Enrichment
Trips and Workshops
School trips and workshops give children the opportunity to visualise, experience and discuss topics that they are learning about in school. They encourage children to be involved in new environments and spark curiosity about the world around us.
We are extremely fortunate at Christ Church School to be surrounded by a diverse range of cultural opportunities, in the main within walking distance of school.
In Reception and Year 1 our trips focus on the natural world which we can access easily on the Bristol Downs and our local culture and heritage in Clifton Village. Our children love visiting the Clifton Library (the building in which our school was originally founded) and sampling the culinary delights of some of the local food venders (such as Reg the Veg ). We are fortunate to have volunteers from the local community who come and share with the children their job experiences, such as being a Doctor or part of the Fire Brigade or Police service.
By Year 2 and 3 we are starting to look at the science of the world and enjoy both visiting venues like 'We the curious' and hosting at school space workshops from the Explorer Dome and practical stone age workshops in our outdoor classroom. We start to explore music through different forms of drumming and dance workshops.
In Year 4 and 5 we look in more detail at periods of history such as the Vikings, Romans and Normans. We hold theme days at school where children dress up and make and sample food of the period. The children learn about our Bristol science heritage through trips to the Bristol Museum, Underfall yard, Suspension Bridge, SS Great Britain, Tyntesfield. We have robotics and animation workshops and Bristol University students visit to show our children some of their more visually exciting chemistry experiments! The children explore different faiths and visit mosques as well as churches and cathedrals.
Year 6 is about both the culmination of primary school and preparation for the next stage in our children's educational journey. They explore life skills in visits to the Create Centre and Bristol Cathedral and workshops at school with community services such as the Police. Their history topic is WW2 and they experience both what it must have been like to be evacuated from the city during the war, and about the culture of the time such as Swing Dance! We explore the Bristol harbourside and 'build boats' to float in the annual Bristol Young Shipright's boatrace.
Our Year 5 and 6 pupils go on an annual residential trip. These trips are a super way to build confidence, improve team work and learn new skills.
We are lucky to be located close to the Redgrave Theatre and every year the whole school attend a Christmas performance.
During the summer terms we are fortunate to be able to work with Clifton College to enable all year groups to explore different outdoor activities at their Outdoor Centre at Beggar Bush.
Arts
Arts trail:
Our rich arts curriculum has been developed to grow our pupil’s skills, confidence and engagement in art and our bi-annual Arts Week is always a highlight of the school calendar. The impact on pupil’s participation and enjoyment in learning is evident in pupil’s outcomes during the week, pupil voice, parental feedback and pupil’s enormous pride in their achievements. Art Week themes are chosen carefully to link with the wider curriculum; previous Arts Weeks titles include ‘Wildlife S.O.S’, ‘Take One Picture’, ‘Our Beautiful Blue Planet’, 'Bristol at the Heart of our Art' and 'Inspired by Faith'.
We recognise the importance of promoting our artwork within the local community and we create an exhibition of our outcomes of our Arts Week in the West Bristol Arts Trail. Our comments book is a record of the high praise given from our community and wider public.
Drama:
Children at Christ Church School have plenty of opportunities to perform – whether that is in a small group, large group, in the classroom or on stage.
Each year, Reception children and Key Stage 1 children spend time rehearsing and preparing for their Christmas plays. Costumes are designed, spoken and sung words are learnt and parents/carers are invited for some absolutely wonderful performances year on year.
At the end of the school year, Year 6 spend time rehearsing for their Leaver’s Assembly – another Christ Church School highlight. Their drama skills, learnt throughout the year groups, are really perfected as they deliver a quality and entertaining performance to end their time at school.
Drama skills such as speaking and listening are taught and learnt during literacy lessons at school. Children spend time imagining themselves as characters from books or recreating scenes from a class text and when small groups perform, the children receive direction on how to speak audibly, face the audience or gesticulate to convey meaning. Many children at Christ Church School also attend drama workshops in their own time so they too are able to help one another as they rehearse and perform to an audience. Class assemblies provide an opportunity for children to perform to the whole school and end of term assemblies allow for even larger audiences when children perform to the whole school community, including parents/carers at the local church.
Musical arts:
Music plays a large part of school life. With a weekly singing assembly, the children have chance to sing together and listen to each other as part of a large group. They sing songs from other cultures, Christian songs, fun warm-up songs and learn how to sing in parts. Singing assemblies prepare the children for our in-school concerts, performed at the Church, at Christmas and Easter time.
We have a number of peripatetic staff who visit our school weekly so Key Stage 2 children at Christ Church School have the opportunity to learn a variety of musical instruments: guitar, flute, violins and drums. Once these children start to feel confident with their instruments, they are encouraged to audition for a “mini-concert” which is where children from a specific year group – rotated through the school year – showcase their instrument learning to the rest of the school. Parents and carers are invited to come and listen as well.
At Christ Church School, we work closely with Bristol Plays Music and partake in many of their musical offerings. Some year groups spend a term learning an instrument as a whole class. Year 3 learn djembe drumming and then give a performance to the rest of the school, which is always incredible.
