Lessons enriching youngsters’ lives

Jan 29 2008 by Hazel Ettienne, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

In the third of our series on Kirklees schools, HAZEL ETTIENNE joins pupils at Lindley CofE Infant School

CHILDREN thrive on busy, active days at Lindley CofE Infant School.

Known locally as “The Dinosaur School” because of the prehistoric creatures which form part of the playground, this outstanding school has a list of extra curricular activities for children which is second to none.

Government inspectors who visited recently praised the large number of clubs and groups which enrich pupils’ lives.

Japanese, Urdu and French language classes, ballroom dancing, gardening, Friendship, healthy eating and a new environmental Turtle Club all make for a busy but very happy school.

Headteacher Sue Drake said: “There is a lot of thought and planning goes into running the activities and we know it is worth it when we see the enjoyment on the children’s faces.

“The activities impact positively on the children’s learning and social skills for example – learning to dance Samba with a partner also teaches you how to respect another person’s personal space.

“The foreign language classes offer taster sessions which motivate children to want to learn to speak another language.

“All are fine examples of our motto Learning Together Achieving Together.”

The school has recently become “Plastic Bag Free” with children designing and planning ethically traded cotton bags which are to be used to take things home.

Year two student Jamilla Petrie-Shah created the logo for the bags which the school hopes to start using within the next three weeks.

School council members launched the Turtle Club last October after watching a documentary about how turtles eat and are killed by plastic bags floating in the ocean.

The turtles think the plastic bags are jelly fish and eat them and then they die.

You can’t burn plastic bags, it makes some kind of gas that harms people.

Plastic bags stay in the soil and don’t decompose.

We can use jute or cotton instead of plastic.

The school has also achieved Fair Trade status, one of the first schools in Kirklees to do so, and using Fairtrade produce as much as possible, learning about global trade and taking action for Fairtrade in school.