Our Curriculum Enrichment & Cultural Capital

Our Curriculum Enrichment & ‘Cultural Capital’

Our curriculum extends beyond the National Curriculum and includes a wide range of enriching experiences and opportunities both within and beyond the school day. This includes an extensive programme of after-school clubs, that support the core curriculum offer, as well as those which develop specialist skills, such as languages and music, whilst also extending the range of children’s experiences (‘cultural capital’).  

The school takes pride in providing a highly inclusive environment, where learners demonstrate high levels of enjoyment in their education. Children at all levels are helped to achieve their potential. Those who are most able are challenged and supported through being offered tasks which provide opportunities for greater depth and those who can struggle are encouraged and given targeted support to embed skills, to develop at their own pace or simply to learn in a style that best suits their individual needs.

In addition to our exciting and stimulating cross-curricular themes, we also provide further enrichment opportunities to enhance children’s learning wherever possible. 

These include:

Promoting Positive Mental Health & Wellbeing

We aim to promote positive mental health and wellbeing of every member of our school community and recognise how important mental health and wellbeing is to our lives, as is physical health. We recognise that children’s mental health and overall well being can affect their learning and achievement.

A key aspect of our role in school is to ensure that children can manage times of change and stress, and that they are supported to reach their potential or access help when they need it. We also have a role to ensure that children learn about what they can do to maintain positive mental health, what affects their mental health, how they can help reduce the stigma surrounding mental health issues, and where they can go if they need help and support.

Positive wellbeing is promoted through the wider curriculum and all school activities. Through a carefully planned approach to PSHE, RSE and Citizenship our pupils are helped to acquire the knowledge and develop the skills and understanding they need to lead confident, healthy, independent lives, and to become resilient, informed and responsible citizens.

We are committed to creating a happy, caring and supportive environment. As well as a learning environment, the school ensures there is a positive, supportive and inclusive ethos where children can thrive and achieve their personal best. Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) is central to the curriculum across the whole school. 

• PSHE & RSE assists pupils to cope with the changes at puberty, introduces them to a wider world, manage transitions and enables them to make an active contribution to their communities.  The concepts covered in PSHE include identity, managing feelings and emotions, relationships, change, resilience and being healthy, which includes physical, emotional, and social well-being. 
• Physical Education at least two hours weekly. Many pupils attend at least one sport-related after-school club, and many take part in inter-school sporting competitions.
• Extensive range of After-School Clubs support children’s social and emotional development, and their well-being all with a view to increasing the range of experiences that children have, enabling them to make informed choices for adult life.  Activities are designed to be fun and cater for a wide variety of interests.
• Disadvantaged and vulnerable children are closely monitored through a ‘Championing’ approach and ensuring barriers to learning are removed and enrichment opportunities are encouraged and supported.
• World Mental Health Day and Mental Health Awareness Week is celebrated across the school and ongoing events and activities are planned for the whole school community.

Nurture and Pastoral Provision

We have a school Pastoral Lead and an extended pastoral team to support children who experience domestic violence, bereavement, anxiety, and any other life experiences that may affect their emotional well-being. Many of these pupils are identified and supported. Our Pastoral Lead will work 1:1 or with small groups of pupils and fully trained ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant) teacher(s) will offer regular 1:1 or small group nurture support. The school supports the child in their specific needs, meaning the pupil is at the heart of the school focus and their learning is understood developmentally. 

Whole School Theme Days/Weeks

Throughout the year, themed days/weeks are woven into the curriculum to extend and enhance the breadth and balance of opportunities we offer our pupils. These include but are not limited to, Anti-Bullying Week and Internet Safety Day, Creative Arts Week, World Book Day, European Day of Languages, RE Days and much more. 

Forest School & Outdoor Learning

Forest School is a Scandinavian initiative designed to encourage and inspire individuals of any age through an innovative, long term, educational approach to outdoor play and learning in different  environments.  As a school we are very fortunate to work closely with trained Forest Schools teachers.

Forest School is offered to pupils based on the current level of need across school.  Sessions are designed around the needs of the group to ensure that they are learner-led.  Sessions are designed around a theme, themes are sometimes subtle such as evolving or exploring the site or more obvious such as team work, cooperation or turn taking.  Many areas of the National Curriculum are intrinsically covered, in the Forest School experience without the programmes needing to be curriculum-led. Teamwork skills are developed through games and activities.  Individual skills and self-esteem are heightened throughout activities. Each activity develops intra and inter-personal skills as well as practical and intellectual skills.

Educational Visits and Residentials

School trips and visits are an integral part of the education of our pupils.  We value the opportunities such visits offer our pupils and the commitment of staff and adults undertaking them.  Trips include class visits aimed at bringing learning alive and providing first-hand experience; extra-curricular outings such as activities with the school choir, orchestra or sporting events; and attending or taking part in performances or competitions.  

Children in Year 6 take part in a residential visit. This is planned to provide new and exciting experiences. Our Year 6 pupils attend PGL where they experience a range of outdoor and adventure activities: orienteering, climbing, abseiling, raft building, archery and lots more.

Visitors into School & Workshops

Visitors have a valuable role to play and can contribute to many aspects of the life and work of the school.  They deliver talks, workshops and full day activities across a wide range of subjects, giving pupils access to outside experiences and expertise. Visitors provide a link with the wider community – children have the opportunity to work alongside artists, musicians, authors, sporting professionals and others.

PE and Sport

In 2023 we were awarded the Platinum School Games Mark in recognition of our provision and dedication to school PE and sport. 

