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At Pickhill Church of England Primary School, staff, governors, children and parents work together to create a warm, caring, family atmosphere in which pupils flourish and achieve.At Pickhill we believe in the power of pupil voice. This is represented through our:
School Council and House Captains
At the start of each academic year, the children democratically elect their School Council. Children, who would like to become part of the School Council, make a speech and the children then vote. The School Council then meets regularly to discuss topics from fundraising to improving the school grounds. Click here for an example of our minutes: SC Minutes 031121
Children in Year 5 and 6 also have the opportunity to become house captains. The house captains are responsible for representing their team at events and during the weekly house point collection in Celebration Assembly. House Captains also sit on the School Council.
Reading Ambassadors
The Reading Ambassadors are responsible for promoting reading in our school. They look after the Reading Raffle – they choose books for prizes and draw the raffle during celebration assemblies. They give recommendations for books which are displayed in the library and they keep the reading scrap book up to date. The older Reading Ambassadors work with the younger children as reading buddies. They have been responsible for organising competitions such as The Extreme Reading Challenge and they are currently working on creating a reading shed to be used at playtimes.
Eco Committee
Every Friday, at after school club, we hold an Eco Club where children can choose to become part of our Eco Committee. The children discuss ways to improve our school environment but they also consider how we can help with wider environmental issues. Pickhill has The Green Flag award.
Collective Worship Team
The Collective Worship Team lead on elements of collective worship, they ensure the hall is set up and help to gather children's weekly reflections. Children write and read prayers linked to the weekly Christian Value and support the delivery of the worship.
Picture News Champions
We have a team of Picture News Champions. These children are responsible for the discussion around our British Value during the Picture News Collective Worship each week. They are also responsible for updating the Picture News display and folder and they collect and display the children’s reflections on the weekly question.
Play leaders
A group of KS2 children have completed their playleader training and set up games every playtime to ensure that all children have the opportunity to play a range of games. They encourage children to take part and offer support to those children that are on their own or are looking for friends to play with.
Every year to allow the development of cultural capital, all Year 6 children have the opportunity visit London. Here, they are immersed in the culture and history of our capital city. They visit Wembley Stadium, The Natural History Museum, The Tower of London, have a cruise down the River Themes, experience a West End show, visit Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and they also enjoy a visit to the Warner Brothers’ Studios. This provides an opportunity to experience the hustle and bustle of London which is a huge contrast to rural villages in which our children live.
Our Year 5 children enjoy a residential visit to Peat Rigg where they get to challenge themselves with a range of outdoor, adventurous activities including abseiling from a bridge, beck scrambling and attempting to reach the top of Jacob’s Ladder
In Year 4, children enjoy a night of camping at The Year 4 Campout. For many of our children, this is their first stay away from family. Here, they experience a range of different teamwork challenges including an obstacle course, a climbing wall, erecting their own tent and cooking on the campfire. This event is run by two of our Synergy School TA’s who are highly trained Forest School leaders. The event happens locally, in familiar surroundings with staff the children know. It’s a great first residential experience!
To enable children to fully understand a topic, we know that first hand experiences are the best way to learn. We try to provide children with carefully planned school trips and experiences through visitors in to school wherever possible. For example, when KS1 were learning about Castles, Kings and Queens as part of their history topic, the learning was enhanced through a visit to Bolton Castle. KS2 were learning about Modern War. This knowledge was enhanced through an “Evacuee Experience Day” in school where the children dressed as evacuees, we had a visit from an air raid warden and the children moved around a range of teachers who taught the children key knowledge facts. The children then had a visit to Eden Camp to further enhance and “bring to life” their learning. In our Context Plan, opportunities for educational visits and experiences have been thoughtfully planned to enhance learning and cultural capital.
As part of our RE curriculum, we ensure that experiences, trips and visitors to school are planned in to enable children to understand a range of cultures and religions. For example, KS1 recently visited the synagogue in Harrogate and we also have a link with a school in China were children share videos and letters with their parallel class.
Wider opportunities
British Values are an important part of our curriculum. They are taught through both curricular and extra-curricular activities. We give children opportunities to develop their understanding of the world around them. Through the teaching of British Values, Cultural Capital is developed.
