Educational Visits

As well as enjoying the challenges presented through a range of interesting learning themes, our curriculum is further enriched by stimulating educational visits and visitors and creative themed days. Teachers also aim to maximise the opportunities for learning outside of the classroom. Some of the enrichment planned for the children this year are outlined in this document:

• Curriculum Enrichment

Reception - People Who Help Us Visits: Police

Whilst learning about 'People Who Help Us' and we had a very exciting visit from the police. Jess, the PCSO who visited, told us all about her job and let us have a go at wearing some of the uniform. After, she gave us a tour of her car and she even let us turn on the blue lights and the siren! The children really enjoyed it!

Reception - People Who Help Us Visits: Fire Fighters

As our 'People Who Help Us' topic continued this week, we had a very exciting visit from the fire service on Monday morning. Not only did we meet some real firefighters, but they also brought a real fire engine for us to see! We got a fascinating tour of all their important equipment – we saw hoses, breathing masks, enormous cutters and were even lucky enough to have a sit in the back of the fire engine. The children were absolutely thrilled with the experience and really enjoyed all of our activities back in class learning about fire fighters.

Reception - People Who Help Us Visits: Paramedic

As our 'People Who Help Us' topic continues, we have been lucky enough to have another visitor to Reception this week. On Tuesday, Simon came to talk to the children about being a paramedic. He let some of them try on his special reflective coat and safety helmet and even checked some heart rates using a very clever machine. After that, we were lucky enough to go outside and see his ambulance! The children absolutely loved looking inside and it was very exciting when he turned on the blue lights and even sounded the loud horn and siren! It was a fantastic experience for everyone; thank you Simon!

Reception - People Who Help Us Visits: Dentist

As part of our topic ‘People Who Help Us’, we have been learning about the importance of oral health. This week the Reception children had a visit from a dentist called Jack from Space Healthcare in Leamington, who talked to the children about teeth and how to look after them. They learnt how many teeth they have, which kinds of food and drinks are good or bad for our teeth, how to clean their teeth and what to expect when visiting a dentist. The children all listened brilliantly and some were even able to share their own experiences of going to the dentist and how they clean their teeth at home. We set up a 'Dentist Station' which all the children loved accessing; we practiced brushing teeth (not their own!) with toothbrushes and toothpaste. All of Reception were also given an amazing dental ‘goodie bag’ each. These were all kindly donated by House of Dental in Birmingham and we would like to say a big thank you to them, Jack and Space Healthcare for their tremendous support!

• COTEN END CAKE OFF
  As part of our European Day of Languages celebrations we held our very own International themed bake off. Children (and staff!) were invited to bake a cake/biscuits using a traditional recipe or decorate a cake/biscuits to represent a country. Please click on the link to see all of the amazing entries.

KS2 - SIGNSONG WORKSHOP

As part of our European Day of Languages celebrations one of the UK's leading Deaf SignSong performers, Fletch, came into school to teach the whole of KS2 some British Sign Language. By the end of the workshop the children could sign to a whole song! 

SignSong
 

Reception- Spaceship Crash Landing 

Today, after reading the Beegu story, we found that a spaceship had crash landed in our playground! The children were amazed and sure that Beegu must be somewhere in the school. 

Reception- Autumn Walk

Reception children thoroughly enjoyed a sunny (but chilly!) Autumn Walk. Children were given the task to collect as many autumn objects as they could find and put them into their paper bags. The children used these items throughout the week to create a range of art work. We had lots of fun exploring the lovely park and school grounds, discussing the objects we had found and how we might use them. Once we returned to school, we warmed up by having a special treat - hot chocolate and biscuits, whilst listening to an autumn story.

Inter-Faith Week at Coten End

The week of 15th-19th November was Inter-Faith Week. At Coten End, we wanted to celebrate this by highlighting the importance of learning about different faiths, demonstrating the fundamental British values of mutual respect and tolerance for the views and beliefs of others. We invited two visitors to speak in assemblies across school: Attiya Shams came in to discuss Islam with Y1, Y2 and Y3 and Pam Kaur Sandhu visited to discuss Sikhism with Y5. The children also had the opportunity to share their own religions and speak to their classes about their faith and beliefs. This included dance performances, sharing important items/artefacts, videos and PowerPoint presentations. It has been a lovely week - thank you to our visitors and for the children who shared and listened so well. 

Year 4 - Motionhouse Dance Workshop
 

Year 4 have taken part in two dance workshops lead by Motionhouse. They have been learning some unique choreography movements, including some partner counter balance sequences. We have been linking the movements with our theme ' Groovy Greeks' - using movements to retell some of the Ancient Greek myths. 

Concert - Warwick Independent Schools Foundation

In October, we welcomed students from the Warwick Independent Schools Foundation to play for us is two assemblies. Year 1 and 2 came together to enjoy some live music, followed by Year 5 and 6. It was absolutely wonderful having live music in school again and we look forward to welcoming them back to play for us again in the near future.

Year 1 visit from the bunnies

Year 1 have been learning about different types of animals in Science. We have studied fish, looked at reptiles, labelled amphibians and now we are looking at mammals. We were delighted to welcome the baby bunnies to school on Wednesday 17th November and learned about how they look and what they can do when they are born and compared this to an adult rabbit.

Cuddles with them were an added bonus for everyone!

Year 1 visit from the Vicar at St Nicholas Church

On Thursday 18th November, Year 1 enjoyed a visit from the Vicar at St Nicholas Church. She taught us all about Christian symbols and how Christians think about God.

We started off with a quiz, looking at symbols we are all familiar with. One of those was a great big yellow M! That one made us feel hungry!

Year 3 Palaeontology Day

There was much excitement in Year 3 when a mystery dinosaur egg was discovered in the school playground! Luckily, the Year 3 children are expert palaeontologists after their 'Fossil Hunters' theme and agreed to help look for clues as to what dinosaur might have laid the egg. Having found intriguing clues such as scratch marks, fossils, footprints and even coprolite, the children did a lot of research about different types of dinosaurs and drew conclusions about what species of dinosaur it was. The egg was then sent off to the Natural History Museum to be examined further. The children spent the rest of the day completing a fossil hunt orienteering activity around the school grounds and using clay to make their very own 'mould and cast' fossils.