- North Cheriton, Templecombe, Somerset BA8 0AH
- 01963 33234
- pasmt@marchant-holliday.co.uk
We are proud to be members of Team Victory. The adults who work in our class are Miss Toomey (Teacher), Mrs Robinson, Miss Hawkins and Mrs Wale (Teaching Assistants).
Our classroom is in Pool House where we are lucky enough to have an entire Nurture Suite! In the suite we have a classroom - with home corner, role play area and learning zones -, our own kitchen, art area, dining room and quiet space. We also have our own garden where we’ve dug our own vegetable patch and planted flower beds. Finally, our outdoor learning zone (complete with mud kitchen, challenge and construction areas) provides us with the opportunity to immerse ourselves in play, collaborate with friends on challenges and work with adults to develop our social skills. Sometimes, we even get to watch wild rabbits playing around our pond from our classroom. Through play and exploration we are able to develop our understanding of the world around us and develop our critical thinking skills.
Each half term we are introduced to a new learning experience, or topic, so our learning is themed for a period of time. This helps us to become immersed in our learning and settles any worries we may have about what we might have to learn. Some of our Learning Experiences include "Dungeons and Dragons", "Predators and Prey" and "Out of Africa". We use a range of strategies to support our learning including visual aids (such as timetables and symbol-assisted signs) and kinaesthetic activities.
Victory class is a nurture class which helps us develop socially and emotionally through our hands on learning and play- based activities. As a team, we learn to work well together; solving problems, developing our knowledge across the curriculum, sharing resources and becoming more resilient. Hoping to be in the challenge zone, we learn to persevere with tasks and know that it’s great to make a mistake! In Victory, we include everybody in our happy, safe classroom! We do our best learning when we feel safe to try new things with a smile on our faces.
As part of our Learning Experience, we will be reading a book called the Curious Garden. The story is based on a real life linear garden called the High Line in New York City. It tells the tale of Liam and his quest for a greener world. He works hard to turn a disused railway into a garden for the whole city. As the book, by Peter Brown explains: “One day, a curious boy named Liam is out exploring his drab, grey city when he comes across a struggling garden. He decides to help the plants grow, never imagining what he is starting. As time passes, the garden takes on a life of its own and spreads across the city, changing everything in its path. Bit by Bit, the city is transformed, becoming a lush, green world”. We will use the ideas in the book to bring our science and PSHE learning to life.
In Science lessons we will learn to identify and name a variety of common wild and garden plants including deciduous and evergreen trees and to identify and describe the basic structure of a variety of common flowering plants and trees. We will walk around our spacious school grounds to spot and identify native trees. By being able to find the leaves from these plants, we will be able to feel and observe their shapes and textures and decide for ourselves if they are evergreen or deciduous. We will also observe and describe how seeds and bulbs grow into mature plants and find out and describe how plants need water, light and suitable temperatures to grow and stay healthy.
Before we begin to think about growing our own fruit, vegetables and flowers, we will visit the local garden centre, Otter Nursery, to learn some more about plants and how to care for them. We will consider which gardening tools and resources we will need to use to maintain our garden.