PE is timetabled at least twice a week and we provide the very best for all children to enjoy and achieve. This includes having the widest possible range of opportunities both within and beyond the curriculum.  We offer extra-curricular opportunities through various types of provision delivered by school staff, external providers, and independent clubs – all with a view to increasing the range of experiences that children have, enabling them to make informed choices for adult life. Activities are designed to be fun and cater for a wide variety of interests.

We want to offer the scope for each child to find a passion, develop a talent, spark an interest, or simply find pleasure in doing an activity with others. After-school clubs are a fantastic way of achieving this, and we are excited to offer a wide range of clubs, including sport, art and craft, choir and orchestra, languages, running club etc.

We work closely with the Macclesfield School Sports Partnership and our School Games Organiser. Many of our pupils attend a range of different sporting competitions which have different intents: from achieve to celebrate to inspire. Alongside the partnership events we also compete in annual leagues in football, netball and cross country. 

Specialist Teachers

We have both a music and language specialist to deliver the curriculum teaching of these subjects from Reception through to Year 6. 

Music: We provide opportunities for children to take part in a wide range of musical activities and performances where they are encouraged to sing, compose, and work creatively with sound. Through active listening, pupils’ awareness, understanding and appreciation of a wide variety of music are developed. A range of opportunities are provided within and beyond the curriculum for children to showcase their musical skills and talents and this further enriches pupils’ cultural development. 

Languages: At Parkroyal learning a foreign language is considered an important part of children's education because it will broaden pupils’  horizons and provide an opening to other cultures, as well as equipping them with the necessary skills for the 21st century. The foreign languages curriculum aims to foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world.  

Homework

Homework can make an important contribution to a child’s progress at school. As well as reinforcing learning in the classroom, homework helps children to develop the skills and attitudes they will need for successful independent lifelong learning.

Homework is set in-line with the school’s policy, with tasks planned to appropriately challenge all pupils. Weekly activities focus on English and Maths to reinforce and consolidate skills taught. 

At two points during the year, children will be expected and encouraged to undertake an extended task at home which is relevant to their learning and appropriate for their age. This work will be brought into school when completed and examples of work will be praised, shared and displayed.A set of tasks linked to a range of subject areas will be planned for, from which the children can select a task to complete and return. Where possible, these will encompass the full range of the curriculum subjects.

Pupil Leadership

At Parkroyal we very much value the role that pupils have in supporting the way in which the school operates. We have established many different pupil leadership groups across a variety of different areas in school:

• Heads of House- The school operates a house system and each house has house captains. These are pupils who have applied for the role and if upon application they are successful, they then attend an interview with the headteacher/deputy headteacher/assistant headteacher. If successful again they will be appointed in this role. Pupils are involved in running the termly house meetings, planning and delivering whole school assemblies, organising and attending whole school events; thus promoting pupil leadership and responsibility.
• School Council- The purpose of Parkroyal's School Council is to enable the pupils of the school to have a voice and a say with decisions made in the school community.

Our School Council is a partnership of pupils across years 1-6 and adults, sharing ideas, finding solutions and taking action. The council provides leadership and development opportunities for pupils, to further develop their life skills within the school community. In each year group, our members represent all four of Parkroyal's houses. They have been elected to the role by their peers.

• Safeguarding Ambassadors- We have a group of twelve Safeguarding Ambassadors in School drawn from each Year 4, 5 and 6 class, who were elected by their peers. They meet regularly to discuss issues to ensure that everyone feels safe and happy in school.

• School Games Makers- We have a large number of pupils from across Year 6 who work alongside our PE/sports coordinators in the leading, organising and officiating of sport and activity across school. The crew is led by our highly motivated School Games Makers. 

Their purpose is to make a positive contribution to the development of sport and activity across school, to support the PE lead in improving the provision of sport and physical activity, to lead, organise and officiate events at different levels across the school and beyond and to represent the school in a range of sporting competitions.

• Digital Leaders- Our Digital Leaders team brings together two children from each of our Phase 2 and 3 classes. Our team supports the teaching staff in looking after and managing our computing resources, and promotes a message of working and playing online in a safe manner.
• Playground Buddies- The playground buddies are from Year 6. They work with the School Games Makers to make play times more fun for the younger children in school.
• Language Ambassadors- The Language Ambassadors promote language learning across the school, which currently includes helping to develop and publicise our new languages library. They are chosen for their consistent enthusiasm for learning foreign languages.

School Environment 

We have and continue to focus on the development of our school environment; both inside and outside. We have many designated areas throughout the school building that enable pupils to work and learn in different ways. 

We have invested in the development of our outside spaces. We have an all weather, all purpose astroturf pitch, trim trails, gym equipment, climbing wall, a sensory garden and a zen den. All of these developments support the ‘cultural capital’ of our pupils and have a high level of sustainability and longevity. 

Secondary School Partnerships

We work closely with our local secondary schools to ensure our pupils are provided with a range of enriching experiences. Many of the experiences take place at the secondary school, but secondary school staff also come and work in our setting. 

We have a comprehensive sporting calendar at Macclesfield Academy, enabling every pupil to attend a sporting event throughout the year, for our pupils to practice and prepare for upcoming competitions, to support the delivery of curriculum PE and to offer a broader range of sports. The Macclesfield Academy also hosts our Phase 3 (Years 4, 5 and 6) sports day.

Our Year 5 pupils also work closely with the music and drama department at The Academy and these pupils are part of the cast for their summer production. 

We work closely with our secondary school schools to support and enrich the delivery of our curriculum subjects, especially: languages, music, science and PSHE.