FEATURE FOCUS: VIEW FROM THE CLASSROOM
How one school is helping young learners connect with the world around them
vision is for each pupil to leave school feeling more confident, articulate, literate, numerate and better prepared to cope with life’s challenges. We also encourage children to be independent thinkers and learners who understand the importance of inclusivity and show support and respect for one another and the world around them. Therefore, a key part of our teaching and learning approach centres around developing global citizenship skills and appreciation for different cultures and approaches to life. Included in this is also engaging young pupils with wider social and environmental issues, so that they can go on to be a positive force for good in the world.
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n our ever popular View from the classroom feature this month, we’re delighted to hear from Sarah Eddie, class year 5 teacher at Cradle Hill Primary School in Seaford, who explains how the school is encouraging its pupils to develop global citizenship skills and learn to appreciate different cultures and ways of life.
Tell us about your school
Based in the coastal town of Seaford, East Sussex, Cradle Hill Community Primary School provides a nurturing teaching and learning environment where young learners are supported to fulfil their academic and personal potential. With the motto, “together we care, together we achieve”, our
Why do you think it’s important to teach children about global citizenship? A broad and inclusive education is vitally important to help children grow and mature into well-rounded young people, who understand and form their own opinions and ideas on various issues, as well as listen to and respect the views and beliefs of others. By building this global awareness in pupils from an early age, their ability to be inclusive and empathise with others naturally increases.
As well as teaching children about complex, social themes such as politics, race and diversity, global citizenship extends to environmental issues. Living by the seaside, we’re lucky to have a beautiful natural environment around us, and we try to incorporate this into our teaching and
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learning to help children understand their environmental footprint and think about green living solutions. To further align our curriculum to these aims, we have been using the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in our lessons which map out the ‘action areas’ we must address now for a brighter future.
What resources do you use to engage children with the world around them? We are very mindful of the fact that we have limited diversity in our school population, and so I was keen to find ways to help our children experience different cultures, perspectives and walks of life, within the classroom. This led me to trial Lyfta, an immersive storytelling resource, with our Year 5 pupils. The resource includes a range of inspiring real-life stories from people around the world, designed to engage children’s curiosity and help bring complex and at times intangible themes and values to life. Within the interactive platform, children get to virtually ‘visit’ countries around the world through 360° scenes and soundscapes and short documentary films and can immerse themselves in the everyday lives of the people there. In the process, the children discover different approaches to social problems, work, family life and relationships, they find out about others and also learn about themselves. I had heard about Lyfta through a Geography meeting with our local cluster of Primary and Secondary schools. Each ‘storyworld’ lesson is linked to the national curriculum and the UN’s
September 2022
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