Love Your School: Windmill School, Beaconsfield , Telford.

We travel to Telford and Windmill School for our Love Your School feature, and enjoy a lovely bit of pond dipping.

Transcript

00:00Right, we're here at Windmill Primary School in Telford. They've got some great facilities

00:05outdoors including a pond and a nice woodland area that was built some time ago. Let's go

00:10and have a look at some of the things the kids are getting up to and what they're loving.

00:14They've got a bridge first of all that looks very fun. The lads are having a good time

00:23on the swing as well. Is that good for the lad? Yes.

00:34And here we find headteacher Mark Gibbons who's been here for some time, must feel a

00:41bit like part of the furniture. Mark, what a wonderful school you've got here at Windmill

00:47What do you love most first of all? The children. I think I decided when I came here 18 years

00:55ago that I would stay for as long as I felt useful and purposeful and I think the children

01:01in Brookside are children that I love working with and so yeah, I've stayed and I'll probably

01:06end up staying longer as well. So Mark, you've got a lot of other unique things as well like

01:10three screens in the classrooms. Tell us a bit more about that. We believe in giving

01:14children the best opportunities so for example we guarantee that every child who comes to

01:19Windmill will learn to play a violin or a cello. We got a grant which enabled us to

01:23develop this space. The field that you can see behind the trees there used to come all

01:29the way through here to the fence line but we used this grant to help us plant trees,

01:36fence off this area, dig the pond, make the outdoor classroom which is also the hide and

01:4315 years later it kind of feels like it's always been here. Yeah, the kids are having

01:47a great time. Do you think there's anything about Windmill that is particularly unique

01:52or that you're especially proud of in particular? I've got to give great credit to the staff

01:58team at Windmill. I know every headteacher would probably say the same thing that they've

02:02got the best staff team but I actually would say that Windmill has got the best staff team.

02:07They are so dedicated to the children, learning, growing. Our vision is that children will

02:13grow, so G-R-O-W. They'll become generous, resilient, optimistic and wise and we help

02:19them to do that. So I'm proud of everyone but particularly proud of the staff for their

02:23commitment. Absolutely fantastic school. Thanks ever so much for having us. You're welcome.

02:28Kids are having a great time. Thank you very much. So guys, what a wonderful school you've

02:32got here at Windmill Primary School and a cool little pond as well. First of all, what

02:38do you love the most about your school? I just love that the teachers are not strict

02:43and just let us have a free roam around here. Do you have lots of fun in the pond area?

02:52Do you learn a lot about the environment and the animals that are in it? Yeah. What about

02:57yourself, what do you love the most? I love that our teachers make fun lessons and we

03:03get golden time as well and we also get to come in the wildlife fair as well. Okay. What

03:08about yourself, is there a particular thing you love the most and you look forward to

03:11the most when you come to school? The teachers are kind. Ah, the teachers are very kind.

03:21That's great to hear. Well, it's a fantastic school you've got here. Thanks ever so much

03:24for showing us around and your wonderful pond. Hello guys, you making some music? What's

03:32your names? What's your name? Arthur. Yeah, and what's your name? Evan. Go on then Arthur,

03:37play us a tune. Go on, let's see what you've got. Lovely.