As the country basks in glorious sunshine, a Big Bang moment created something extraordinary in a rural Lincolnshire village in the opening days of the new school term…
At Caythorpe Primary School, classes begin each of their new topics with a Big Bang, an event to spark curiosity of a topic in the children, offering a hook and a memorable experience to base their learning on.
Unable to currently visit the coast, Enchanted Forest and Neverland classes had a Beach Day to kick-start their topic of “Do you want to live beside the seaside!?” They created imaginary seaside resorts named Lincolnshire Lagoon, Caythorpe Sea and Neverland Island where children never grow up.
Teaching staff also set up zones for pupils to visit, including paddling pools, beach games and sand pits.
Helen Hunt, Headteacher, explained: “At Caythorpe we believe these real-life experiences makes learning more memorable for the children. They have a shared experience which they can then build upon as their topic progresses.
In the past, we’ve had problem-solving pyramid building, Diwali workshops, visits to local museums, Sophie the Dinosaur and have even survived invasion by a Viking! As we are currently not able to go to the beach… the teachers organised a beach to come to Caythorpe!”
