Curriculum information

At Nash Mills, we are proud to offer a broad curriculum to our pupils, with plenty of opportunities for them to develop specific skills whilst learning all about the world around them.  Each subject area has a clear pathway, in which we know what each child should learn as they move through the school.  More information can be found within the curriculum pages of our website, however we have spotlighted a few of our subjects below.

Forest School at Nash Mills

Some of your children may have noticed that, on Wednesday this week, we were joined by over 20 teachers from other local schools as part of a project that Nash Mills is running around Forest School provision.  This year, we have been selected for coaching and support from an organisation called Learning through Landscapes.  This will not only help us to develop the provision that we have, but also to share our best practice with other local schools.

At Nash Mills, each class takes part in Forest School sessions at different points throughout the year.  Each session begins with a time for pupils to come together in our outdoor classroom, where they consider the weather, both current and what might be coming.  The children then take part in a range of activities to develop specific skills around observing and thinking about the world around them, in addition to building up knowledge of the outdoors.  Our provision is slightly different from traditional Forest Schools, in that at Nash Mills, we have tied elements of the science curriculum into our sessions.  This means that the children get a much more hands-on offer of many aspects.  For example, where some classes study a plants topic in science, rather than them doing this in the classroom in a traditional way, they will spend time in our polytunnel looking at how plants grow and considering the best ways to care for them.  

Moving forward, plans are afoot to begin developing the garden area by the Year 4-6 classrooms.  As we move through this year, we would like to add a range of plants and areas, which will help to increase the biodiversity of the school grounds.  

This morning as part of INSET training, some of our staff took part in some special training to think about how we can use more of the school grounds during break and lunchtimes...watch this space for some changes!

As Reverend Dave settles in to his new role working with the local community, he has asked us to help with an important survey project that is being undertaken at St Mary’s Apsley End. They are currently running a community survey and would be enormously grateful for the ideas and feedback of more local families.

The survey link is: https://forms.gle/eUBeqD1kuTv9kJsF8

Whether you are currently linked to the church or not, we hope that you can manage to spend a few minutes providing some feedback.

From time to time, when children are absent from school we are asked by parents about additional work that they can do.  This is a tricky question as, in our opinion, if your child is unwell, the best thing that they can do is rest and recover, ready to come back to school.  Indeed, although some work can be completed away from the classroom, the home environment will rarely provide a teacher or the opportunities for the children to work collaboratively with others, using the same levels of equipment as we have in school (especially in subjects such as coding or DT).  

If your child is away from school and you would like them to continue learning, the best thing that you can do is continue with the basics; plenty of reading and access to Numbots or TTRS is great.  They could also take part in activities that help to practice their foundational skills; following a recipe to do some cooking or writing a letter to someone special.  

If you would ever like a more structured approach, we would suggest that you take a look at the Oak Academy.  This is a government-run website that contains a huge library of planned, structured topics for pupils to study at home.  Although the resources wont be adapted for your child, the website might be helpful if you are looking for that bit extra to do!  This can all be accessed through: https://www.thenational.academy/pupils/years