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18/03/24

Y6 cyclists enjoyed a fantastic start to bikeability! Team Shakespeare learnt how to stay safe by controlling speed, looking over our shoulder for approaching traffic and how to signal to other road users a desired direction of travel. pic.twitter.com/yNKr3ctiyf

18/03/24

Y6 cyclists enjoyed a fantastic start to bikeability! Team Shakespeare learnt how to stay safe by controlling speed, looking over our shoulder for approaching traffic and how to signal to other road users a desired direction of travel. pic.twitter.com/grLClqOlUT

18/03/24

Y6 cyclists enjoyed a fantastic start to bikeability! Team Shakespeare learnt how to stay safe by controlling speed, looking over our shoulder for approaching traffic and how to signal to other road users a desired direction of travel. pic.twitter.com/nX2FE6OwVl

14/03/24

In DT, Year 2 have been experiencing different ways of joining fabric. They used staples, safety pins, sewing and gluing. pic.twitter.com/DILMMrnbon

14/03/24

Year 5 having great fun at the hockey festival pic.twitter.com/DaTjFGNt7o

13/03/24

Why not read a. Exciting science book this week in celebration of science week. We started the week with the mind-blowing book ‘Atoms’ (one of our beautiful new library books) and here are some further recommendations. pic.twitter.com/IgTGrIvliG

13/03/24

Our fantastic school choir performing at the Scholars’ Education Trust annual music concert. pic.twitter.com/QyiTeMpGRd

13/03/24

Year six basketball players deciding whether to pass or not in their tactics unit. pic.twitter.com/ZxfcsTZvSO

13/03/24

One of our wonderful year six pupils delivering a session on dyslexia and neurodiversity in advance of Autism Awareness Week. Amazing confidence and engagement with her audience and I particularly loved the book recommendations section! pic.twitter.com/qrO37QBJsf

13/03/24

Happy International Women’s Day to all our lovely girls, mums, aunties, grannies…Why not read one of these books about women who have changed the world…

13/03/24

A little late - but photos from Team Dahl's World Book Day trip to . We explored their wonderous library, solved riddles and delved into the mysteries of their cataloguing system! (2)#English pic.twitter.com/UIjtQNRGQ7

13/03/24

A little late - but photos from Team Dahl's World Book Day trip to . We explored their wonderous library, solved riddles and delved into the mysteries of their cataloguing system! (1)#English pic.twitter.com/yNfHmmfjOJ

12/03/24

Ladybirds have been investigating shadows this week as part of . We also added holes using a hole punch to see how this affected our shadows. pic.twitter.com/q5i3xR8Ame

12/03/24

Year 3 Investigating the motion of pendulums as part of pic.twitter.com/M5R8YtgjNq

11/03/24

Wishing the SET Muslim community the blessings of the holy month pic.twitter.com/McyutIKdIT

11/03/24

Y5 & Y6 keen writers were treated to a day of poetry, short and creative story writing. We were inspired by Simon Lamb’s ‘A Pocket Poem,’ Kit Wright’s ‘Magic Box’ and Harris Burdick’s picture stories. A fantastic day for our children to showcase their writing talents. pic.twitter.com/ERXPJ2GIcF

08/03/24

Happy International Women’s Day to all our lovely Harpenden Academy girls, mummies, aunties, grannies…Why not read one of these fantastic books about women who have changed the world…#reading pic.twitter.com/WYZFJBkiyY

08/03/24

What a wonderful morning already celebrating World Book Day: watching Gandalf teaching a lesson and receiving a visit from Harry Potter to share his book review! pic.twitter.com/7k8gldtIb8

07/03/24

Year 4 creating movie trailers for our class text Coming to England by pic.twitter.com/G2wejV5OGX

07/03/24

Book swop in Y6 went down a treat! pic.twitter.com/0AEbjKcHul

07/03/24

Ladybirds loved using the library today to choose books and enjoy them with their friends. pic.twitter.com/6ezryjUYvL

07/03/24

Year six reader enjoying their Drop Everything and Read session! pic.twitter.com/rPdCWUTY3O

07/03/24

Ladybirds have loved coming to school as their favourite characters today. Can you guess who we are? pic.twitter.com/vP5MrIQv6U

07/03/24

Elmer Class enjoyed a book themed PE lesson this morning. They made letters out of their bodies and did a book themed relay. pic.twitter.com/NgIu7U32In

07/03/24

Potter Class have been enjoying reading books for pleasure in the library this morning. pic.twitter.com/1AQeUzXo3u

SMSC

Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development (SMSC) is about everything we do at Harpenden Academy, to help children build their own personal values, have positive relationships with others and become responsible young citizens in society. SMSC development supports children to be kind, thoughtful and caring and to be able to live and learn alongside people with different beliefs, cultures and lifestyles.

Our provision for pupils’ Spiritual, Moral, Social, Cultural and Emotional development (SMSC), builds on our values of our education.

An important part of SMSC is to support children to engage with British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and respect for different faiths and beliefs.

Spiritual Development

We want children to be reflective about their own beliefs, but also show interest and respect for the beliefs and faiths of others. We encourage children to reflect, not just on their own behaviour and the choices they make, but also on the skills needed to remain calm and focused on their learning.

Spiritual development is also about supporting children to be creative, imaginative and reflect on their learning experiences.

Opportunities for Spiritual development include:

  • Learning together to value the ideas and contributions of all children
  • Providing a varied and exciting curriculum that inspires children and makes learning enjoyable.
  • Coming together in assemblies and special events to share learning with each other and with parents and the community to reflect on our learning experiences.

Moral Development

Opportunities for Moral development include:

  • Children working together to discuss and agree on what they need to do to create a safe, friendly and inclusive environment for learning.
  • Opportunities in the curriculum for children to offer their own points of view and to be able to listen to and value those of others.
  • In every classroom and throughout the school environment, children are encouraged to make positive behaviour choices and develop strategies to manage conflicts effectively.

Social Development

We have developed our P.O.W.E.R an innovative whole school approach.  This explicitly teaches children the social and relational skills needed to learn effectively in a diverse community. (See 'The Curriculum')

Opportunities for Social development include:

  • P.O.W.E.R across the curriculum and whole school skill focuses.
  • Making a positive contribution to the community through fund raising, volunteering and engagement in community projects.
  • Supporting children to develop the skills needed for living in a democracy through activities such as elections for School Council.

Cultural Development

Our WOW weeks and creative curriculum allow the children the opportunity to learn all about different lifestyles, backgrounds and beliefs other children have.

Opportunities for Cultural development include:

  • Providing opportunities in the curriculum for children to visit places of worship and share their beliefs with others.
  • Enabling children to enjoy and appreciate a variety of artistic, musical and cultural experiences, including drama, music, singing, choir and sports.

Year 6 and our topic of ‘Rich and Poor,’ November 2019

Wonderful visit from a family member of one of our pupils, sharing experiences about the lives of children in Zimbabwe (linked to our rich and poor topic)

Rich poor

Year 6, Peace Festival, October 2019

Harpenden academy Year 6 pupils hosted a Peace Festival Assembly inspired by the Harpenden Peace festival in September. This has been 100% written, driven and directed by the children using our value of the month INDEPENDENCE

Peace assembly

Year 6, Frida Kahlo project, October 2018

Year 6 enjoyed making guacamole - a favourite Mexican dish- linking to our Frida Kahlo project. I was particularly impressed how many children initially claimed to not like avocado but tried the new dish and actually loved it! Well done for having open minds.

Photo 4 Photo 2 Photo 1 Photo 3

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