Beyond the Classroom
We believe that education should extend beyond the classroom.
School Trips and Events
To bring the curriculum to life we begin each theme with an engaging entry point. This may be a trip to Paignton Zoo for Year 1 or a Fairy tale dress up day to introduce the Year 2 Writing Topic. We believe that the children benefit from visiting the many places of interest Torquay and Devon has to offer, and from having representatives from various organisations and other specialists visit the school. We also ensure children have access to experiences which will help them build their self-confidence and widen their life experiences. These include the year 5 and 6 residential trips and opportunities to experience arts events through developing relationships with local theatres, dance and art organisations.
Outdoor Learning at Barton Hill Academy
Outdoor Learning provides children with the opportunity to explore the outside environment, while deepening their understanding of the curriculum and developing additional creative, observational and problem-solving skills. At Barton Hill, this includes activities such as whittling, knot-tying, shelter building and navigation, as well as building on specific curriculum learning – especially within Science, Design and Technology, Art, Geography and Maths. Sessions also have a particular emphasis on the importance of respecting the natural world, building positive relationships and managing risk.
Outdoor Learning provides children with the opportunity to explore the outside environment, while deepening their understanding of the curriculum and developing additional creative, observational and problem-solving skills. At Barton Hill, this includes activities such as whittling, knot-tying, shelter building and navigation, as well as building on specific curriculum learning – especially within Science, Design and Technology, Art, Geography and Maths. Sessions also have a particular emphasis on the importance of respecting the natural world, building positive relationships and managing risk.
Our International School
Erasmus +
Barton Hill Academy are proud to share our good practice by hosting teachers from other schools Nationally and Internationally. In the past two years we have welcomed teachers from Turkey, Finland, France, Slovakia and The Netherlands. The teachers have spent time in our school job-shadowing the teachers and working alongside the children.
We have just finished a very successful project 'Outstanding Education and Cultural Heritage' with our Italian, Finnish and Slovenian partners. This has been a three year project that has provided an outstanding opportunity to work collaboratively, exchange good practice and share our cultural heritage.
As part of this project we worked with 40 other schools across Europe as part of the award winning 'Red Zone Project'.
Here is a link to the Red Zone Project
Comenius
We have been working on a number of school to school projects with other schools in Europe since 2008. The project aimed to help young people and educational staff better understanding of the range of European cultures, languages and values. The school won a national etwinning prize for this project in addition to a European Quality Label.
eTwinning
eTwinning promotes school collaboration in Europe through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by providing support, tools and services for schools. eTwinning also offers opportunities for free and continuing online Professional Development for educators. Barton Hill Academy has received two European Quality Labels in addition to a number of national etwinning Quality Labels for various projects.
Visit the Proud to be me eTwinning TwinSpace HERE
Visit the Empathy towards Bullying eTwinning Twinspace HERE
Connecting Classrooms
Barton Hill have been fortunate to participate in the Connecting Classrooms project with our partner school from Chengdu in China. The children have been collaborating together on various projects. The children have also received high quality teachers from the Chinese teachers during a recent visit to our school, one of the teachers is a famous calligrapher in his country.
Ambassador Work
Mrs Farrell is an Ambassador for the British Council and was chosen due to the commitment from our school in our International Work. This enables the school to network with other like-minded teachers internationally and share good practice. It has also provided international CPD opportunities. Mrs Bell attended a European Conference in Athens during October Half Term and Mrs Farrell attended a European e-safety workshop in Brussels.
Find out what we are learning this term
