Curriculum Enrichment and Personal Development
In addition to our Forest Adventures and Learning Outside the Classroom (click here), we are proud to offer a range of enrichment activities and opportunities for personal development. Click each title to find out more:
At Brook we use P4C to improve children’s critical, creative and rigorous thinking. P4C helps to develop higher order thinking skills, improve communication skills and helps children learn to co-operate with others. Children learn to reflect before speaking so that they are accurate in what they really want to say.
P4C is used within class as part of a class assembly each week, as well as through whole-school assemblies every Monday. Pupils are invited to reflect upon a ‘thought for the week’ and what the thought might mean to them.
Our pupil’s in Mighty Oaks class have the opportunity for residential trips and every class will take part in several school trips a year to enhance their learning. We also invite visitors in.
We hold special weeks and days across the school year, such as Kindness Week, Book Day, Storytelling Week, Science Week and our new Brilliant Brook events. These events focus on aspects of community and charity.
We are have links with nearby Godinton House as well as the Agricultural museum at Brook and the local Church. Our Vicar delivers regular assemblies and supports us in services at the Church, such as Harvest, Christmas and Easter each year.
Every pupil is invited to be a member of the Green Gang each term. The gang get together at lunchtimes and work hard to improve the environment and help make Brook as environmentally friendly as possible.
Every pupil is invited to be a school council member. Every month, the Chairperson holds a meeting during the lunch break and pupils attend if they wish. The meetings give pupils the opportunity to share ideas and discuss ways to improve their school. The meetings are popular and are attended by Mrs Ranson-McCabe so she can hear the thoughts and views of the pupils.
When pupils reach the final year of Primary, they have the opportunity to become an active member of the Young Leadership Team. All Year 6 pupils can have a role or two. Our current team consists of:
School Captains, House Captains, Sports Captains, Green Gang Captains, Assembly Captains, Librarians, and the Chairperson of the School Council.
The YLT have responsibility for charity work, fundraising, house activities, welcoming visitors and leading events.
Every Monday, Mrs Ranson-McCabe leads a whole school assembly with a focus on a ‘thought for the week.’ Elements of the School Values, British Values and worldwide festivals and celebrations are shared through assemblies. On Tuesdays pupils attend a singing assembly led by Mr Stanley. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, classes either have a P4C class assembly or attend a Key Stage Assembly led by a Class Teacher. Themes are carefully planned to reflect current issues or events. On Fridays Mrs Ranson-McCabe leads a Celebration Assembly where children are awarded certificates for demonstrating values, attendance awards are presented and House Team winners are announced. Birthdays are also celebrated.
Every pupil is part of a House Team. The team members will range from Year R to Year 6 and the team is led by a House Captain. Each week, team points are collected and the winning team is celebrated. St the end of term, the team of the term is rewarded and the trophy is presented with the winning team colour. The teams at Brook changed in September 2022 following a competition for new team names.
The new names reflect the outside learning and environment at Brook:
Grasshoppers (Green), Ladybirds (Red), Bees (Yellow) and Dragonflies (Blue).
We have a range of musicians who visit regularly. One of our tutors provides weekly Ukulele lessons to our Young Oaks class as part of our music curriculum. Our other tutors deliver one to one lessons on different instruments.
At Brook we enjoy our PE lessons and
taking part in sport.
We are proud that children at Brook
School get ample opportunities to take part in a variety of sporting activities.
Sports specialists visit the school twice a week, introducing children to new
sports and activities and encouraging them to develop an enthusiasm for
sport no matter what their specific interest or aptitude. Children in Young
Oaks attend swimming lessons.
Brook School partakes in numerous
local competitions between schools. In one term alone our
pupils competed in the following sport competitions/activities, in addition to their curriculum-based sport lessons: Volleyball,
Athletics, Agility, Cross country, Handball, Gymnastics, Sports workshop and
Sports young leader training.
Each term we offer a variety of clubs led by either our Sports Coach or members of staff. The clubs on offer differ each term.
