Beyond the classroom

School Clubs

We provide a variety of after-school clubs to all years to give children the opportunity to experience a wider range of activities than the curriculum will allow, or to develop particular skills more fully. The clubs vary from term to term according to the staff availability and seasons.

Some of the clubs are run voluntarily by our teaching staff and there is never a charge for these. In addition to this outside providers are bought in to lead some clubs and sessions. In the majority of cases we cover the costs of these clubs, however there are occasions where a small charge is unavoidable. 

Some of the initiatives we have offered to increase children’s health and fitness as well as social skills are:

• Zumba 
• Yoga
• Football 
• Reading 
• Rugby 
• Multiskills
• Forest School 
• Homework
• Coding
• Netball
• Hockey
• Story Telling & Making
• Art / Up-cycling
• First Aid
• Drawing & Doodling

Pupil Parliament

Honeywell Primary School has recently formed Pupil Parliament is based on real Parliament but in a pupil version with the intention of replicating some of the democratic processes and roles of the British Government.

Purpose of our Pupil Parliament:

• To develop pupil voice across the school
• To give the children an experience of democracy and political processes.
• To enable the children to develop leadership skills
• To develop collaborative skills and confidence

Pupil Parliament is made of up children from year 1 to year 6 and are elected following a whole school democratic vote during each summer term. The children organise themselves into committees according to the priorities expressed by the wider school community. These committees are:

• Learning and environment
• Friendship, happiness and well-being
• Charities and fundraising
• Outdoor learning
• Extra-curricular activities

The children meet regularly to discuss priorities for their committee area and ensure that the voices of their peers are heard and acted upon.

Pupil Parliament visit the Houses of Parliament each year to take part in a tour and ‘Campaigning and Parliament’ Workshop’ which will allows us to further develop the roles of the Pupil Parliament within our school community.

15th June 

We attended the first Sustainability Charter whole MET meeting. We discussed what we could do to be more sustainable across all our schools. It was great to meet like minded people to talk about environmental issues.

Library

The library welcomes the children to a world of stories and reference books.

All classes use the library either for story periods or research activities. They are taught to respect and value books.

The library at Honeywell currently holds over 3000 books and all pupils have access to the fiction and reference books on offer. Throughout the school we aim to help children to use the library effectively and understand the cataloguing system as they get older. A new way of making our library more efficient and effective through a fingerprint scanner has just been put in place. This will enable even the youngest children to use the system and us to track their interest in reading and research.

The library also has a computer linked to the Internet that allows children to have access to a variety of search engines and research tools. (This access provided by RM, our Internet provider, restricts pupils to sites that are safe and approved for educational use.) Children are able to find and use information in projects, as well as download pictures that enhance their work.

We enjoy close links with the library in St John’s with regular visits planned by librarians to work with the children in school, as well as children visiting the city’s library itself. Visits by the authors of children’s books are also planned to promote the value of books, to motivate reading and to raise pupils’ aspirations.

Outdoor Learning

At Honeywell Primary School, we strive to provide the best range of opportunities for our pupils. In this very intense world, we feel that the chance to learn without the restraints, pressures and rules of the classroom should be offered to as many children as possible.

Through outdoor learning, we aim to promote wellbeing, self-reflection and purposeful contentment in our natural surroundings, encouraging children to take measured risks, to be more aware of nature and to look after themselves and others.

‘Forest School builds on a child’s innate motivation and positive attitude to learning, offering them the opportunities to take risks, make choices and initiate learning for themselves.’

Worcestershire Forest School Initiative, 2011

 

Our Bees

 

 

Sustainability

At Honeywell, we believe that we need to engage our children in understanding the challenges facing people and the planet today and to learn how we can work together to make changes to protect the future.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to transform our world. They are a call to action to end poverty and inequality, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy health, justice and prosperity.

These are goals for developed and developing countries on a global scale. At Honeywell we can make changes on a small scale to contribute to a wider effort to make sustainable changes to secure a better future for all.   

In our connected curriculum, there is a whole school focus on science, sustainability and the future in the summer term. To complement this, sustainability is explored through assemblies, expert speakers like Jo from Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and Mark Douglas from Bee1 as well as the projects led by our Pupil Parliament.

What are we doing at Honeywell?

Protecting Pollinators

Bees are important pollinators. Without bees there would be no fruit or vegetables, food chains would collapse. No more chocolate! We are helping our environment by keeping bees in our meadow. We started with six thousand bees and our colony will double next year. Our bees will pollinate millions of flowering plants which are so important for a healthy environment and climate.

Growing Flowering Plants

Bee Bombs

Making bee bombs is one way of ensuring that we grow enough flowering plants to feed the pollinators.  They are quick and easy to make and great for the environment. We are waiting until spring comes when our bees are going to be very happy.

 

 

Assembly Stories to Make us Think

 

Author Sarah Roberts zoomed in to share her fantastic book which  explores the dangers of plastic pollution in our seas.

We discovered that many sea creatures are confused by plastic bags and think they are food. Plastic bags can resemble jellyfish and look like tempting prey. This book made us really stop and think.

One Plastic Bag showed us how one female led her community to act and change their environment. Inspiring.

 

The Boy who lost his Bumble is a beautiful story about human relationships with the natural world.  This character is fascinated by the bees in his garden and is puzzled and saddened when they disappear one rainy day. What can have caused them to leave, and is there anything he can do to get his bumble back?

We considered our changing emotions and managing disappointment. 

Compassion is a core value.

 

Aspiration Curriculum

Aims

Our Aspiration Curriculum started in September 2022 after we relaunched as Honeywell Primary School. We want our children to broaden their horizons, understand what they could achieve and raise their aspirations for their futures. We want our pupils to have a clear understanding of the link between achieving well at school and getting into a successful interesting job and career that is not bound by social mobility or gender stereotypes. Through the programme, our children will expand their knowledge and understanding of the world of work, the types of jobs there are and different career paths that they could take - we have called these Aspiration Experiences.

Delivery

At least once per half term our children in Years 5 and 6 will either visit or be visited by an individual or company from the local area who will share with them a snapshot of their job or area of expertise and talk to them about the path that they took to get there. We will endeavour to ensure that our Aspiration Curriculum reflects the diverse nature of modern Britain and enables both boys and girls to see themselves reflected in the visits and visitors we organise. To ensure that this project is child focussed, the Pupil Parliament have taken an active role in requesting the types of careers we choose to bring into school and visit.

Outcomes

At the end of each Aspiration Experience, we talk to the children about what they have learnt and enjoyed and whether their preconceptions have been changed. We ask whether they have been inspired by the experience and what they will take with them into the future.