Curriculum enriching trips at Bedales Pre-prep
The Spring term may have only started a few weeks ago, but children at Bedales Pre-prep, Dunannie have already been busy taking part in a range of trips to enhance their learning.
Children in Year 3 were inspired when they visited Chichester Festival Theatre for the Children’s Concert on 18 January. At the hour-long concert, which featured musical classics such as the Rossini Overture, children were introduced to the various sections of the orchestra. They were also thrilled to participate in the concert, which was conducted by former Bedales Director of Music Jonathan Willcocks (staff, 1978-89).
The following week, Year 3 ventured out on another trip when they visited Portsmouth by train as part of their ‘Location, Location, Location’ project. After watching a film on the history of the area, comparing the use of land in the city of Portsmouth and the village of Steep and considering the environmental impact of building new homes, they visited the Spinnaker Tower, where they took in the incredible views over the Solent and challenged themselves to walk on the tower’s glass viewing platform which stands 117m above the ground.
In keeping with the Bedales ethos, children at Dunannie are encouraged to follow their own interests as part of the school’s inquiry-based learning. This open-ended approach means that, even after returning to school, children had the opportunity to explore something of their choice in response to the trip, such as transport in the city or the history of Portsmouth Dockyard.
Children in Year 2 stepped back in time when they visited the Weald & Downland Living Museum in Singleton, West Sussex, where they explored historic houses – including an Anglo-Saxon house and Victorian cottage – to determine whether homes and houses have changed over time and if the concept of ‘home is where the heart is’ was as universal in the past as it is now. With an expert on hand to answer their questions, the children discovered that all had windows and fires for warmth and to cook, but most did not have bathrooms, toilets or washing facilities.
Also exploring history were children in Year 1, who visited the Victorian classroom at Petersfield Museum on 26 January. Experiencing what school life for Victorian children – sitting in straight lines, learning the chronological order of British Kings by rote and having their hands checked for cleanliness – helped the children understand what inspired Bedales founder John Badley to establish a school like Bedales, which was created as a humane alternative to the austere regimes of late Victorian schooling.
Head of Bedales Pre-prep, Dunannie Fiona Read said: “It has already been a hugely busy term at Dunannie for school trips! Educational trips are an important part of life at Dunannie – they provide a unique opportunity to enhance the curriculum, extend and support class-based work and provide first-hand experiences that we can’t provide at school. It is wonderful to see the children extend their knowledge in this way and we look forward to taking more school trips later in the year.”
