Wider Opportunities (Personal Development)

Our extended curriculum and pupil leadership opportunities support our children's personal and social development and nurtures our school values. 

The range of experiences we offer supports our children academically, but also ensures that their spiritual, moral, social and cultural needs are met too. We are incredibly proud of the experiences we provide the children who in turn demonstrate how they are deeply proud of our school, our British values and diverse society to which we belong and play an active part. We believe that exposure, not only to culture but also to situations which the children might not have previous experiences of, is of paramount importance to their ongoing successes. 

Gradually widening children's experiences as they progress through school is an important step in providing rich and engaging learning across the curriculum. We plan carefully for children to have progressively richer experiences from Reception and beyond. These include trips to the local park, care homes, theatre, farms, and visits to places of worship, museums, sports and music venues to name a few. 

We are proud that our curriculum gives our children the knowledge, skills, confidence and self-belief to lead a happy and fulfilled life by encouraging them to always aim high and work towards their aspirations in life.

Please see our Fox Hill Journey of opportunities that extend beyond the National Curriculum. This can be found in our Journey document below and the information that follows. 

Please also see our Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) development section within our curriculum section. 

Please click here. 

Pupil Leadership Opportunities 

Below are just some of our extended opportunities for nurturing the children's personal development.  

School Council 

Sports at Fox Hill 

Sports Leaders

Sports - Activate Learning Bracknell & Wokingham College  

House Captains 

Gardening and Allotment Club  

Fox Hill Forest School 

Recycling Champions 

School Enrichment Trips and Visits 

Clubs and Lunch Clubs 

Themed Weeks

Music 

Residential Journeys 

Please read on for more information 

School Council 

Our School Council nurtures the values of Kindness, Curiosity, Self-belief and Pride. Our hard-working School Council is made up 12 children, a team of two children from each class in year 1 - year 6. 

Each year the children vote for their School Council Representative. 

Candidates need to:  study the job description and decide to nominate themselves for the class role.  Candidates prepare a speech and present this to their class outlining why they would make a great School Council Rep. This takes enormous courage and self-belief and we are very proud of our outstanding Student Council Representatives. 

The School Council have set out their three goals and that is to listen, to care and communicate. They work very hard throughout the year to provide ideas to improve our school and then the CTA (Childrens Teacher Association) work with the School Council to help to raise the funds to support the ideas.

Fox Hill have created a pupil leadership structure that is designed to help our school be the best it can be. Each area of the leadership team is led by the School Council and linked to our school values. It helps develop leadership skills, a sense of responsibility, and understanding of the importance of being a positive citizen. As children move through the school there is an opportunity for every child to take part in an area of responsibility or leadership. 

Very soon, the School Council will have the opportunity to visit classrooms and make some suggestions for how we can improve our lessons even further! 

Sports 

Our excellent sports provision promotes the values of Kindness, Self-belief and Pride. Being active is an essential part of being healthy, both in body and mind.  At Fox Hill, we provide a high quality menu of PE and sporting activities that are inclusive and engaging for all pupils.  We provide a range of inter-school competitions and inter-house competitions. Fox Hill are part of the Sports Partnership and this provides additional opportunities for the children such as, 6 week programmes of Yoga, Mental Health and Wellbeing activities, Mindfulness, Rugby, Table Tennis and many, many more alternative sports.

In addition to inter-school and inter-house competitions, we also take part in local sports competitions for schools across Bracknell such as, Athletics, Boccia, Netball, Football, Hockey, Badminton, Tennis and many, many more. Our children are proud to represent their school and pride themselves on their self-belief to keep going in the face of challenge! 

Our talented PE and Sports Coaches plan and teach outdoor PE and lead a range of after school clubs that enrich the PE and sporting curriculum for both KS1 and KS2 including multi-sports, basketball and tennis.

Pupils at Fox Hill demonstrate:

• A strong desire to learn and make progress;
• High levels of dedication, attendance and involvement in PE and school sport;
• High levels of self-belief and commitment to PE and school sport;
• High levels of positive behaviour such as politeness, fair play and helpfulness; and
• High levels of enjoyment and enthusiasm and a strong desire to get involved.

