Curriculum

St Peter's Forest school provider - Mrs Helen Ranford (KS1) and Miss B Jinks (KS2 + Year 2)

A Definition of Forest school

Forest school allows everyone, particularly children and young people the opportunity to learn through experience within a woodland setting in a hands on manner to develop their self-esteem and confidence

Forest School Vision

To enable each student attending Forest School sessions to have the opportunity to develop an inquisitive and positive relationship with the natural world. Increasing confidence, self-esteem and respect in preparation for an ever changing world, and for every student to have the opportunity to achieve their holistic, full potential.

Forest School Philosophy

The philosophy of Forest Schools is to inspire individuals of any age through positive outdoor experiences and provide them an opportunity to appreciate the wider, natural world to encourage a responsibility for nature conservation in later life.

Forest school Involves

• Child initiated learning;
• Being outdoors;
• Integration with the National Curriculum;
• Delivery by a trained leader (Level 3 Forest School, Open College Network);
• Fun

Forest School helps to develop:

• Confidence and self-esteem;
• Communication and social skills;
• Physical skills;
• Greater understanding and awareness of the natural environment;
• Natural motivation and a positive attitude to learning;
• The ability to recognise and manage risk;
• Healthier lifestyles.

Forest School Aims:

• To provide an opportunity for individuals to develop, to learn and to enjoy themselves.
• To provide a safe and non-threatening environment in which children can take risks, make choices and initiate their own learning.
• To help children understand, appreciate and care for the natural environment.
• To provide ways of developing practical life skills in an outdoor environment.
• To develop self-esteem, confidence and a positive disposition to learning through the completion of small, achievable tasks.
• To meet the needs of children with all learning styles
• To develop social and team working skills
• To enable children to be independent, self-motivated and considerate.
• To be true to the forest school ethos and approach
• To develop a secure, happy and welcoming environment.
• To provide stimulation and varied learning activities appropriate to the child’s needs and stages of development.
• To help each child build self-esteem, confidence, independence and self-control and interpersonal skills.

Learning to read: supporting your child at home

Learning to read is one of the most important skills that your child will develop over the next few years. The more support and encouragement that you can offer your child, the more likely that he or she will progress with enthusiasm and ease.

Here at St Peter's Primary School, we believe that phonics plays a key role in helping children to learn how to read. We follow Read Write Inc. which is a thorough, and effective systematic phonics scheme. Through regular staff training and consistent, high quality teaching, we ensure pupils develop the skills that they need to read confidently. Read write Inc also teaches children to write and spell words accurately, developing a love of reading and writing from a young age.

 

There are 3 sets of sounds that children learn;

Set 1 - single letter sounds representing each letter of the alphabet.

Set 2 - 2 and 3 letters together that make one sound (special friends).

Set 3 - 2 and 3 letters together that offer alternative spellings.

Children will make their way through the sets of sounds, whilst reading books that match and support their sound learning. A reading book will be sent home for you to read at home that is also consistent with their phonics learning. The reading book colours develop as follows:

1. Sound blending

2. Red

3. Green

4. Purple

5. Pink

6. Orange

7. Yellow

8. Blue

9. Grey

 

There are 2 key skills that we teach children to do in phonics;

1. Blending - the process of pushing together 2 or more sounds to build words.

2. Segmenting - the ability to pull apart the individual sounds in words.

 

Phonics is taught daily and children are exposed to 'red words' during daily lessons. These are words that cannot be read through phonics so are learned and sight read instead.

 

Should you wish to support phonics at home, Read Write Inc phonics resources can be found online, including on Amazon.

 

THRIVE supports children with their emotional health, wellbeing and social skills, all of which are needed to enable learning to take place. Children cannot always put their needs into words, but the way children behave can tell us a lot about how they are feeling. For some children there may be an obvious reason why they need extra support. This might be due to bereavement, family break down or an identified medical condition such as ADHD. For others, there may not be any obvious trigger as to why they are finding some aspects of school and/or home life difficult.

At St. Peter’s we are proud to be a ‘Thrive School’ and work hard to support the children’s emotional wellbeing.

 

If you would like to contact Mrs Smith, our Thrive practitioner, please email ssmith@st-peters.hereford.sch.uk

Values Based Education

At St Peter’s Primary school we treat each other with mutual respect and work in a climate where openness and inclusion lay the foundations for our values to be built upon.

A values-based school seeks to promote an educational philosophy based on valuing self, others and the environment through, the consideration of an ethical values vocabulary (principles that guide behaviour), as the basis of good educational practice. It encourages adults to model values and to give time for reflective practices that empowers individuals to be effective learners and good citizens.

It helps pupils to develop holistically, nurturing a secure sense of self, respect for self and others and supports the raising of academic standards.

Values Education underpins all aspects of our school life and gives staff and pupils the opportunity to discuss and reflect on the values in life that they believe in.

Each month, across school, every class strives to develop one of our values.

St. Peter’s and Bredenbury Values – 2 year rolling programme

Mental Health and Wellbeing

 

At St. Peter's, we believe in promoting positive mental health and emotional wellbeing. 

