In her latest blog, Lucy Horan reviews recent Pre-Prep trips and explains why they are more than just a treat...
A more traditional educator might say that school trips are just a treat. However, I believe that they are essential in enhancing and improving the learning of our children, providing them with first hand experiences that linger long in their memories.
In the last couple of weeks Reception, PP2 and PP3 have all been out of the classroom exploring some of the benefits of living so close to central London.
Our PP2's Florence Nightingale trip was prompted by the 'Nurturing Nurses' topic that they have been studying, during which they learn about nursing pioneers and heroines such as Florence, Mary Seattle and Edith Cavell and learn about their impact and influence on nursing and healthcare today.
They visited Gunnersbury Museum and enjoyed participating in an interactive workshop. They were met by an actress who played the 'Lady with the Lamp'. She retold her story as Florence Nightingale by inviting different children to come to the front, dress up and act the parts of key people in her life. As you can see from the photos, they had great fun dressing up!
Then it was off to the Tower for PP3. This is the first time our PP3 pupils have visited this great historical building and the experience really developed the children's interest and understanding of King Henry VIII and their Tudor topic. The day included a visit to the Crown Jewels, the Bloody, Beauchamp and White Towers, Tower Green with its execution site and meeting the first female beefeater!
The PP3s also enjoyed an engaging workshop entitled 'King Beneath the Armour.' They were able to deduce more about King Henry's personality just by examining different pieces of his jousting armour and how he wore them.
Meanwhile our Reception classes spent a day at the Science Museum exploring the many age appropriate learning areas. The children particularly enjoyed visiting the Pattern Pod, an interactive gallery all about patterns that you can see, hear and touch and The Garden in the basement of the museum where they examined the four main areas - construction, water, light and sound. While playing, they were able to find out about floating and sinking, shadows and reflections, and much more.
Reception also looked at the flight, space and materials exhibits to help them develop their learning of a key area in the Early Years Curriculum entitled 'Knowledge and Understanding of the World.'
All of these trips have certainly extended the children's knowledge in their various subject areas, but we hope they have also been inspired to further develop their learning.