At Elham Church of England Primary, we are always looking at ways of enriching our curriculum.  Here are some of the activities we offer beyond the day-to-day learning in school. 

Forest School

Children spend a term each year visiting Forest School once per week and on an ad hoc basis also.  Lessons learnt during Forest School visits are embedded throughout the school with taking risks safely and respect for nature key in our approach.

It is used by the Reception Class (Acorns) at least once per week for most of the year.

It is also used for nurturing sessions for particular individuals and groups.

School Chickens

During the 2020-2021 academic year, we were able to take delivery of 2 incubators and 16 chickens eggs.  The children were able to watch as the chicks hatched out.  We were able to hand-rear them and decided that we should keep 6 for the children of the school to care for.

Mr File and Mr Elgar ensure that the chickens are fed, watered and cleaned out regularly with the support of the children.  

Outside of the school learning hours, Mr File, Mr Elgar and a team of children and parents look after the well being of our chickens.  We communicate through a Whatsapp group to make sure that their every need is met!

Eggs are regularly collected and the chickens are let out and put away each day.  Water, food and hay are checked and topped up if needed.

Dog Therapy

Darcy is our school dog trained to mentor children with behavioural/emotional needs.

She has recently received her gold award for her work in school.

Music

‘Make Time for Music’ – run private lessons in school during school hours.

Summer Music Concert - Opportunity for children who play an instrument to perform in front of the whole school.

Harvey Grammar Singing Workshop - Attendance at an annual event for children across the school.  

Literacy / Drama

Theatre visits

Whole school annual trip to the Marlowe Theatre to watch the pantomime.

 Previous visits have included,

 KS1 – The Tiger Who Came to Tea

 KS2 – Warhorse

Nativity play - KS1

End of year production – KS2

KIC Theatre visit the school regularly and spend an hour with each class completing a drama session related to their current class text or topic which has been planned in advance with the class teacher.

Book Week (Annually) – A whole week of bringing books to life with visits from authors, illustrators and theatre companies. Classroom activities include creative writing, comic strip writing, designing book covers, performing ‘story maps’, role plays and dressing up as characters from their favourite books. A daily book fair runs after school that week too.

Focus on reading throughout the school. Children choose two books from the library, one to have in school and one to take home. They complete Accelerated Reader quizzes on each book which assesses their comprehension of the text. Children enjoy accruing points from the quizzes.

Sport

Sports Week (Annually) – Staff from our PE leaders, Venture Sports, run a whole week of activities (which include everything from archery to basketball and go-carting) which culminate in Sports Day. All children compete within their house teams and a cup is awarded to the winning house. Cups are also awarded for sportsmanship and showing school values through sport.

Local competitions – Children have previously competed in a range of local sporting competitions for football, cricket, handball and netball.

Shepway Sports Trust – Children take part in a range of multisport activities run by the Shepway Sports Trust at the Three Hills Sports Centre along with other local schools. Focus on participation.

Residential

We organise oportunities for our children in Year 6 to attend a residential. 

The children had the opportunity to try lots of different activities including climbing, quad biking and many other exciting activities. 

After School Clubs

KS1 – Gymnastics (run by Venture Sports)

KS2 – Multisports (run by Venture Sports)

Graphic Design Club

Drama Club

Eco Club

Creative Arts Club

Gardening Club