Kings Hedges Primary School

The King's Hedges Experience

The King’s Hedges Experience

At KHEF, we not only want children to strive academically, but we also want to provide children with a wealth of opportunities to achieve excellence through care, creativity and challenge. This is The King’s Hedges Experience children will have:

Care:

• Read to a younger child.
• Visit different places of worship in our local area.
• Litter pick in the local area.
• Visit a farm and see how it works.
• Plant and grow a living thing.
• Build animal homes in the environment.
• Complete a traffic survey.
• Know how to stay safe around dogs.
• Complete basic first aid. 

Creativity:

• Visit a museum.
• Visit a market.
• Visit an art gallery.
• Learn how to sew.
• Learn to play a musical instrument.
• Perform to parents/ carers.
• Learn how to prepare a healthy meal.

Challenge:

• Learn how to ride a bike safely.
• Learn how to scooter safely.
• Compete in sporting events.
• Learn how to swim and stay safe around water.
• Spend money in a local shop.
• Use money to fundraise for end of year treat.
• Make a den that you can sit in with your friends.

Vision

Excellence achieved through care, creativity and challenge.

Intent

With a high number of pupils in receipt of Pupil Premium at King’s Hedges and the demography of the school, we find that children have a limited experience of the world around them and opportunities to broaden and use curriculum content.

The King’s Hedges Experience is a strategically planned exposure to a variety of experiences that enhance our school curriculum and the individual child. We have categorised these experiences under our school vision of care, creativity and challenge to motivate and inspire learners to be well-rounded citizens.

Experiences involve making links in our community, opportunities to learn how to better look after ourselves and the world around us and career related opportunities to inspire children to potential job opportunities that they could pursue into adolescence and adulthood.

Implementation

The King’s Hedges Experience Overview is a document used by staff to identify when experiences take place within the curriculum. Using this overview, staff intwine experiences into curriculum delivery. This ensures all children complete the full experience by the end of their learning at King’s Hedges. Experiences are linked to curriculum areas and offer children further opportunities to motivate, embed and apply taught curriculum knowledge.

Some experiences lend themselves to be part of a Big Bang that take place at the beginning of curriculum themes, others through school trips or school visitors. All school trips and visitors are identified on the school’s long-term plan. Big Bangs, school trips and visitors enhance our curriculum offer.

Alongside this, children have an incredible offer of extra-curricular opportunities. These clubs are created and delivered by teachers and/or children. We offer over 20 adult led clubs and 6 child led clubs which have high participation rates across the school. These clubs have direct links to our curriculum and are used to embed and apply knowledge and skills.

Impact

As a result of The King’s Hedges Experience, children are inspired and motivated to become well-rounded citizens, have increased life experience and further achieve excellence through care, creativity and challenge. All of which impacts learning through development and exposure to vocabulary, improving curriculum connections and learning being made purposeful.  

In addition to impact on learning, The King’s Hedges Experience supports spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Experiences support children’s non-academic development. For example, understanding and appreciation of different cultures, awareness of place in society and a strong moral compass.

Enhancements

The King’s Hedges Experience is an enhancement to our curriculum offer.

King’s Hedges Voice

Vision

Excellence achieved through care, creativity and challenge.

Intent

By fostering a culture of pupil leadership, King’s Hedges empowers pupils to take an active role in shaping their learning experiences and enhances their personal development. King’s Hedges promotes inclusive practices, so that we can ensure that pupils and families have a voice. We listen to the feedback and effectively serve the school community.

Implementation 

Pupils are able to apply for the following pupil roles at the beginning of each school year:

Pupils’ written applications are reviewed by the Pupil Role Lead and successful candidates will be responsible for monitoring and championing areas of the curriculum throughout the school for the academic year. These individuals will receive comprehensive training to enable them to devise an action plan which they will regularly revisit throughout the year. They will liaise with subject leaders and support class teachers and pupils to fulfil their roles. They will meet regularly with their Pupil Role Lead to continuously discuss and evaluate the impact of their role within the school.

We also utilise:

Parent Volunteers: The school is fortunate to welcome parent volunteers who come to the school in order to read with pupils. Some parents may also help supervise school trips, having received the appropriate training. Teachers and subject leads also invite parents to share relevant skills and knowledge with a class, for example in RE or linked to our “I can be” careers project.

Parent Surveys: In order to gain an overview into parental perspective on provision at King’s Hedges, we gather parent view yearly. We ask for other feedback throughout the year via parent-mail.

Pupil Surveys: Subject leaders regularly collate pupil perspectives so that responses may help inform and improve practice across the school.

Impact

King’s Hedges Voice is measured through pupil progress and outcomes. We also monitor pupil engagement and feedback, as well as parental engagement.