THE last year has been a busy one for both staff and pupils at Lawn Primary School as they prepare for a new curriculum coming into effect next year.

Wanting to make sure they are ahead of the game, headteacher Kelly James has put in place several schemes to get ready.

This has ranged from establishing school gardens to teaching the children about healthy eating to giving them computing programming skills which will be vital in later life.

Kelly said: “There are set to be some big changes but I felt it was important that the children and staff were ahead of the game ready for September.

“We have brought in a number of new schemes so it has been a very exciting year for everyone. There is now a new garden with raised beds and we have tried to involve every pupil in the gardening.

“Each class has been given a raised bed with which to grow so they can understand the processes of how we get our food.”

The school has recently received the Level 2 Royal Horticultural School Gardening Award for its work and next month the children will get the chance to sell what they have grown in a special market.

The school has also kept pace with ever-changing technology, with a new app-inventor club.

“Next year ICT will become known simply as computing and there will be more of a focus on programming,” said Kelly.

“This year the children have had the opportunity to develop apps for their phone, such as a space invaders game which they have had great fun doing.

“We have also introduced Kindles into the library.

“Not all children want to go outside every break time so they can now get together and read, which they seem to enjoy.”

The school has also brought in ‘balanceability, aimed at increasing the core strength and therefore balance of each child.

Already the benefits are being seen with many of the pupils now having much neater handwriting.

While there have been a number of changes at Lawn, some things have remained the same with the school still excelling in many areas, such as chess and music.

 

Name: Lawn Primary School
Address: Cleeve Lawns, Swindon, SN3 1LE
Telephone no: 01793 522626
Email address: admin@lawn-pri.swindon.sch.uk
Headteacher: Kelly James
Chair of governors: Steve Sutton
Uniform: Green jumpers/cardigans