Primary Enrichment at Woodbridge School
Providing the opportunity for local primary school children to visit Woodbridge School and take part in workshops aimed at developing new skills and experiencing a variety of curriculum subjects, our Primary Enrichment Programme, which runs throughout every academic year, strengthens and broadens knowledge – and is also a lot of fun! Offering workshops that can be tailored to most year groups, boosting their interest in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) subjects, children explore a variety of topics ranging from sustainable living to Japanese or even ‘Journey into Space’.
Since the start of term the School has seen a number of schools, children and workshops taking place under the supervision of our Assistant Head Academic and Primary Enrichment Co-ordinator Miss Carretta.
Our first workshop of 2024, a Photography Masterclass offered children from Year 6 at Melton Primary school the opportunity to learn about studio photography, taught by Ruth Leach, Professional Photographer. Both the process and outcomes were very interesting, and the children had a great time developing some exciting shots relating to food photography!
Our LEGO Fun Day, which was supported by The Brickologists and offered the entire family the chance to play and build LEGO together on a Saturday in School, with various challenges and competitions taking place throughout the day. Children and adults came to Woodbridge School and explored and created with not only LEGO bricks but Bionicles, Duplo and minifugures, and there was even a car building and downhill race.
Our own Year 6 children from Woodbridge School Prep visited Tide Mill, which harnesses the tidal power of the River Deben. Our Tidal Forces workshop invited children to see and learn about this historic mill as well as the ancient gear system; the children spent time touring and taking part in a workshop on this historic site, watching as the Tide Mill was brought to life so they could see its wonder at work. Back in the classroom afterwards they created their very own gear system using K’Nex, which worked wonderfully!
Supported by BT Labs at Adastral Park, over 100 children from Year 3 at St John’s CofE Primary in Ipswich, St Mary’s Catholic Primary, Melton Primary School and Waldringfield Primary, attended the Computational Thinking workshop recently. Children explored different activities relating to concepts, terms and techniques, learning about algorithms, tinkering and debugging. These skills encourage perseverance which further enables children to approach and solve logical problems in and outside of the classroom.
25 Year 5 and 6 children from Waldringfield Primary school attended our most recent Spanish and Japanese Language workshop, where they learned about Carnival, the festival of parades, masks and parties. Familiarisation with Spanish vocabulary as well as traditions, saw children singing songs and making their own masks. In the Japanese workshop, children spent time learning all about Japanese culture, singing traditional songs and taking part in a quiz as well as making origami.
Our Robotics course concluded last week with the final challenge – the velodrome. The young coders had to devise a code that would allow their robots to follow a line on the race track, but also sustain bumps from opponents without losing sight of that track. All competitors thoroughly enjoyed the competition and were able to put the valuable lessons learnt in previous sessions to good use in this final challenge.
Taking the Primary Enrichment to Cedarwood Primary, 30 Year 5 children took part in our LEGO workshop, building motorised cars successfully; some even taking on the extension challenge by swapping out the elastic band system attached to the motor and replacing it with a gear system. This part of the challenge demonstrated how the cars to speed up, depending on the gear combination used.
Commenting on the ongoing programme Miss Carretta said,
“Primary Enrichment is a real opportunity for children from local schools to see and experience a variety of curriculum subjects in an interesting, engaging and fun way! These events are always received well by the children who attend as well as the teachers and they support learning that’s already taking place in their own school. We also offer workshops where the whole family can get involved such as our LEGO Fun Day which is always popular.”
Miss Norman, Head of Woodbridge School added,
“Through this programme of exciting activities offering a dynamic section of topics and skills, we aim to provide an educational community , encouraging children to always be inquisitive and curious. The main intention of these workshops is for the children to have fun while learning, which also encourages genuine joy and enjoyment. For those students in School who participate by helping with these workshops, this not only provides an opportunity to share their knowledge and skills, but to give back to our local community.”
Looking ahead there are various workshops scheduled for the remainder of the academic year including a whole year group from Sidegate Primary school coming into our Seckford Theatre to rehearse and perform Twelfth Night, as well as sports tournaments, Maths challenges and a workshop Celebrating the Festival of Light.
For further information, visit Primary Enrichment, or contact Miss Carretta at Primary_Enrichment@woodbridgeschool.org.uk to discuss your school’s enquiry.
