We have introduced this topic as part of our Enhanced Curriculum because so many children are completely entranced by puppets, and we believe they are a fantastic tool to get children to talk and tell stories.

Puppets offer children an opportunity for role-playing that allows them to explore new personalities, and ideas and develop their imagination. As well as being a fun activity Puppets can increase children’s communication and social skills by providing structured opportunities to interact.

The children will use Puppets to tell stories themselves, both known stories as well as stories and tales they have created themselves.

We will be using Puppets to bring stories to life and to spark the imagination of our children through creative drama. The children will use puppets to introduce a storytelling session, have a puppet as the narrator, as well as use a puppet to act as characters within the story as they narrate.

We decided to bring this brand-new topic to our Enhanced Curriculum as balance is very important for children during their physical activity.

Body Balance is a specially designed fitness programme for children which focuses on a different physical skill or key activity this term. The programme provides fun and engaging activities, which are easy to carry out and designed to improve children’s general fitness levels and competence.

Balance is the ability to control your body’s position, whether stationary (i.e. a complex yoga pose) or while moving (e.g. skiing, cycling, etc). Balance is a key component of fitness, along with strength, endurance, and flexibility. There are various ways to perform balance exercises.

Some of the Fun Balance Activities in this topic will be:

• Wheelbarrow Walking
• Crab Walk
• Gymnastics Balance Beam Skills
• Hopscotch
• Stepping Stones
• Biking
• Tumbling (Head Stand & Handstand)

Boxercise is an exercise concept based on the training methods used by boxers. The sessions will typically involve hitting focus pads not hitting an opponent. It is a fun, challenging and safe workout.

Boxercise enhances sports specific senses, including hand-eye co-ordination, balance and timing.

Boxercise is also great for those children not engaged with traditional sports as it is essentially a fitness class based on fun.

Benefits of Boxercise:

• Boxercise is fun
• Students are encouraged to work as a team
• Boxercise is one of the most easily accessible and recognisable forms of exercise that student can continue even after school
• Boxercise is a great stress buster
• Excellent for motivating disaffected children
• Flexible – competitive or non-competitive class styles students can choose
• Good for hand eye co-ordination, stamina, strength and speed.

Cartoon drawing is a learning activity that engages students of all ages and abilities and can be used across curriculum areas.

The skills associated with creating cartoons can be developed and used across several areas of the curriculum as they involve story planning and narrative construction.

Cartoons are important in terms of that the students establish a relationship between the subjects and they contribute learners to develop problem solving skills. Students’ perspective for cartoon will be different and it will bring a wealth of ideas. Thus, it will be easier to capture the details from the information.

Through this project the students will:

• develop practical skills specific to animation
• developed transferable planning and language skills
• engaged in opportunities to develop the skills and attributes associated with creativity

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

Lacrosse is a fast moving, exciting team sport played with lacrosse sticks and a lacrosse ball. It is part of the cultural heritage of the Iroquois people and it is thought that a version of the game has been played for over 3000 years.

Players use the head of the stick to pass, catch and even carry the ball.

There are different versions of the game which require different sticks and rules. Some of the adult versions involve a great deal of person-to-person contact, however, we will be learning a non-contact version (apart from stick-to-stick contact), so extensive protective gear will not be required.

This is a choice for pupils who enjoy being active a running around.

This is one of our pupils’ favourite Enhanced Curriculum topics and as such is being included again.

The children will be learning to make circuit for the Wire Loop Game.

A wire loop game is a game which involves guiding a metal loop along a serpentine length of wire without touching the loop to the wire.

The students will also investigate aspects of Cosmetics Science, looking at different types of oils and how they affect the skin when making body scrubs and bath bombs.

Slime is always a popular science activity, and this will also be incorporated in this term’s Crazy Science topic.

Taking part in these projects will teach our students to follow an engineer’s approach as they identify problems, brainstorm solutions, design, plan, build

Food preparation has become one of our most popular Enhanced Curriculum choices. However, in previous years we have focussed our food preparation classes on baking. There is wealth of other ways to prepare food – so this year we are going to include non-baking methods of food preparation, from a variety of cultures. These will include at least one each of: a delicious salad, a pasta dish, a rice dish, a type of sweet, and a dessert.

In the classes pupils learn to:

• Take precautions, such as wearing aprons and making sure the food surfaces are clean.

• Know that heat is a catalyst and matter can change state.

• Develop team work and taking turns with various tasks.

• Think for themselves, and be creative, trying new and exciting flavor

The Eco Club project is based around the driving question “Why is it important to be more environmentally conscious?”.

The children will learn about the importance of bees and other insects and protecting wildlife. They will then use natural materials, collected from around school, to build a bug hotel to encourage biodiversity at school & home.

The children will learn about the impact of plastic in our oceans and the importance of recycling and will begin to look at climate change and how our human activity can help prevent it.

Mini handball is the best ways to develop a child’s natural motor skills, balance, and coordination. The game is easy to learn because it only requires natural skills:

• Running
• Jumping
• Catching
• Throwing
• Balance

What makes the sport especially fun for children is that it is relatively easy to experience success, through scoring goals, saving shots or just making a good pass. Most importantly, the game makes it very easy for everyone in the team to contribute equally and have fun. This will take place at FireFit each Friday. 

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 childre

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

While Performing Arts allow children to develop creative passions, they simultaneously teach children language and communication skills, helping them to communicate effectively with others with confidence.

Performing Arts are all about self-expression, exploring alternative options and embracing individuality.

The children will use the mediums of music, dance and drama to explore different scenarios. This will take place at Extreme Dance Studio each week. 

Team Building is essential for young people. The more teamwork fundamentals they exhibit, the more opportunity exists for pupils to learn the vital skills of compromise and collaboration.

Team building activities and games are specifically designed to make sound decisions, solve problems, and most importantly, collaborate with different kinds of people. Students learn how they can work with each other better, listen to others, and communicate effectively.

It’s also a perfect time for students to know each other more, build trust with one another, and of course, have fun!

Tag rugby refers to games derived from rugby football in which players do not tackle each other but instead they pull Velcro belts from their opponents.

It is an all-inclusive game, which does not discriminate against age, size or experience, meaning that girls and boys can play the sport together.

Tag rugby can be played anywhere, it is great for beginners and, as there is no tackling involved, it is much safer (though a good introduction to) Rugby Union.

Apart from being great fun, bouncing on a trampoline brings a number of very real health and wellbeing benefits including:

Balance – trying to bounce in one place on a trampoline means you have to develop a keen sense of balance.

Coordination – closely related to balance is the need to coordinate arm and leg actions, as well as many fast-twitch muscle groups, necessary to form the different shapes and perform the various somersaults and twists.

Bilateral motor skills – the action of bouncing whilst trying to maintain balance and coordinate bodily extremities calls on both sides of the body and brain.

Rhythm – again closely related but distinct is the need to bounce in tune with the trampoline to achieve optimum height for least effort.

Self-confidence – even those least confident with sports will find it possible to make some progress on the relatively forgiving surface of a trampoline and this progress will help boost confidence.

Cardiovascular fitness – bouncing on a trampoline increases the pulse rate and strengthens muscle groups essential for a healthy cardiovascular system.