Pannal Primary School

We have a strong tradition of excellence and participation in a wide variety of sporting activities and provide high quality specialist PE and Outdoor Education teaching across the school. 

By providing a balance between participation and excellence, we achieve a vibrant PE curriculum and a wide range of after school activities.

We provide specialist PE teaching across the school and introduce the children to more unusual activities such as archery, fencing and climbing. Our teams consistently perform at a high level in a variety of sports, often representing the school at district and county events.

We value the special contribution of art, dance, drama and music and promote these skills through a wide and varied range of opportunities.

We have a strong tradition of excellence in Arts education and value the contribution it makes to each child’s personal development. There are opportunities for every child to perform on the stage at least annually and we enrich our curriculum with a wide range of visiting musicians, artists and performers.

Music plays an important part in school life and we promote instrument tuition with over 100 children learning an instrument with specialist instrument tutors.

Both our choir and orchestra meet weekly and have performed at the Royal Hall, other local venues and music festivals. 

Environment Dimension

At Pannal School, we aim to empower children with the knowledge, skills and attitudes they need to deal positively with the changes and uncertainty of the future. By the time they leave us, we hope that they have become confident, connected, lifelong learners with a sense of responsibility for the well-being of their natural environment. We recognise that our children are growing up in a world in environmental crisis. As such, we have a responsibility to provide opportunities for our students to become engaged in real world affairs and begin to understand the complex environmental issues confronting our planet.

When planning our curriculum, we look for natural links in the National Curriculum to embed the Environment Dimension and give children memorable experiences from which they learn about their inter-relationship with the world around them, the impact they have on it and their responsibility to care for it. We plan for outdoor learning opportunities, teach them about the natural environment and promote conservation activities.

We believe that every child should have opportunities to learn outside the classroom. We have a rich and exciting outdoor environment at our school. We use our extensive school grounds, wildlife area and the adjoining woodland regularly as a means of inspiring and stimulating children in their learning. When children join our school, we seek consent for them to participate in local walks so that we can also use the area within walking distance of the school. In years 4,5 and 6, the children take part in residential visits which complement their learning in school and give them opportunities to learn more about other areas of Yorkshire.

All year groups make use of the woodland adjacent to school throughout the year for a variety of learning opportunities. This might be regular visits over the course of a term as part of a project or a single visit as a stimulus for writing, science or art. The children learn to appreciate the natural environment and enjoy these learning opportunities.

Forest School

As part of their rich primary school experience at Pannal, every child will participate in Forest School. We have an area of woodland adjacent to the school grounds and direct access to this wonderful learning environment. Currently, all of our year 5 and 6 children take part in a series of Forest School sessions each term. Through a balance of supported and self-initiated tasks, children learn to appreciate the natural world and their responsibility to care for it. They are taught to use tools safely, assess and manage risks, negotiate and cooperate with each other and value others’ strengths and opinions.  Research has shown that Forest School develops children’s confidence, self-esteem and determination to persevere with tasks: attributes which have far reaching benefits.  www.foresteducation.org

The John Muir Award

As the culmination of their environmental learning, year 6 children work to achieve the first level of the John Muir Award. This is an environmental award that encourages people of all backgrounds to connect with, enjoy and care for wild places through a structured yet adaptable scheme. The Award is not competitive but challenges each participant. Taking part develops an understanding of, and responsibility for wild places. To achieve the Award the children must discover a wild place, explore its wildness, do something to conserve it and share their experiences with others. With the guidance and support of their teachers and support staff, they follow their own interests and complete a record of their learning. This is a very worthwhile achievement in which the children take great pride.    www.jmt.org/jmaward-home

Eco-Schools Award

Through Forum Families, our whole-school approach to pupil voice, we aim to empower children to share their ideas and opinions in mixed age groups. Thinking about the environment including the impact we, as a school, have on the world has been a key theme running through these sessions. As part of achieving our Bronze Eco-School Award, children have completed an environmental review. This encouraged them to identify the positive steps that are already occurring throughout school as well as helping us to identify the actions we would like to take in the future. The next step was for the children to shape these ideas into an action plan. This has given us a clear vision, with attainable goals, for how we can make a positive impact on the school, local and global community as we work towards out Silver Eco-School Award. https://www.eco-schools.org.uk/

We recognise that our immediate environment does not offer many opportunities for experiencing other cultures and traditions and so we plan carefully to ensure that our children have an understanding of the diversity of our world.

The learning of a foreign language provides a valuable educational, social and cultural experience for pupils. It raises awareness of the multi-lingual and multi-cultural world and introduces an international dimension to pupils’ learning, giving them an insight into their own culture and that of others.  Further, the learning of a foreign language provides a medium for cross-curricular links.

French is taught to all children throughout the school.  At Pannal, we aim to develop speaking and listening skills, and lay the foundations for future study and transition. French is introduced at Key Stage 1 through songs, rhymes and games. It is taught weekly throughout Key Stage 2 in a fun and enjoyable way. Topics are interesting and relevant, and engage and stimulate learning. The children learn both the language and the culture of France and other European countries. Each year we embrace this by marking European Day of Languages with a whole school themed day.

Lessons meet the needs of the children in listening and speaking skills at Lower Key Stage 2. As the children progress to Upper Key Stage 2, they learn to read and write in French and speak with more confidence, thus preparing them for the transition to secondary school.

At Pannal, we work closely with a cluster of primary and secondary schools to share good practice, and meet the needs of transition from Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 3. We also take part annually in a ‘Celebration of Languages’ with other primary schools at Harrogate Grammar School.  We have established a 3 school link for our Year 5 children to appreciate different school environments.

We are currently setting up a link with a local primary school to enable our Year 6 children to communicate in French with other pupils. In addition, Pannal school is forming a partnership with a school in Metz in Northern France to enable all pupils to communicate with their French peers. Click on the image below to visit their website.

We consider carefully the resources we use with our children in order to ensure we are promoting positive images of other cultures and traditions and not reinforcing stereotypes.

“I enjoy learning French because it is challenging and I learn new things every lesson”