The high academic demands of an 11+ curriculum are best met when pupils develop good habits and behaviours around learning and wellbeing. To that end, an Elmhurst education is shaped around a balance of academic rigour and creative experiences with a focus on developing opportunities for learning indoors and outdoors.
Into The Woods
Woods may seem like a strange thing to promote when you are based in a heavily populated urban area but that is exactly the reason they provide a magical element to the Elmhurst School learning experience. 100% of our pupils tell us they enjoy Into The Woods and all report heightened feelings of happiness when visiting our site. Collaboration, critical and creative thinking and communication skills all come to the fore when learning outdoors so the term spent visiting our local site is more than worthwhile in their learning journey.
Led by a Level 3 qualified practitioner, our groups travel just 10 minutes away to enjoy making fire, using tools, learning knot tying and whittling sticks amongst other things. Vocabulary is absorbed and outdoor learning builds on classroom themes and discussions. The Forest School experience is a valuable reminder of the value of the outdoors to our mental health.
Superheroes: A framework for learning and developing as individuals
Within the classroom and throughout the school we have developed a framework to highlight the opportunities and behaviours that develop good character and citizenship alongside a signpost to the desirable learning skills for today’s world.
Our superheroes are embedded into our school behaviours and pastoral system and each provides a half-termly call to action around specific desirable learning behaviours and traits. Meet the superheroes here.
Children are encouraged to build their own record of achievement against these heroes’ characteristics in our Elmhurst Allrounder award.
Our Space
We run a drop in space within the school that pupils can go to talk, draw or just be in order to deal with emotional lows or difficult situations they encounter. Overseen by our SENCO, pupils can also be referred to the Our Space team by class teachers to ensure they are offered additional support when needed.
