"The ‘creative curriculum’ ensures that pupils gain experiences that they may otherwise not have had through providing visits, trips and excursions."

Ofsted, 2019

Music

The children experience a wide and varied offer for making music, performing and watching others perform.

The children have the opportunity to join the school choir from Year 3 upwards. 
The choir performs at many school events, including events where we join with others eg Young Voices.

We are original members of The Schools Arts Trust, which supports a wealth of opportunities.  In March 2020, Short Wood Primary was the lead school in planning 'The Big Sing' in Telford and Wrekin, bringing together schools across the borough to join in a mass choir event at a local venue. This was well supported by all of the school communities. The partnership also supports quality CPD and curriculum planning.

Music lessons through The Telford and Wrekin Music Service can be accessed subject to availability.

All children have weekly singing sessions and have opportunities to perform at Class assemblies and other performances throughout the year.

Arts and Drama

In Early Years, the children have the benefit of working alongside our part time Artillerista.

Our Year 3 and 4 pupils undertake the Junior Arts Award as part of their topic ‘Every Picture Tells a Story’.

Pupils have taken part in Local and National Art Competitions, The Arts Pop up Story Telling Festival with Ironbridge Gorge Museums, and have displayed Art Work in Telford Town Centre and Wellington Library.

We have been part of the English Heritage Schools project, which is a national initiative to use local history and hertitage to impact on the school curriculum. Our Key Stage 2 topic ‘ In the shadow of the Wrekin’ will use the wealth of fascinating local history in and around Wellington.

Our 2 Big Lottery Grants have enabled us to provide a wide range of arts opportunities with theatre, storytelling and adventure activities.

Our partnership with The Schools Arts Trust, supported by The Arts Centre Telford, saw us present The Lion King in July 2019.  This was a spine tingling performance, which allowed pupils to shine and have their moment in the spotlight.  As a result of us being able to showcase their talent, a small group of pupils were offered scholarships to join the team at The Arts Centre Telford (TACT), enabling them to continue to develop their skills beyond school.

Preparing for Life in Modern Britain

The promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral and cultural development, alongside an appreciation of British Values, is a key feature of Short Wood School life; it underpins all of our curriculum planning. We work hard to build an appreciation of the views and beliefs of others. Our sense of community is developed by being part of the Short Wood team. Being a ‘Short Woody’ is understood by all; the values of respect, caring for others and being kind, helpful and hardworking are crucial to everything we do. We work closely with parents to consolidate the messages learnt in school and to disseminate the Short Wood ethos. We use a democratic process to run our School Council and for other relevant committees, and at the end of class debates as part of a wider decision making process.

Through ensuring pupils are exposed to a range of experiences, and providing them with opportunities to engage with the latest technology, we are promoting aspirations and building the belief they can achieve and be positive members of the local, national and global community.

Learning Outside the Classroom

This provides opportunities for adventures, team work, co-operation and building self-confidence and self-esteem.

Early Years use our Squirrel School area; this is used to enhance the topics including storytelling, practical and physical activities, with a lot of opportunities to develop communication (speaking and listening) and to use new and interesting vocabulary. These visits provide the focus for our weekly guided writing sessions. For our youngest pupils, their visits to Forest School provide a wealth of experiences and challenges, which is then recorded weekly in their writing books and which influences much of their art work.

The Infant and Junior pupils use the Forest School on our site. Over the last three years we have developed our site and expertise in delivering Forest School activities to all our children. The cross curricular outdoor curriculum develops and encourages a natural curiosity, empowering children in the natural environment. Developing essential life skills such as team building, goal setting, planning and achieving, increasing co-operation to achieve goals, as well as reviewing and recognising their own achievements, are at the heart of the outdoor curriculum.

Outdoor learning across the curriculum now features in all year groups planning.  We have had particular success with outdoor days focusing on themes such as our 'Stone Age days' with the now legendary 'Stone soup'!

The Sporting Offer

Short Wood Primary is a member of the Telford and Wrekin Sports Partnership; this provides support and expertise from a wide range of specialists.

The school employs a full time Sports Coach to coordinate the provision across the school.

From Year 2 – Year 6 pupils use the Short Wood swimming pool daily. Pupils are taught to swim by qualified swimming instructors and teachers from school. Our aim is to get all children to swim 25 metres by the time they leave primary school, but we also provide challenges to all our fantastic swimmers as they enter swimming galas and competitions and achieve high level swimming certificates.

The school has sports clubs and teams for Football, Tag Rugby, Hockey, Netball, Basketball, Athletics, Gymnastics, Cross Country, Cricket and Skipping. Where there are opportunities to try new sports, we always have a go - Square Ball is the latest sport to catch our attention!

We also have had opportunities to try new and different sports such as wheelchair basketball and skipping.

Our policy is to enable and empower children to shine and succeed.