We are committed to providing high quality PE and sporting activities for all our children.

Sports Leaders

At Fox Hill, we have a fantastic scheme called Sports Leaders.  Sports Leaders are children from Year 4 and 6 who volunteer for the role. This scheme nurtures the values of Kindness, Curiosity, Self-belief and Pride.

Sports Leaders:

• Run small-scale physical activities at lunch times
• Present in assemblies
• Help organise specific events such as Sports Day and Health and Fitness Week
• Help organise and maintain resources and equipment
• Undertake surveys to ensure pupil voice is valued in our sports provision

Sports - Activate Learning Bracknell & Wokingham College

House Captains 

At Fox Hill we recognise the importance and value of House and Vice House Captains in supporting the Fox Hill family.  These key roles are ones of privilege and responsibility that require the children to be dedicated and organised and set a positive example to all children throughout the school. Our House Captains are role models for the children and have volunteered to help the children in their House to organise and collect House Points. They model the school values and school rules in abundance and we are very proud of our House Captains.

Our House system nurtures the values of Kindness, Curiosity, Self-belief and Pride.

The House Captains play an active role in championing their House teams through planning events and sports competitions.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Collect and count-up House points daily, weekly and termly.
• Take part in meetings to make decisions about House competitions.
•  Help staff to organise House reward events.
•  Help organise House competitions including Sports Day
•  Lead a House assembly

Gardening and Allotment - Outdoor Learning 

The children at Fox Hill love taking part in our Gardening and Allotment activities .

Our Outdoor Learning Provision is growing and we believe that by involving pupils in school gardening we have seen the following outcomes:

• Greater scientific knowledge and understanding.
• Enhanced literacy and numeracy, including the use of a wider vocabulary and greater oracy skills.
• Increased awareness of the seasons and understanding of food production.
• Increased confidence, resilience and self-esteem.
• Development of physical skills, including fine motor skills.
• Development of a sense of responsibility.
• A positive attitude to healthy food choices.
• Positive behaviour.
• Improvements in emotional well-being.

Forest School - Outdoor Learning 

Forest Schools offer a unique educational experience using the outdoor environment of the forest as a classroom. The New Economics Foundation (NEF) evaluated schools to highlight how they can provide learning opportunities for children and what the outcomes can be.

Forest Schools make a difference in the following ways:

• Confidence: children have the freedom, time and space to learn and demonstrate independence
• Social skills: children gain increased awareness of the consequences of their actions on peers through team activities such as sharing tools and participating in play
• Communication: language development is prompted by the children’s sensory experiences
• Motivation: the woodland tends to develop curiosity and fascinate the children and they developed a keenness to participate and the ability to concentrate over longer periods of time
• Physical skills: these improvements are characterised by the development of physical stamina and gross and fine motor skills
• Knowledge and understanding: the children develop an interest in the natural surroundings and respect for the environment

Fox Hill Primary School are investing in our Forest School with Mrs MacDonald taking a lead on our Outdoor Provision and also embarking on the Forest School training programme. 

Recycling Champions 

Enrichment - School Trips and Visits 

At Fox Hill, we aim to enrich the curriculum through the use of enrichment trips and visits. Our enrichment opportunities nurture the school values of Kindness, Curiosity, Self-belief and Pride. 

Each teacher aims to organise a school trip for each new topic and the purpose behind this is to provide opportunities for the children to discover and experience learning in a memorable and exciting way. 

Community linked trips 

Community linked trips nurture the values of Kindness, Curiosity and Pride. We pride ourselves on providing experiences and opportunities that develop our children's character and personal development. For example, visiting local care homes to teach the children of the value of kindness and to understand the impact of their contributions to the wider community. 

We make use of our local area and plan trips to The Look Out, and also the South Hill Park Arts Centre and Wilde Theatre. 

Here are some photos of some of the enrichment trips available at Fox Hill. 

Ufton Court - The Vikings 

Ufton Court - The Stone Age

Milestones - The Victorian Era 

Trips to St Michael's and Mary Magdalene's Church

Trips to the Hindu Temple 

Trips to the Gurdwara

Reading Art Museum 

Enriching the curriculum at Ufton Court! 

