Writtle Junior School

At Writtle Junior School, during each half term, year groups plan activities around a theme. This always includes part of the learning being focused on people, places and cultures around the world.

We also remember the importance of looking at our own British culture and values too. This learning can join together more than one curriculum area and can also involve the whole school community together.

Our teachers use a range of themes, to deliver the curriculum, using stimulus from both Britain and the wider world. We use British inventors, innovators, explorers and sporting heroes, to ensure that our children have a range of excellent role models from both genders. We also focus on the roles and achievements of local and community heroes too.

We have celebrated Royal events such as The Queens Diamond Jubilee and of course the Olympics and Paralympics.

Our children travel from Britain all around the world in their learning. Our Year 3 travel to the Himalayas to understand what is happening to the mountains there through tourism. They also complete a study looking at the chronology of British history and how key moments affected the world as a whole.

Year 4 compare the Roman invasion of Britain with life in Roman Italy. What were the similarities and the differences? They learn about healthy foods and create recipes from around the world.

Year 5 travel from Pole to Pole they understand how the natural world can be affected by pollution across the continents. They also look at our local history and how Marconi’s invention affected life and events across the world.

In Year 6, children look at school life in India and compare it with their own experiences of school. An Indian banquet is prepared and shared together with governors and teaching staff.

They visit a contrasting locality in Wales and compare similarities and differences in the economic situation, physical geography and human geography aspects of both places.

At Writtle Junior School our children follow the Essex RE Scheme of Work and this introduces them to a wide range of religions from across the world.

Our children also have links to children in classes in France, Spain and America. We correspond with them using Skype, emailing and letter writing.

Children in all year groups learn French and some children in the school have learnt Spanish through links with a local secondary school. Children in Year 4 learn some Russian and Italian and in Year 3 they learn a little Greek.

Our school helps children to value democracy and the right to have a free voice through class and school council.

Some of our school council have visited School Governor meetings and Governors have visited School Council. Our children have been involved with the employment of both our Head and Deputy Head teachers.

We encourage high levels of independence and open ended learning so children have the right to develop their own thinking. Through class assemblies children choose what they would like to show to the parents to explain their own learning journeys and our children are encouraged to attend their own parents evening appointment to share their work with their parents or guardians. Children have voted to decide what books they would like in the library, year 6 prefects complete tasks around the school to support the whole school community and choose a reward each term.

All of our children are encouraged to make suggestions about how they could improve the school and are involved in decisions about the new technologies that we use in school such as ipads, drones and robots. Children can assess their own ability to recognise life skills in their day-to-day learning and living. They use classroom monitoring systems they have devised to show this. We believe our life skills support the wellbeing of our children and also their capacity to live in a modern Britain.

The children at Writtle Junior School know the ingredients for a happy school team and help to set classroom and playground expectations.

Year 6 prefects support younger pupils within the playground environment and our MDAs play with the children and encourage a happy and healthy environment.