At Town End Junior School, we believe that education is more than just mastering English and maths – it’s also about enrichment and extraordinary experiences that extend children’s learning through new encounters and opportunities, creating brighter tomorrows and supporting them to become ‘Lifelong Learners’.
This is where Curriculum Plus comes in! Enrichment and extraordinary experiences give children opportunities to try new and varied activities that may not strictly fit into the curriculum, but that develop character. They help to teach life skills that benefit children beyond the classroom, and can develop an appreciation for cultural and community issues, teamwork and social responsibility.
At Town End Junior School, children have the opportunity to attend Curriculum Plus sessions one afternoon per week. Children sign up to a five week programme based on personal interests. During this time, the children complete a tailored programme lead by school staff developing skills and knowledge that widens their experiences beyond usual classroom lessons.
Each half term, children are given a booklet of options to select their top 5. They will then be allocated two programmes for the half term. Each programme is planned and linked to continue to hit the National Curriculum objectives, whilst developing a love for learning and knoweldge.
Examples of Curriculum Plus Lessons are:
- First Aid Club
- Comic Book Heroes
- Space Hunters
- Animal Care
- Construction Challenge
- Chefs and Cooking
In addition to Curriculum Plus, we also have a wider enrichment offer at Town End.
Our Tibshelf Charter:
As well as the highest quality teaching and learning, we promise that every child at Tibshelf Schools Federation will have the opportunity to….
• Take part in Forest Schools
• Learn to ride a bike
• Learn Makaton and BSL
• Take part in a public performance
• Learn to recycle and reduce waste
• Work on an allotment
• Visit a place of interest annually
• Take part in overnight stays
• Sit around a campfire
• Cook or create a food dish
• Represent the school in a sporting activity or festival
• Have a leadership role within school
• Learn basic first aid
• Learn basic road safety
• Grow, tend and nurture a plant
• Learn to swim
• Create and sell something to raise money for charity or for enterprise
• Have creative challenges to develop a culture of growth mind set for all!
These activities are known as our Tibshelf Charter.
Extra-curricular Enrichment
We encourage all children to get involved in activities outside of their lessons; to enable them to try new things, meet new friends and develop new skills. We offer a number of free clubs that might interest your child. These run at different times in the year. We take into account Pupil Voice when creating our curriculum offer, and aim to include current interests of the children at our school.
Examples of our clubs are:
- Construction Club
- Glee Club
- Art Club
- German Club
- Cooking Club
- Girls Aware
- Book Worm
- Get Up and Go
- Maths Club
- Chess Club
- Computing Club
- Gardening Club
- Dance Club in preparation for the Dance Festival
We also offer additional, paid for enrichment opportunities. These run at different times in the year and include:
- Rock Steady Music Tuition, including live termly performances
- Football Club
- Multi-skills club
- Cross Country Club
- Gymnastics and Dance Club
Pupil Leadership:
We have a variety of leadership opportunities for pupils across the school. Some examples of these are:
- School Council – children are able to campaign and encourage others to vote for them to represent their class.
- Sports Leaders – children organise sporting activities in the school as well as intra-school competitions as part of our School Games Offer.
- Cyber Security Crew – helping to develop a culture which encourages the children to be responsible online citizens.
- Librarians – taking responsibility for our newly-organised library and encouraging others to develop a love of reading.
- Eco Team – supporting our school to become environmentally aware and sustainable.
- SMILERS Ambassadors – pupils who are determined to support the wellbeing of our whole school community.