We have incorporated Pilates in our Enhanced Curriculum to use as a potential tool for children to increase their body’s flexibility and strengthen their core trunk. Pilates also improves the body’s ability to circulate blood.

Through Pilates we want to teach the children how to use their muscles in a controlled way and make their bodies stronger and more flexible. This enhances their mind and body connection. While encouraging a focus on breath and pose, Pilates can help the children improve their concentration and calmness.

Benefits of Pilates:

 Good movement habits
 Muscle strength
 Balance and co-ordination
 Body confidence
 Managing stress and mindfulness

We have introduced Makaton in our Enhanced Curriculum because we understand that sign language provides children with an alternative way to make themselves understood. This extra tool enables them to express how they feel, their thoughts and wants, so that they can take part in learning and social activities. This not only gives a child a ‘voice’ but is also important when building relationships.

The aim of the course is to use and explore the fundamentals of Makaton. It will help children to develop communication skills, which helps stimulate sounds and words using a visual way.

We are aiming to use Makaton (signing) as a visual form of communication that will support speech not replace it, as signs will give children extra visual information about the words used in the message making it easier to understand. The extra visual cues given in signs supports the learning of new words and helps to model how and when to use them.

We have introduced Drama in our Enhanced Curriculum to support and develop children’s communication skills and aspects of human behaviour, as well as relationships that will improve their social health.

Drama lessons for children enables the development certain very important skills such as imitation and imagination skills. Drama also provides an understanding of the instructions given during activities and asking the children to remember them later, thus developing perception and memory, attention and concentration.

Drama gives children the opportunity to explore and the freedom to imagine. Through drama, children express themselves using different facial expressions, voices and tones, and body language. Last, but not least, Drama empowers children to communicate confidently and it is also an effective way of learning languages.

Dance was a popular topic last year, so we are making it available again this year. In the lessons pupils learn new ways to move – thereby improving both co-ordination and memory skills.

The aim of the course is to use and explore the fundamentals of dance. It will help to improve posture, flexibility and balance. In learning specific dance moves it will also help to practice focus and allow an exploration into different types of music, as well as simply being fun.

Furthermore, movement combinations increase memory, order, and sequencing skills.

Dance also increases self-esteem which is so very important to learning. Utilizing dance in academics also helps children develop skills that are necessary for learning such as creativity, communication, critical thinking, and collaboration.

In this Enhanced Curriculum topic the children will learn about our local Community and how we can help together support our Community.

The community service project is based around the driving question “Who is responsible for making changes in our community”.

The children will learn about local charities and then work in groups to write a pitch to raise funds for one of the charities. They will then run their chosen activity to raise funds for the charity. Depending on time and location of the chosen charity, it may involve a trip to see them or invite them in to see the children.

There are many possibilities and outcomes, and we want the children to lead on this, so some planned activities may change.

This is one of our pupils’ favourite Enhanced Curriculum topics and as such, is being included again. The children will be learning to explore fun and easy science experiments. We want to allow the children to explore, enjoy the world of science, and think scientifically.

The science experiments will range from general investigations which involve conducting fair tests and using various objects to complete the experiment, to experiments where children can try food related science experiments which can be done using simple everyday ingredients.

The benefits of children participating in science and nature activities are:

• Children learn by experiment – in this way, scientific thinking techniques will be learned.
• Improves children’s observation skills – children learn how to analyse and synthesize.
• Children will gain knowledge of the tools and materials used in daily life and their qualities.

Activities related to science not only help children develop correct thinking methods but also help them succeed in school lessons.

Science activities, which strengthen children’s curiosity, enable children to develop questions as well as helping them to increase their desire to learn and positively contribute to children’s learning and development in terms of language and concept skills.

There are 7 stages of Block play and the children will learn about each stage whilst also building their finger-hand strength, fine-tuning their motor skills and developing their skills in the areas of design, representation, balance and stability whilst working with and alongside their peers.

Drama is another of our most popular topics. In learning drama we aim for your child to experience a variety of fun situations where they can have plenty of opportunities to develop the important early skills, such as:

• Pretending
• Social play
• Social interaction
• Language development
• Imagination
• Self-esteem

They will do this through games, role-play, paired and group tasks, the use of props and acting out scenes from familiar stories.

We have incorporated Yoga in our Enhanced Curriculum to use as a potential tool for children to deal with stress and regulate themselves. Yoga provides training of mind and body and helps bring emotional balance.

In this topic pupils will learn some gentle exercises and stretches similar to those studied in Yoga.

The poses they learn to hold will help to improve focus and concentration as well as promoting good physical and mental health.

The topic will also help build muscle strength and flexibility.

Benefits of yoga:

• helps children manage their anxiety
• improves children’s emotional regulation
• boosts children’s self-esteem
• increases children’s body awareness and mindfulness
• enhances children’s concentration and memory
• develops children’s strength and flexibility

We believe children’s literature plays a crucial part in children’s education as it provides knowledge and entertainment.

Children’s literature and storytelling is helpful in promoting children’s global development and well-being; hence we have decided to include this in our Enhanced Curriculum programme this term.

Reading or listening to tales, impacts on young generations, empowering and preparing them for the future. Since culture is crucial for learning, stories have a fundamental part in shaping individual’s role in the society.

Children will love using a variety of natural objects, such as fallen leaves, twigs, petals and foliage to make their very own nature weaving collage. 

The fun weaving activities provided as part of this topic will develop children’s dexterity and coordination, as the children weave their natural objects in and out of the strings on the loom.

Nature Weaving is a great way to develop children’s creativity and explore texture and colours.