Religious Education

The school believes that religious education should provide a contemporary study of religion, preparing children for later life. The school bears in mind that the British Isles is a multi-cultural nation which has Christianity as the main religion of the indigenous population. As a result, Christianity will receive the appropriate weighting within the religious education curriculum. Much consideration within this framework is given to other faiths. Respect, tolerance and understanding for the beliefs of others will be promoted as part of our programme.

Physical Education

Pupils have 40 minutes PE timetabled per week through which we develop the six areas of activity as set out in the National Curriculum – Dance, Games, Gymnastics, Athletics, and Outdoor and Adventurous activities these sessions are taught by specialist coaches. From year 1 all children have weekly swimming lessons at Sale leisure centre.

Junior children have weekly games sessions at Brooklands Leisure club sports taught include football, netball, kwik cricket, rounders and lacrosse, as well as athletics. All pupils take part in a range of tournaments and sports festivals both within school between year groups and with other schools.

All pupils also have the opportunity to complete the National Cycling Proficiency scheme in KS2.

Personal, Social, Health Education & Citizenship

At Forest Park School we aim to promote healthy, independent and responsible members of society. We encourage all our pupils to play a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community through class & school councils, fundraising events, supporting nominated charities and involvement in community activities. Our pupils are given opportunities in PSHE & C (Personal, Social, Health Education & Citizenship), SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) lessons and assemblies to develop confidence, self-motivation and an understanding of their rights and responsibilities within our diverse society.
We teach PSHE & C in a variety of ways: as a discrete subject, through SEAL lessons, via assemblies and through other subjects such as RE, History, Geography, Literacy, Maths and Science, as well as through outdoor educational visits, community work and activities.

 Music

The teaching of music is based upon the fact that it is a creative and social art to be enjoyed. Children have the opportunity to enjoy musical experiences through listening, singing, movement and dance and by playing tuned and un-tuned percussion. Music is taught as a discrete subject and as a means of supporting other areas of the curriculum in order to give pupils the best opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills in this area of the curriculum.

Pupils have opportunities to learn the recorder and are also offered tuition in many areas by Peripatetic Music Staff, depending upon availability.

Geography

In Geography pupils develop their knowledge of people and places to understand the physical, social and economic forces which shape those places and the lifestyles of the people who live there. We study local areas/issues and extend these studies into the wider world. The children learn to use maps to locate cities, countries, mountain ranges, rivers, seas and oceans. They use atlases, photos and the internet to explore the environment and economics of those countries which they study. They then use the skills they have developed in literacy, numeracy and ICT to report and record their findings.

History

At Forest Park School, we view History not only as simple facts and dates but encourage pupils to become detectives who explore the past in an exciting way. History is taught mainly through a topic based approach and gives pupils a chance to explore a wide range of sources from which the past may come alive.

History allows our children to compare and contrast, to examine how and why things have changed, to learn about historical characters and expand their research skills. We teach children to be open minded and enquiring thinkers who understand cause and effect. We want them to understand how people have lived in the past and compare this to modern life. We encourage first hand experiences through handling real artefacts and wherever possible arranging field work visits to relevant sites of historical interest in the region or bringing in specialists for in-school workshops.

Design and Technology

Through Design and Technology, the children are encouraged to identify, examine and solve practical problems and to make existing situations better. The children are encouraged to be inventive, using a range of materials and tools, thus developing, modifying and evaluating their ideas through a series of projects.

 Art

The children are encouraged to be spontaneously creative, using a variety of media and techniques in art and craftwork. An awareness of colour, shape, balance, focus and proportion are developed alongside the use of symbols to convey ideas and feelings. The study of a wide range of artists, craftspeople and designers complements this work.

 French

The children from Reception to Year 6, have a weekly French lesson with a specialist teacher.