Educational visits

Residentials:

Year 4 – Burwell House

Year 4 are offered a residential trip to Burwell House in Burwell, Cambridgeshire each year for 3 days and 2 nights. Here the pupil’s undertake many different activities related to the curriculum. This trip usually takes place in the Autumn Term which enables to pupils and teachers to really bond ready for the Year ahead.

For example, they undertake different map work activities so that they learn how to read grid references, orientate a map and become confident in locating where they are on a map. Each year they will either undertake a river study, going out to a local river and learning about river features, erosion, deposition and meanders or they will go on an extended walk along Devil’s Dyke thinking about the defence systems of the Anglo Saxons as well as the geographical land features of the area at the time.

As well as undertaking curriculum work, there is also plenty of team-work opportunities built into the timetable whilst away. For example, pupil’s play Burwell Fox where they have to work together to outwit the teachers and manage to survive as a fox. They also undertake various team challenges in small groups to work together to earn a currency which they can then use to buy items in the Burwell House shop that will let them work as a team to create a contraption to transport an egg without it breaking.

Burwell House residential is often the first time that many of the pupil’s have been away from home. It therefore also allows the children to grow in independence. These opportunities occur in all sorts of ways throughout their time at Burwell; for example, serving dinner for their table at dinner time, making their own bed and helping to keep the bedroom tidy, listening to instructions and ensuring they are followed without reminders, eg: needing to wear 3 base layer, a coat and hats and gloves.

Year 6 – Mount Cook

In the second half of the Summer Term each year Year 6 are offered a residential trip for 3 days and 2 nights. Recently this has been to Mount Cooke Residential Centre in Derbyshire.

The focus for this visit is on providing the pupils with personal challenges such as having the confidence to have a go at the zip wire from the roof of the building. This is fairly high up and many pupil’s (as well as staff) may be nervous at attempting this. Another challenge pupil’s may have is on the high ropes where they are moving around in mid air at a fair height. These challenges are incorporated into the programme so that pupil’s can leave Bar Hill Primary School and embark on their secondary education with the knowledge that they are able to achieve whatever they put their mind to. When some of the work may be difficult in their high school, the children will hopefully think back to Mount Cook and how they managed to overcome a difficulty/personal challenge their and know that they can do the same with the work.

Once again pupil’s also benefit from participating in teamwork, maybe with those whom they may not ordinarily work with, learning independence and being able to bond with those pupil’s they have gone through primary school with in a way that they will hopefully remember for the rest of their lives.

Launchpad:

Launchpad is a local stem outreach programme which aims to use the plethora of science related businesses and industries in the local Cambridge area to engage children aged 8 – 18 in science. Launchpad opportunities are offered to Years 4, 5 and 6 at Bar Hill Primary School either through launchpad volunteers coming into school and sharing their knowledge of a particular science area through practical activities or through the pupils visiting a science workplace and undertaking activities there. The first launchpad visit after coronavirus took place in January 2022 to the department of engineering in Cambridge where years 5 and 6 built a rocket launcher base as well as their own rocket to be launched.

Local visits in Bar Hill

Throughout the year, where applicable to curriculum topics being studied, all pupils will visit places in the local Bar Hill area. This may include:

• a visit to the library or Tesco’s;
• maybe a walk in the village undertaking geography survey’s such as traffic studies or looking at local businesses
• a walk looking at the changing seasons through the plants, trees and wildlife around
• a visit to the nature area
• visits to the church (Dry Drayton or Bar Hill), for example, at Christmas each class went to an outdoor retelling of the nativity story which Bar Hill Church put on and years 1 and 2 have visited Dry Drayton church.
• The school choir have visited the local old people at Happy Hours to sing for them, as well as singing at Tesco’s and performing at the CMAT arts festival.