One of the best bits of being a school governor is having the opportunity to speak to the children about their experiences of learning at Windy Nook.
I recently visited school to monitor how History and Geography are delivered and this began with a discussion with seven pupils from across the age range.
Their enthusiasm for History became immediately apparent as they recalled the various topics they had covered. In KS1 they loved learning about the “olden times” and how people used to live. Further up the school learning about Ancient Greeks and Egyptians had been exciting with visits to the Great North Museum and having a visitor to school who had arrived dressed as an Ancient Greek and brought weapons with him was very memorable.
They showed me their Topic Books with photographs of art work and activities they had enjoyed ( things involving dressing up or food were particularly popular.) Year 6 were in the midst of visits to St Alban’s church to look at the war graves and memorials from WW1 and remembered that last year, to commemorate 100 years since the end of the war the whole school had been involved in a memorial with poppies and the creation of a garden.
A big focus in Geography this year has been mapping skills and the children in KS1 talked about visiting their local area including the Nature Park while KS2 had identified the course of the River Tyne using new mapping software and had enjoyed a cruise down the Tyne to North Shields.
It quickly became very apparent that the staff at Windy Nook, led by Mrs Short who coordinates these subjects, work very hard to make learning about History and Geography exciting and also relevant. It was great to hear pupils of all ages talk knowledgeably and enthusiastically about what they had learned.
Lynn
Article 28: You have the right to a good quality education. You should be encouraged to go to school to the highest level you can.
