throughout our curriculum, children’s wellbeing is paramount and we enable pupils to feel valued and their ideas heard. It is our aim to equip pupils with the tools to recognise and manage their feelings independently and both the Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE) curriculum and the ‘My Feelings Faces’ initiative teach this explicitly. Our ‘Think and Talk’ initiative based upon a restorative justice approach develops pupils’ abilities to problem solve independently whilst considering the feelings of others. Many of our special experiences also provide an opportunity to develop pupils’ wellbeing, for example, Friendship Day.
Our Exciting Spaces to Learn and Play (one of Our Unique Characteristics)
Our pupils felt that the outdoor areas were a special part of our school. Outdoor Learning takes a central role in the Callis Grange curriculum and is very much a part of everyday life at Callis Grange. We have developed an outdoor space for each year group. Our Outdoor Learning focuses on practical skills such as fire building, teaching children how to be safe outdoors and skills such as communication and working collaboratively. Outdoor learning is embedded throughout the whole curriculum and our extensive outdoor spaces, such as our on-site Forest School and Learning Den, enable pupils’ learning to be enriched outside of the classroom environment. We regularly utilise the outdoor spaces in our locality, such as the beach, to widen our children’s experiences and give real-life context to learning.
Our Special Experiences
Our pupils felt that there were many different and exciting things to do at Callis Grange. Our pupils are able to enjoy a varied and diverse range of special experiences, such as local educational visits, visits from external agencies and whole school events, many of which take place on an annual basis and are embedded within the curriculum.
Being A Good Learner
The pupils felt that this was of high importance at Callis Grange. Therefore, pupils and staff came together to share and discuss characteristics that they felt made a ‘good learner’ at Callis Grange. Together, the School Values were formulated and embedded, underpinning our curriculum and everyday life at Callis Grange. Staff actively seek opportunities throughout the school day to both promote and foster the School Values which in turn enables pupils to do the same. The School Values also form part of the PSHE Unit of Work and the Acts of Worship themes and are explicitly celebrated during the weekly Key Stage 1 ‘Best Learner’ celebration.
‘Our Four Thumbs Up!’ are celebrated in the chorus of our Callis Grange Song:
“We go to school at Callis, Callis!
We go to school at Callis Grange.
Thumbs in the air for Callis, Callis!
Thumbs in the air for Callis Grange.”