We spent the morning learning how to fight as Vikings, also voyaging in a longship to various new lands! The children then spent their afternoon learning about Saxon life-skills and Saxon games. 

Ethan: What I enjoyed most was the part where we were using shields and swords.  We were practising different moves and things like shield walls, protect-the-yarl and boar's-snout to attack the enemy.

Eloise: What I liked about Ufton Court was the games.  My favourite game was Viking piggy-in-the-middle and the rope tug-of-war.  I also liked it when we were on the Viking longship and we got to row the oars.  I loved it when the man in charge said "Vikings raid!"

Yasmin:  On our school trip to Ufton Court, we did lots of Viking activities such as games, travelling, raiding and fighting.  On our raiding, we travelled to different countries.  I went to Greenland and we got lots of furs.  We also got a drinking horn!

Markus:  What I really liked about the trip to Ufton Court was when we made the fences, the woollen thread and sparks of fire using flint and steel.  I also loved it when we trained for fighting with wooden swords, shields and axes.

Bringing the Stone Age to life at Ufton Court. 

Back in time- The Victorians

Year 6 travelled back in time, dressed up and experienced a day in the life of a Victorian at the Milestones Museum in Basingstoke. All of the children were totally immersed in 19th Century life. They especially enjoyed the school workshop, which made them feel very lucky to be a school child in 2022!

Visiting the Hindu Temple

Year 3 visited the beautiful Hindu Temple in Slough where they learnt about Hinduism and some of their wonderful traditions. The children and staff were blown away by the beautiful decorations and ornate statues. We were also thoroughly spoilt with drinks and snacks and were extremely grateful for the Temple's generosity. Another wonderful trip to support our learning about other faiths and religions. 

Trip to the Gurdwara

Year 5 had a fantastic trip to the Gurdwara in Reading to support their learning about Sikhism. They had the opportunity to impress the staff with their knowledge of Sikhism and were rewarded with a feast in the langar. Thank you to the Gurdwara for such an informative and exciting visit.

Reading Art Museum trip 

We spent an amazing day at Reading Museum. The words, "Best trip ever!!" were heard a few times!

Everyone was so engaged and interested in everything the museum had to offer, it was wonderful to experience! The children made us extremely proud as they represented Fox Hill School with beautiful behaviour and great respect for the museum staff and other visitors. They also demonstrated lovely manners, thanking the museum staff as we left (without prompting). 

It really was a wonderful trip! We definitely enjoyed looking at the art gallery and we were also excited to look at the Silchester Gallery, reinforcing and adding to what we have previously learnt about the Romans. 

Easter trip to St Michael's and Mary Magdalene's Church 

Year 6 were invited to St Michael's and St Mary Magdalene's Church for an Experience Easter workshop. The children learned all about the Christian Holy Week and reflected thoughtfully on key themes such as loneliness, remembrance, hopes and dreams.

Thank you to the Church for hosting us.

Clubs

We pride ourselves on providing a diverse range of clubs for all children. Our clubs have been chosen to meet the needs of our children and to provide a range of opportunities to nurture their interests and talents. Our clubs nurture the school values of Kindness, Curiosity, Self-belief and Pride. 

Lunch Clubs 

We have a range of clubs that run during the school day. Some examples of these are our Netball club, Chess club, Business and Enterprise club (starting soon). 

This is a lovely photo that captures a Year 6 School Council Rep, teaching and playing a game of chess with a Year 4 pupil. The surrounding children are watching the game intently so that they can also learn how to play chess too.

What a lovely way to bring the different age groups together! 

Breakfast Club 

We run a breakfast club in house to support and ease the transition from home to school and help parents to meet work demands with the assurance that their children will receive a healthy breakfast, and a range of morning activities. 

The breakfast club at Fox Hill Primary School is open daily from 7.45am until school starts and is based from the main school hall. Breakfast is served until 8.15am. We offer the children a selection of healthy breakfast options such as toast, cereals, juices and fruit. 

Facilities Include:

• Large School Hall
• Healthy & Nutritious Breakfast
• A range of play activities

Cost: £4.50 per child

Booking: You can book sessions up to 1.00pm the working day before you need them or, if you require breakfast club childcare on a more permanent basis through signing up on ParentMail. 

