We have created an artificial indoor climbing wall with fixings/holds that children can grip with their hands and feet allowing them to experience some of the joys of rock climbing in a safe supervised environment.

Through activities we encourage children to explore, problem solve, observe, predict, think, make decisions and talk about the world around them.  They will start to gain the science knowledge that they’ll build on throughout their primary school years, such as developing their skills of observation, prediction, critical thinking and discussion through force, friction, electricity, sound, light and many other things are explored…

Children get to find out about and use a range of everyday technology.  They select appropriate applications that support an identified need, for example in deciding how best to make a record of a special event in their lives, such as a journey on a steam train.

Children get to know that the environment and living things are influenced by human activity.  They can describe some actions which people in their own community do that help to maintain the area they live in.  They know the properties of some materials and can suggest some of the purposes they are used for.  They are familiar with basic scientific concepts such as floating, sinking, experimentation.

Children develop their own ideas through selecting and using materials and working on processes that interest them.  Through their explorations they find out and make decisions about how media and materials can be combined and changed.  Being imaginative Children talk about the ideas and processes which have led them to make music, designs, images or products.  They can talk about features of their own and others’ work, recognising the differences between them and the strengths of others.

Children can read phonically regular words of more than 1 syllable as well as many irregular but high frequency words.  They use phonic, semantic and syntactic knowledge to understand unfamiliar vocabulary.  They can describe the main events in the simple stories they have read.

Children estimate a number of objects and check quantities by counting up to 20.  They solve practical problems that involve combining groups of 2, 5 or 10, or sharing into equal groups.

We inspire and support the children with gardening opportunities to enhance their skills and boost their development.  When youngsters explore how to grow plants hydroponically (without soil), fruitful questions bloom: How can we provide support for plants without soil? How do plants grown with just water and nutrients compare[1]  with plants grown in soil? How can we get the tallest plants using a hydroponics setup?  These types of questions can lead to active investigations and problem solving.  Record-keeping becomes a natural outgrowth of these endeavours.  Concepts related to basic plant parts and needs, nutrition, food production, recycling, agricultural technology and other areas come to life in these soilless growing environments.  Not the least of the benefits is the joy of students harvesting a crop of their own incredible edibles!

We have built a dedicated Chef’s kitchen for the children to enjoy harvesting a crop of their own incredible edibles from the Hydroponics Laboratory and prepare and cook it for themselves and their families.

Our fencing coach is an Olympian who is passionate about teaching the age-old art and sport of fencing through established posture and footwork methods, including Wheelchair Fencing, which is a Paralympic Sport.

We have invested heavily in a fully-fledged gymnastics centre utilising the very same equipment that is being used at the Rio 2016 Olympics & Paralympics – Summer Games in Brazil – just on a smaller scale to suite the children.  We teach children this fine sport involving the performance of exercises requiring strength, flexibility, balance and control through events such as vault, uneven bars, balance beam, floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars, and the high bar.  We also include rhythmic gymnastics, trampolining and tumbling, and aerobic gymnastics.

We engender physical health and agility, mind and spirit, discipline and concentration in the children.  With the concept of 'goal attainment' (via the belt system) at the heart of martial arts, the sport provides a useful way for children to focus on moving 'up the ranks' and the sense of satisfaction and self-fulfilment this brings, building a child's self-esteem and confidence along the way.