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Citizenship at key stages 1 and 2 (Year 1-6)
Unit 06: Developing our school grounds
Section 1: How can we get involved in developing our school grounds?
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Objectives |
| Children should learn: |
- to develop their role as members of the school and the wider community
- to discuss issues with their class
- about how democratically elected individuals can represent the views of many people
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Activities |
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Outcomes |
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Children: |
- Show the children a video about how other schools and their community members embarked on school grounds projects. Follow the video with a whole-class discussion, perhaps focusing on the following questions:
- What do you remember about the video?
- What sort of changes could make our school grounds better, eg do we need better play facilities, a quiet play area, an outdoor classroom, more greenery around the school site (such as containers or hanging baskets), a sensory garden, a wildlife area, new decoration?
- A school grounds committee could be established, with representatives from existing groups across the school community. The children learn about the process of electing representatives to such a group, and also participate in some aspects of the election. The roles of those not involved in the elected group are discussed and agreed with the children.
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- identify their own views about the existing playground and playtimes
- take part in suggesting improvements to the playground
- recognise that their views can be represented on the school grounds committee
- show understanding that individuals can be democratically elected to representative groups, committees and organisations in order to represent the views of others
- contribute to class discussions, sharing their ideas and opinions and listening to the views of others
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Points to note |
- The Learning through Landscapes website provides information about school grounds projects and details of how to obtain a range of resource packs, videos and CDs to support these projects.
- There may be campaigns or projects in your local area concerned with the use of public space or improving land use. The local authority or local media may have information about such campaigns and other community schemes. The school may wish to get involved in one of these schemes to give children the opportunity to develop their understanding of local government, and of how to get involved in decision-making.
- The school grounds committee might include: the senior management team; the Governors' Premises Sub-Committee; the PTA; class/year/school council members; representatives of key stage forums; after-school club play leaders; the school's LEA-appointed surveyor and/or risk assessor; parents with relevant skills; members of the art club, etc. This elected group would be responsible for planning and coordinating the whole project, eg working out the overall budget, breaking down costs, creating a works timetable, identifying the personnel needed to undertake the project (landscape architects, designers, artists, surveyors). They could also incorporate their findings into the school's improvement plan.
- The committee or other children could visit local leisure facilities or local schools with particularly good facilities as part of their research, to experience new ideas first hand.
- Link with geography: 5b in the key stage 1 programme of study; 1d, 5a in the key stage 2 programme of study;
unit 8 'Improving the environment' in the scheme of work.
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This unit is divided into sections. Each section contains a sequence of
activities with related objectives and outcomes. You can view this unit by
moving through the sections or print/download the whole unit.
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