Hanna Beech
Hanna Beech has been teaching for ten years and has a range of experience across Key Stages 1 and 2 in a large Primary School in Kent. She is a phase leader for Years 3 and 4, and also leads on teaching and learning for…
Read more about Hanna Beech
What if schools could create more childhood experiences?
Children only have one chance at school, so create some enriching moments that make pupils feel great and enhance their knowledge and understanding.
1. Get outdoors. Time spent outside is valuable but often neglected. How could you take learning outside?
2. Allow for complete creativity. Just like adults, children need to feel some ownership of a task in order to connect fully. Teachers have so many objectives to work through, but allowing complete autonomy once in a while will make pupils feel great. Remember that these lessons work best once pupils have sufficient subject knowledge.
3. Get off the school grounds. Taking part in an educational visit is a great experience that can broaden pupils’ knowledge and enhance their interest in a subject. Where could you take your class this term?
4. Don’t neglect the arts. Drama, dance, music, literature, poetry and art are often pushed out of today’s curriculum. How could you use the arts to enhance wellbeing and create memorable moments for your pupils?
5. Proms, discos and parties. Humans are social animals. Give proper thought to end-of-year events. These are really special for your pupils.
Why try this? Some might argue that these suggestions would waste valuable learning time, but if we want to improve pupil wellbeing, enriching childhood experiences can help. Yes, we all want our pupils to remember the knowledge and skills we teach, but is that all?
Ask pupils for their ideas about trips, experiences and special moments!
You can find another 238 of these ideas in 60 Second CPD.
