Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to this new exciting year of learning at Buxton School.

Each term your children’s learning is based around a “theme”, or “topic.” This means that we are able to make creative links between the subjects which has been proved to encourage and enhance learning.

Each year group will publish Topic Webs, which show the theme and all the other subjects being studied and how these all link up. You will see the kinds of activities your children will be engaged in, and the key skills they will be developing. There will also be an introduction of a “WoW Factor.” This is an event or trip, or visit from someone, which will serve to excite children and give them an introduction, or aim, to their learning.

In future, these topic webs will be published for parents and carers in time to engage in “pre-learning.” This means that you will have the opportunity to introduce your child to the subject: perhaps there would be a trip to a museum which would help to encourage awareness of a theme, or simply a trip to the library to begin some research.

We would also encourage children to present any research on the theme, which can be shared at school. This often enthuses children and can again deepen their learning experience. Research could be published in a variety of ways: in a scrapbook; as a poster; as a PowerPoint presentation, or any other way. The aim is for children to begin to direct their own learning, a key skill which will serve them well in the future.