Enrichment and Extra Curricular Opportunities

Enrichment - Aims and Purpose

Our enrichment opportunities aim to provide a well-rounded, culturally rich education for all children which complements and broadens their year group curriculum. This offer is carefully planned to enable children to expand upon the basic national curriculum subjects, explore knowledge and skills in more depth and view things from different perspectives.

There are 3 core aims to our enrichment opportunities:

• Develop character: attitudes, skills and behaviours – such as confidence, resilience, self-control, motivation and social skills – that will underpin success in school and beyond.
• Pursue wider goals: children make choices about the activities they would like to engage with, allowing them the opportunity to pursue an existing interest or passion or to try something completely new.
• Allow children to pursue academic goals through non-traditional means.

Friday Clubs
Our Friday afternoon clubs, provide all children with additional enrichment opportunities, removing barriers that may prevent disadvantaged groups from accessing enrichment provision beyond the school day. Clubs run for 6 weeks in terms 3, 4, and 5, and each session is approximately 45 minutes long. We run 2 club sessions each week: one for EYFS to Year 2 and one for Year 3 to Year 6. All Friday Clubs run within the school day, are completely free of charge and are attended by all children.

Each term, the children are asked for ideas of clubs they would like to participate in. This (very long) list of ideas is shared with adults so they can select a club that they would like to plan and run for the children. As a result, the selection of clubs on offer to the children can change each term - there are normally some fixed favourites which return every term, alongside some completely new options. Children can sign up to a club of their choice every turn.

Some of our current and more recent clubs include: sewing, clay, hockey, drama, singing, nature, animation, gym workout, multi-sports, netball, tag rugby, well-being, Lego, science, chess and art.

Feedback from children and parents has been extremely positive. Children are motivated and engaged by the idea of club time and it has become a very powerful tool in ensuring positive behaviour in school.

Book Events

Each year, every child has the opportunity to attend an after school book event. Year group teams offer 3 book events throughout the year for the children to attend should they wish. In the past few years, this has included:

• Events to mark special book days, birthdays and anniversaries e.g. Harry Potter Night, National Elmer Day
• Events to further immerse children in a class text e.g. Wolf Brother Night (Year 6), The Riddle of the Sphinx (Year 4), I am a Tiger (EYFS - The Book Trust's free book in 2022)
• A celebration of old favourites e.g. Stick Man, Jolly Christmas Postman

These events are a small part of the reading diet at Mendip Green and aim to further develop children's love of reading by exploring books and fictional worlds through creative, active and collaborative sessions.

In addition to year group events, we also participate in whole school events:

• We are World Book Day enthusiasts and celebrate the event every year.
• The first week of the new school year is a book week where we explore traditional tales from around he world, a range of picture books as well as marking International Dot Day and Roald Dahl Day.
• Each year, we aim to provide an additional after school reading event such as 'Bedtime Stories'.

After School Activities

We are committed to creating children that make a positive contribution and stay healthy in today's world. A range of after school activities are run throughout the year, from sports clubs to dance and cheerleading to drama, to ensure that all children can pursue an interest and gain skills.

Please ask at the school office for an up-to-date list of what is currently being offered, as our list of activities can change throughout the year.

Breakfast and After School Club

We have a Breakfast and After School Club which runs during term time.  For full details, visit our Breakfast and After School Club page.