CASE STUDY Western Springs Community Primary School ,

National Overall Winner of the LOtC Awards for Excellence& Innovation 2010, sponsored by TUI Education Division

Western Springs School curriculum includes a huge variety of LOtC, such as growing vegetables in the school grounds, visits to the seaside, ‘Passion Projects’ that get parents and carers involved, and a partnership with a school in Germany. The school’s LOtC work relies on building and maintaining partnerships with external organisations, to provide the best quality experiences for pupils. The following are examples of some of the activities and opportunities, the children are offered at the school:

Cannock Chase and Shugborough Outdoor Education Centre Western Springs Primary School and have close links with Shugborough Outdoor Education Centre. This has lead to a programme of learning outside the classroom activities for Year 2, 3 and 4 children which involve two half day visits to the centre and .

The ‘Rocks and Soils’ visit was divided into two parts. For the first part, children walked through the woods at Cannock Chase, collecting stones. This exercise formed part of a discussion about rock formations and types of stone. The difference between pebbles and stones was informed by a natural pebble cliff face and an activity on erosion where stones were shaken in empty plastic milk bottles to visualise the smoothing process.

Later, children explored the on-site sandstone quarry at the outdoor education centre and learnt about its history. Using a piece of drainpipe and a hammer head, the children watched a demonstration about the different strengths of certain rocks. This was visually impressive and the children absolutely loved it.

Comparing rainforests to a local forest was the topic for a second visit to the Chase. Pupils investigated the naturally occurring forest and discussed the tree species, how they are spaced out, the habitats and how they differed from those in the rainforest. A second area of the woodland dedicated to commercial forestry encouraged the children to think about what was different between natural and commercial forests. They learnt how the forest develops over time and the decisions that need to be made to sustainably manage the forest. Back at the centre, the children used leaves in a tree identification exercise. The lesson also reflected on climate and how this compared with the rainforest.

These visits were complementary to the topics discussed in the classroom and were an excellent way of consolidating the children’s learning. Beyond the learning, the visits also provide the children with the social opportunity to travel together, walking in the country, working with different people and experiencing nature first hand.

International Links To encourage awareness of education and customs in other parts of the world, the school work together every half-term by holding an International Day. This is a cross curricular event and all pupils take part culminating in a celebration assembly for parents and grandparents.

There are two established links with different countries, Pakistan and Germany. The German link is explained here.

Germany Western Springs was keen to develop a link with a European school. By working with the local International Links advisor, a link was made with a school in Annaberg, East Germany. Initially, a group of German teachers were invited to visit Staffordshire by the LEA where they worked with a group of Staffordshire teachers to plan and develop their projects. The Western Springs school was called ‘Seeds for Life’.

Once the proposal was agreed, a grant application was submitted to JCP (Joint Curriculum Project) to help the development of the project. The school was fortunate to have their application approved by the JCP board and a grant of £4000 was awarded to support the project and allow a minimum of 10 children to visit Annaberg.

The project ‘Seeds for Life’ involved both schools growing a variety of vegetables and comparing their growth, weights and size. Further plans will look at developing an Anglo/German cook book using these vegetables for both schools to sell as an enterprise.

To decide which children should be given this amazing opportunity, the visit was offered to the children in year 5/6. A parents and pupils meeting was arranged to explain the details of the visit then the children had to apply giving reasons why they should be allowed to represent Western Springs in a different country. Eventually the 12 children were chosen by a draw of names.

For the majority of the children it was the first time they had flown or been abroad. Once on the plane the children were feeling rather nervous but as the plane climbed and passed through the clouds, one of the children exclaimed ‘Wow I’m in heaven’!

During their visit, the children experienced temperatures of -15 centigrade. The airport was which was used by Hitler during the 2nd World War caused a great deal of interest for the year 6 children who had completed a project entitled Friends or Foe the previous year.

Staying in a youth hostel in the forest and mountains near Annaberg, the group explored the local area and traditional cuisine, learnt to ski, visited a local silver mine and experienced maths, music and cookery lessons at the link school. It was an amazing experience for all involved and something that will remain with the children for the rest of their lives. Back in in , the children were involved in an assembly production about the trip and their LOtC experience is used back in the classroom.

Following the visit to Germany all of the children from key stage 2 who joined the gardening club ‘Green Gang’ planted and nurtured their vegetables for the Seeds for Life project. Once harvested measured and weighed (part of their maths lessons), the vegetables were cooked and served for everyone to taste. In Germany the weather caused a few problems for the German children’s vegetables. A late spring and problems with slugs resulted in a poor harvest.

In January 2011, the German children will be joining year 5/6 students at Shugborough Outdoor Education Centre on their English exchange. They will be taken to Cannock Chase, experience a Victorian classroom at Shugborough Hall, and take part in other LOtC activities before a visiting Western Springs Community Primary School. This will also be an opportunity to plan our recipe book ready for publishing in 2011.

Whole School Projects - Llandudno As part of the whole schools approach to a more Creative Curriculum, each year group plan a seaside project every two years. This has enabled us to develop a bi-annual visit to the seaside town of Llandudno. The children in each year group work on a project based around the seaside including the historical and geographical aspects of our coast.

The visit gives the pupils the opportunity to experience a visit to a British seaside resort. For many, it is their first visit to the seaside coast. Once there, they are able to carry out their research including surveys and first hand experiences of a Victorian seaside resort.

Both parents and children take part in this visit giving parents the chance to join the children in their learning journey. The children are able to create visual and written memories from a personal experience and this enhances their learning beyond the classroom.