This page will be used to supply information and resources via the files below.

Relaxing Music Morning Relaxing Music - Positive Background Music for Kids (Sway) - YouTube

Rainbow Breathing Rainbow Breath - Learn To Raise Your Energy | Meditation For Kids | Breathing Exercises | GoNoodle - YouTube

Be the Pond Mindfulness Be the Pond | Cosmic Kids Zen Den - Mindfulness for kids - YouTube

Advice for Parents   Parents and Carers | Advice and Guidance | Anna Freud Centre

Parents looking after themselves  Parents' Guide to Looking After Your Mental Health | YoungMinds

Mental Health & Emotional Wellbeing

At St Peter's Primary School, we believe in promoting positive mental health and emotional wellbeing to ensure that the school is a community where everyone feels able to thrive. Our school ethos and values underpin everything that we do.

Who has mental health?

We all have mental health – some people call this emotional health or wellbeing.

What is mental health?

The World Health Organisation defines mental health as a state of wellbeing in which every individual achieves their potential, copes with the normal stresses of life, works productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to their community. Mental health includes our emotional, psychological and social wellbeing. It affects how we think, feel and act.

Good mental health and wellbeing is just as important as good physical health. Like physical health, mental health can range across a spectrum from healthy to unwell; it can fluctuate on a daily basis and change over time.

Most children grow up mentally healthy, but surveys suggest that more children and young people have problems with their mental health today than 30 years ago. It is thought that this is probably because of changes in the way that we live now and how that affects the experience of growing up.

The five ways to well-being are:

Connect - connect with people around you.

Be active - find an activity that you enjoy and make it a part of your life.

Keep Learning - learning new skills can give you a sense of achievement and a new confidence.

Give to others – give to those in need or even giving a smile, a thank you or a kind word.

Be mindful - be more aware of the present moment, including your thoughts and feelings, your body and the world around you.

5 Steps to Wellbeing animation

There are 5 steps we can all take to improve our mental health and wellbeing. https://youtu.be/x6bz_ekkrYA

What helps?

Things that can help keep children and young people mentally well include:

• being in good physical health, eating a balanced diet and getting regular exercise
• having time and the freedom to play, indoors and outdoors
• being part of a family that gets along well most of the time
• going to a school that looks after the wellbeing of all its pupils
• taking part in local activities for young people.

Other factors are also important, including:

• feeling loved, trusted, understood, valued and safe
• being interested in life and having opportunities to enjoy themselves
• being hopeful and optimistic
• being able to learn and having opportunities to succeed
• accepting who they are and recognising what they are good at
• having a sense of belonging in their family, school and community
• feeling they have some control over their own life
• having the strength to cope when something is wrong (resilience) and the ability to solve problems.

What happens in school?

In school, we teach children about what it means to have good mental health and wellbeing throughout our curriculum and daily practice.

Our PSHE curriculum focuses specifically on developing children’s social and emotional skills which can prevent poor mental health from developing and help all children cope effectively with setbacks and remain healthy. It is about helping children to understand and manage their thoughts, feelings and behaviour and build skills that help them to thrive, such as working in a team, persistence, and self-awareness.

What if my child is experiencing difficulties with their mental health and wellbeing?

Mental health doesn’t mean being happy all the time and neither does it mean avoiding stresses altogether. One of the most important ways to help your child is to listen to them and take their feelings seriously.

In many instances, children and young people’s negative feelings and worries usually pass with the support of their parents and families. It is helpful for the school to know what they are going through at these times, so that staff can be aware of the need and support this.

Coping and adjusting to setbacks are critical life skills for children, just as they are for adults, but it is important that they develop positive, rather than negative, coping skills.

If you are ever worried about your child’s mental health and wellbeing then, just as you would about any concerns that you have about their learning, come and talk to us. Sometimes children will need additional support for a short period – this may be in the form of a daily check-in with a trusted adult,  time to talk through what they are feeling and support in developing ways of moving forwards with this.

If your child is distressed for a long time, if their negative feelings are stopping them from getting on with their lives, if their distress is disrupting family life or if they are repeatedly behaving in ways you would not expect at their age, then please speak to your child's teacher.

Looking after yourself  

If things are getting you down, it’s important to recognise this. Talk to someone you trust and see what they think. It is easy to go on struggling with very difficult situations because you feel that you should be able to cope and don’t deserve any help.

Come and talk to us, in confidence and let us know when things are tough. As much as you try to hide how you are feeling from your child, they will notice even the smallest changes.

Go to your GP if things are really getting on top of you. Asking for some support from your doctor or a referral to a counselling service is a sign of strength. You can’t help your child if you are not being supported yourself.

Mental Health

MindEd

MindEd is suitable for all adults working with, or caring for, infants, children or teenagers; all the information provided is quality assured by experts, useful, and easy to understand. They give adults who care for, or work with, young people:

• the knowledge to support their wellbeing
• the understanding to identify a child at risk of a mental health condition
• the confidence to act on their concern and, if needed, signpost to services that can help.

Follow the link below for more information.

www.e-lfh.org.uk