Class of the Year Award

ROYDS Hall Community School (Beech Primary Site) has recently undergone a complete overhaul to its Primary Phase curriculum. Students are now taught through the method of REAL Projects. This means they are teaching our children all the skills they need to know by planning rigorous, engaging, authentic, learning. Such a drastic change could understandably unsettle a class, but the children in Year 3 and 4 this year have made their teachers and parents incredibly proud with their hard-work and positive attitude. Both the teaching staff and the students have embraced the changes and have taken on projects that have seen a lot of recognition. Last term’s REAL project, run by Karen Thompson, was directed around the question, ‘where is the heart of Africa?’. Fellow Year 3 and 4 teachers, Marcus Gooch and Amanda Crompton planned an engaging curriculum for the entire term where the children worked on the answers to the big question. They immersed their classrooms with artefacts from Africa, and even built wooden huts with toilets in them! That last activity was to remind the children that one of the outcomes of the project was to raise the funds to help enable better sanitation in an area of Africa through a charity called Toilet Twinning. Giving up a Saturday, the children sold African inspired crafts they made at school at Huddersfield Market with the school staff team. Parents joined in too helping taxi stock and children to and from the school and the market venue. The day was a huge success, with almost £400 raised and countless memories made. “I am so proud of how the whole of the Year 3 and 4 team including all the teaching assistants, Jackie Wilson and Emma Crossley who entered into the spirit of this very successful REAL Project,” said Jo Jenkinson, Head of Primary Phase. ...BOTH THE TEACHING STAFF AND THE STUDENTS HAVE EMBRACED THE CHANGES AND HAVE TAKEN ON PROJECTS THAT HAVE SEEN A LOT OF RECOGNITION...