Curriculum Enrichment

At Mildmay Primary School we believe in the value of an enrichment curriculum. We feel it is important for children, no matter what their background, to try new and varied activities that enhance their experience at our school.

All children benefit from enrichment as it allows them to look at a subject more deeply, explore and discover new interests, develop character, build resilience and improve motivation. It helps provide children with a rounded, culturally rich education through activities that enhance their learning.

We believe that school is about so much more than learning how to read and write and we endeavour to provide our pupils with opportunities that they may not have exposure to in everyday life and to realise new passions, strengths and talents. 

Providing enrichment in school is a necessary component for ensuring a well-rounded education.

Educational Visits and visitors

At Mildmay Primary School we strongly believe in the power of educational visits in bringing learning to life and enhancing interest, enthusiasm and achievement for all children.  Our visits aim for children to acquire an awareness of the world around them, an understanding of how life works and a language with which to explain it all.  Educational visits link closely to our class themes and include visits to museums, farms and the countryside.  All year groups have at least two external visits each year.

We also supplement the visits with visitors, who come into school to bring learning to life in extravagant and dramatic ways! On Egyptian day, Year 3 clad in togas and self-made jewellery, welcome an Egyptian into school who shares with them a range of Egyptian activities and drama. Other year groups will have at least one other special day each year in which costumes, drama and creativity bring their topic to life in a special way.

Our Year 6 children have the opportunity to experience a residential visit.   The adventure of spending time away from home with friends provides boundless opportunities for children to develop skills such as collaboration, independence and resilience.

Performing Arts

All children have the opportunity to perform each year, whether that is at the KS1 Harvest Festival or at our Christmas celebrations. Families and friends are invited to come and watch the children’s performances.

The big performance of the year is our Year 6 production. Every Year 6 child takes part and they produce a full show that is performed during the day for families and friends.

During the Spring Term our annual Mildmay’s Got Talent takes place for KS2. Children can audition for a place in front of their classes to gain a place in the grand final, which is held, with a panel of judges during an evening.

Our school choir and signing choir are extremely popular and all children from Years one to six are welcome to join. The choirs perform as part of Essex music festival at the Civic centre as well as performing at other events and whole school assemblies.

Theme Days

Here at Mildmay Primary School, we like to extend the curriculum with our theme days. These give the children a break from their regular timetable and class curriculum in order to explore something different along with the rest of the school. Assemblies and display boards are used to share ideas around these and celebrate them. They focus on:

• a subject eg Science Week or Spanish Day
• Mental Health Awareness eg Hello Yellow Day
• Something topical eg Fitness Day including a visiting successful sports person to talk with the children and lead them in sports activities.
• A part of the National Calendar eg Anti-bullying Day, Children in Need.

Life Skills

We build other skills and knowledge based learning beyond the curriculum, into our yearly offer, which will equip children for life outside school. These include:

• Bikeability in EYFS and Year 6
• Transition visits for Year 6 in preparation for secondary school
• Fire Safety talks
• Road safety awareness
• Assemblies focusing on sun safety, stranger danger and road safety for the whole school.

BSL

Mildmay Primary School has a resource base for deaf children. This specialist provision supports children from nursery to year 6 and is based in purpose built area of the school with a suite of acoustically treated rooms intended specifically for the use of deaf students. Many of our children are working alongside their peers within their own year groups classes and have access to experienced teachers of the deaf and specialist learning support assistants. Many of our deaf students use BSL to communicate and therefore all of the children in our school our learning BSL. Many of the lessons are signed and all assemblies have a BSL communicator to support our deaf learners. Many of the adults in our school have also started to learn BSL which is taught on site by our own staff.