Love your School: Short Wood Prm Sch in Wellington.

Shropshire Star

We venture to Short Wood Primary School for : Love Your School, where they have amazing grounds and a huge school pond.

Transcript

00:00Gail, what a fantastic school you have here at Shortwood Primary School. There's a lot

00:05on offer, but what do you first of all love the most?

00:09The thing I love the most about the school at Shortwood is the pupils that are here because

00:13they are absolutely amazing, they're inspiring every day.

00:17One big thing I've noticed at school coming around today that the kids mention a lot is

00:20kindness as well. That's one of the values you teach them a lot isn't it?

00:23It is, we have the group of children that we've got with us today are our kindness ambassadors

00:27so they promote that as well, but actually the children being kind to each other is great

00:31for their own emotional health and wellbeing and great for the ethos and atmosphere around

00:35school. So we have three core values if you like, so we talk about celebrating diversity,

00:42we talk about choosing respect and that is really important and kindness is a really

00:47important part of that. And then the final one is around embracing challenge so that

00:51our children are doing the very best that they can for themselves every day.

00:54Yeah, diversity is another thing that you're massive on as well aren't you and you're really a champion.

00:57Yeah absolutely, we have a beautifully diverse range of pupils that come from across our

01:04community and it is something that absolutely is there to be celebrated. Our children learn

01:08so much from each other each and every day, we as adults learn a lot from them as well.

01:13We celebrate as many different things as we can, we like a good celebration, but it's

01:18important for the children to see that representation as well in everything that we do whether it's

01:22around school or in our curriculum.

01:24Now the school, it's a newer school, it was built in 2009 around a pond and an oak tree.

01:29Tell us a story about that, I mean it's incredible isn't it?

01:31It is amazing and if somebody says to you, you're going to build a primary school around

01:34a pond, it is like hmm, who's idea was that? But actually it has the most amazing effect

01:39as water does, but it's a really calm environment, obviously we have all the risk assessments

01:45and safety considerations in place, but all of the children that are on the inside of

01:49the building have balconies so they can overlook the pool. The oak trees the children really

01:53adopted as something as a symbol of the school, it's become our emblem on the uniform, but

02:00also the children see it as a symbol of growth and development and it's really important

02:04to them.

02:05Yeah, one of the final things we've noticed as well is how the environment is really incorporated

02:08into learning and the curriculum, we've seen the forest school, it's great for the kids

02:12isn't it?

02:13It is, and again it comes back to the emotional health and wellbeing is really important,

02:16being outside is great, we started with a simple kind of forest school model but it's

02:20expanded, we do it right the way across the curriculum, every child is outdoors every

02:24week and they absolutely love it, there's piles of wellies everywhere, waterproofs,

02:29we've got everything that a child could need if they forget to bring it in, so everybody's

02:33included in everything that we do.

02:35It's good.

02:36It's definitely good.

02:37So guys, we're not at an adventure school, we're at your school in Telford, you've got

02:43a massive lake, a massive pool, how cool is that?

02:46What do you think of it?

02:47I really like the pool, because it's really big and it's just really beautiful, so in

02:56summers we get Canadian geese, and we also have frogs and ducks in it.

03:02Yeah, I heard the head teacher saying you sometimes get loads of frogs coming in don't

03:06you?

03:07And is there fish in there then?

03:08Yeah.

03:09Lots of marine life.

03:11Yeah, and you've got your net, do you do a bit of pond dipping?

03:14Yeah.

03:15So do you feel lucky to have this at your school?

03:18Yeah.

03:19It's pretty cool, isn't it?

03:20And what are your favourite lessons girls?

03:22Topic.

03:23Topic?

03:24Yeah.

03:25I really love reading.

03:26Reading, yeah?

03:27What sort of books?

03:28What type of books?

03:29Harry Potter-y books?

03:30So I'm reading this book called, I think it's Scarlet in Nowhere and it's a really good

03:37book.

03:38Okay, cool.

03:40So what's your favourite?

03:41I like reading as well.

03:42You like reading, yeah?

03:43What sort of books are you into?

03:44Have you got a favourite author?

03:45J.K. Rowling.

03:46Yeah?

03:47Not bad, not bad.

03:48And what about homework?

03:49What are you like with your homework guys?

03:50So we have these free homework books and we have to do them all on Monday and they're

03:51reading grammar and maths and it helps us, it's really good.

03:52Yeah.

03:53Yeah.

03:54Yeah.

03:55Yeah.

03:56Yeah.

03:57Yeah.

03:58Yeah.

03:59Yeah.

04:00Yeah.

04:01And which is your, if I said, pick a favourite bit of your building, is it this, the pond

04:17and the playgrounds or is it the Forest School?

04:20Which one?

04:21The Forest School.

04:22Yeah?

04:23The Forest School.

04:24Yeah, yeah.

04:25Everyone likes going over there and getting muddy I'm sure.

04:27Yeah.

04:28Well, thank you ladies.

04:29So who have we got here guys, what's your names?

04:31I am Ruben.

04:32And I am Henry.

04:34So I don't normally see this kind of thing in a school, little treats and we've got little

04:39five pence, ten pence.

04:41What's this called and what's it all about?

04:44This is the Penny of Kindness shop and when you're kind in school they will give you a

04:49penny of kindness and then at the end of the year you can use them to buy stuff.

04:53Ah, so you get like a little penny token sort of thing, wow cool.

04:58So have you managed, have you got enough tokens, have you had something out of here yet?

05:02Not yet.

05:03Have you, what have you had Henry?

05:06I think it was one of the slinky, the guys.

05:14Oh yeah the little slinky's, that's what we call them isn't it I think.

05:20So is this a good idea then, what does this do, does this help kind of promote kindness

05:24in the school, is that what it's all about?

05:25It encourages people to be kind to others and share.

05:30And are you boys kind?

05:31Yep.

05:32Good stuff, well you get an extra token, there you go, cheers guys.

05:35So how you doing guys, what's your names?

05:38My name's Anela.

05:39And?

05:40My name's Kisra.

05:41And what's this space we're in, it's crazy, we're in a school but I can see a timber frame

05:45barn structure, what's going on?

05:47This is called our barn room, it's currently being used for fasting club.

05:52Oh, we're a fasting club, cool, and it did used to be once upon a time an old barn didn't

05:58it, these were original old timbers.

06:00So what sort of stuff do you get up to in here Kisra, normally?

06:04We usually do colouring, or we read stories, or we just play with toys.

06:10Cool, cheers guys, thank you.

06:13I'm going to get you more energy because you can't go that fast.

06:19Hi!

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