Visiting our neighbours at Chestnut Court
Year groups take it in turn to regularly visit our friends next door at Chestnut Court Care Home. The children participate in musical theatre, involving story telling, singing and dance. The young children and elderly residents all enjoy themselves sharing some special time together.
European Day
At Beech Green School, we celebrate the European day of language. On this day, each year group chooses a different European country to focus on, learning about the culture, customs and geography of that country as well as learning to speak some of the language. We believe this day gives the children a chance to learn about the World outside of where they live which is one of Beech Green’s key drivers. Children also have the opportunity to identify the similarities and celebrate the difference between our and other cultures. By speaking a different language, children realise the possibilities of communicating with people in the wider World:
“Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures”
National Curriculum in England, 2013
“We studied Switzerland and it was really fun learning all the different languages and about a different country’s culture”. Emily Herron, Year 6
To make the day even more special, the children came to school dressed in the colours of their country's flag. The photo below shows Year 2 who made German flags and invited a German lady to visit, who kindly taught the children lots of new German words and told them all about Germany.
Diwali Day
The day began with the whole school gathering together, and as it was Bonfire Night, links were made as to how fireworks are used in different celebrations within many different religions and cultures. The children then welcomed a visitor who came to share elements of Indian dance with them, focussing on the use of ‘Mudras’ (hand gestures) used by Hindus within dances.
Throughout the day, many year groups had the fantastic opportunity to work with our visitor, learning about different moves and then incorporating them into their own dances, we discovered we had some budding choreographers!
The school was filled with the sights, smells, tastes and sounds of Diwali as the whole school learnt about the Hindu festival. The children learnt about the story behind the festival and also how Hindus all over the world celebrate in different ways. This involved the children taking part in activities such as making clay Diva Lamps, creating Rangoli patterns, decorating hands in Mhendi patterns, tasting Mango Lassi, to name just a few!
Big Bug Hunt
Our generous community came out in force one Saturday for the Big Bug Hunt. About £600 was raised just from map sales. All this money will be spent on the children in our school. Thank you to everyone who organised the event, baked a cake, made a bug or bought a map.