Afterschool Clubs 

Fox Hill Themed Weeks 

At Fox Hill we enjoy fantastic themed weeks where children enjoy working together focusing on a particular theme.  We have workshops, special visitors,  whole school assemblies and school community events to enrich children's knowledge and experience.

Our themed weeks are designed to nurture our school values of Kindness, Curiosity, Self-belief and Pride. 

Science week click here

Art Week 

Last year the whole school took part in the International Dot Day to celebrate our school value of SELF-BELIEF.

International Dot Day, a global celebration of creativity, courage and collaboration, began when teacher Terry Shay introduced his classroom to Peter H. Reynolds’ book The Dot on September 15, 2009.

The Dot is the story of a caring teacher who dares a doubting student to trust in her own abilities by being brave enough to “make her mark”. What begins with a small dot on a piece of paper becomes a breakthrough in confidence and courage, igniting a journey of self-discovery and sharing, which has gone on to inspire countless children and adults around the globe.

Each year on International Dot Day – with the help of people just like you – the inspiration continues. What started as a story in the pages of a book is transforming teaching and learning around the world as people of all ages re-discover the power and potential of creativity in all they do.

Have a look at our whole school art work below based on The Dot. Each dot was created by a member of the school and each colour represents the year group. 

World Book Day and Book Week

Enterprise Week 

Music

We love to celebrate music at Fox Hill! Our music provision nurtures the school values of Kindness, Curiosity, Self-belief and Pride. 

There are plenty of opportunities to enjoy music at Fox Hill, both within the curriculum and as additional activities.

Mrs Shelton leads Music across the school which include the three fundamentals of music; listening and appraising, performing and composing. In whole class lessons the children explore these fundamentals of music through singing, and playing both tuned and untuned percussion. Children begin to learn to read western classical musical notation in year 3 and build upon this throughout their time in KS2.

Being able to read musical notation is a wonderful skill, and can be transferred to any instrument if your child wishes to move on and learn another instrument outside of the classroom.

Junior Music Festival 

Every year, Fox Hill children are offered the opportunity to take part in the Junior Music Festival, organised by Berkshire Maestros. The event takes place at the Hexagon theatre in Reading and is a fantastic experience for all involved.

We are so proud of the children who took part in a choir of over 300 children from schools all across Berkshire, singing beautiful music from musicals, supported by an orchestra of Berkshire Maestros teachers. 

O2 Young Voices 

Welcome to the largest Children’s choir in the world, Young Voices takes place at The O2 with over 120,000 excited singing school children aged from 6-13. We are proud to share that our children at Fox Hill attend this fantastic event and experience.

Young Voices provides an unrivalled musical opportunity for primary school children to perform all styles of music including folk, pop, rock and classical. Young Voices is designed to unify children from across the region, boost their confidence and provide lifelong memories for them and their families.

Teachers & Pupils practice the dance routines and learn the songs in their music lessons for many months before they excitedly come together for the penultimate show at their local arena. This is an unmissable opportunity for local school choirs to sing in huge arenas alongside some of the most talented & well known artists from the world of music.

The choirs range from 4,500 to 8,500 children, all performing at the same time to capacity audiences of friends and family. Nothing can prepare you for the sound of thousands of children singing in harmony.

Young Voices combines the power of singing together as one, with accompaniment from a wide range of musicians and artists, to create an amazing performance.

Rocksteady 

We are very lucky to have Rocksteady at Fox Hill Primary School. Rocksteady is an inclusive programme that’s accessible to all pupils, supports wellbeing and contributes to academic progress. Rocksteady provides fun and inclusive in-school rock and pop band lessons, for all year groups. In these sessions the children are able to learn a variety of instruments and learn to play together as part of a band. The band then play to the school and parents and carers in an end of term school concert. Pupil premium and funded options are available. 

The children can learn to play the following instruments; 

• Keyboard
• Guitar
• Drum kit 
• Base guitar 
• Percussion instruments 

Residential Trips 

Our residential trip in year 6 nurtures the school values of Kindness, Curiosity, Self-belief and Pride.