Bristol Plays Music also organise a lot of workshops and concerts out of school, which we enjoy attending and taking part in. These are some of our regular calendar highlights:
- Reception and Key Stage 1 Christmas singalong in the Spiegeltent
- Key Stage 2 Choir Christmas concert at St George’s
- Year 4/5 Carol Service at Bristol Cathedral
- Key Stage 2 Choir Summer concert at the Bristol Beacon
Christian Distinctiveness
We are a SIAMS Outstanding School - see report
Our school has a close partnership with Christ Church and we have achieved the Church Partnership Award in recognition of how our school works with the Church for the mutual benefit of our children and school community.
Our school has many faiths and cultures represented within our community and we see this diversity as an asset for our school. We strive to learn about each other and understand the importance of mutual respect for each other’s beliefs and values.
As a whole school we walk to the Church for Harvest, Christmas and Easter celebrations. It is a fantastic way for our whole school community and guests to join together.
As the children journey through our school they learn about many world religions and what is means to have or not to have a faith. We invite speakers into school to share their faith and we also visit places of worship to learn about and experience first-hand the faiths within our City. We have achieved the WIRE award - widening inclusivity in religious education.
Members of the Church clergy lead worship and support with the delivery of our Religious Education curriculum. The Church team host workshops for our children, an annual Prayer Space in school and a prayer group for Parents/Carers.
The Church runs a successful and popular Pre-school and has the Spire Café which is a valuable meeting place for parents/Carers over cake and coffee.
Sports
We aim to provide our children will the opportunity to enhance their skills while developing a passion for sport. We provide high quality, streamlined lessons; enabling pupils to improve their skill development throughout their time at Christ Church School.
At Christ Church School we are part of the Ashton School Sports Partnership which runs a regular programme of tournaments, events and workshops throughout the year for primary schools in Bristol across a range of different sports. This is a great opportunity for our children to practice their sporting skills, build their teamwork skills and meet other children from across the city.
Athletics - we take part in the annual cross country competitions based at Ashton Park Secondary School, where we meet with a wide range of schools and race against hundreds of other children. The passion and enthusiasm which our children show for this sport shines through every year, with continued success in this competition. The top twenty runners in the competition proceed to represent their school in a county competition – Christ Church School has representatives in this run every year. Throughout the year, our children are regularly challenged to enhance their athletic abilities and take part in various fun runs – including the infamous Christ Church Circuit. Our fantastic Parent Teacher Association (PTA) hold an annual fun run at Clifton College grounds where our children are encouraged to get involved in the fancy dress run. At the end of the year, our sporting calendar concludes with our Sports Day, again held at the Clifton College grounds a short walk away.Basketball - We provide high quality, streamlined lessons in Basketball, enabling pupils to improve their skill development throughout their time in Key Stage 2. For one term throughout the year, children in KS2 will take part in one hour of basketball coaching each week and then enjoy participating in the Ashton Park Basketball league.
Cricket - For one term throughout the year, children in KS2 will take part in one hour of cricket each week. We have a number of staff with a passion for cricket and they run a breakfast club enabling practice for the summer cricket league based at the Clannage cricket ground in Bower Ashton.
Football - We aim to provide our children will the opportunity to enhance their skills while developing a passion for the sport. We provide high quality, streamlined lessons; enabling pupils to improve their skill development throughout their time in Key Stage 2. For one term throughout the year, children in KS2 will take part in one hour of football each week.
Every year we participate in the Ashton Park School Sports Partnership football league tournaments: these enable children in Years 3 and above to take part in 5-week football tournaments based in Secondary School grounds around the city. We participate in both a mixed girl/boy football league and a girl only league. The winners of these leagues progress to represent their school in a final held at Bristol City Football grounds. We also attend a variety of one-off football tournaments held throughout the year which often see our children meeting a number of sporting icons. Any invitation we receive we are keen to take up: allowing our children to have fun and compete as much as possible.
Gymnastics - We provide high quality, streamlined lessons in gymnastics, enabling pupils to improve their skill development throughout their time at Christ Church School. For one term throughout the year, children in KS2 will take part in one hour of gymnastics each week.
Netball - Children are taught the rules for both 7-a-side and High 5 netball matches. For one term throughout the year, children in KS2 will take part in one hour of netball each week. A number of our staff have a passion for netball and run a breakfast club in netball enabling practice for the spring league.
Swimming - Swimming lessons are taught on rotation throughout Year 5 and 6. While in Year 5, children will be taught one hour of swimming lessons for one term a year. While in Year 6, children will be taught one hour of swimming lessons for two terms a year. Our teachers delivering the swimming lessons hold a minimum of a Level One coaching certificate. We also utilise our skilled swimming instructors who work within our Shine provision team to deliver lessons alongside our teachers. Our lessons take place at Bristol University College, located only a short walk from our school. We take part in 2 main swimming competitions throughout the year: a gala run by the Ashton Park School Sports Partnership and a championship run by Bristol Schools Swimming Association.
