Facilities
Our aim is to ensure that all our classrooms are bright, well organised and engaging spaces for our children to enjoy learning in. As well as bright and inviting displays, all classrooms have interactive white boards, cosy reading areas and provide spacious environments for pupils to learn. We have brand new interactive whiteboards in every one of our teaching rooms, enabling our staff to teach in an interactive and exciting manner every day. Every classroom has an outside area to use as part of core and foundation lessons. We really embrace outdoor learning and sustainable living at Offham, therefore children use our sensory garden to grow seasonal fruits and vegetables, which we can serve in our school kitchen. This year we have developed a new woodland area for weekly woodland school sessions.
In 2017 we has a big move around at Offham and created a new, cosy library space, carefully designed to look like a real library and to encourage pupils to develop a love for reading. All classes have a library slot once a week and our children regularly use the library for research. Our wonderful Year 5s are our pupil librarians who keep track of the books and ensure the library is in perfect running order. The library really is the heart of our school and each year the PTFA give the library £500 to ensure that we always have the latest releases available to inspire new generations of book worms!
In 2015 Offham opened its very own kitchen, allowing us to cook healthy and nutritional meals on site. The children's own produce is often used in the preparation of our meals. We have a family service style dining experience, with packed lunches and school dinners eating together. At lunchtime we focus on teaching good table manners and encourage polite conversation.
Our versatile hall is always busy with lunches and lessons. Specialised P.E teachers ensure gym lessons involve the large apparatus to develop pupils’ confidence and ability. The stage is always up enabling pupils to practice their public speaking and acting skills on a regular basis. In 2016 we updated our school sound system to provide a state-of-the-art listening experience and we have a stage and lighting for school performances.
In 2019, we have revamped and redesigned our well-being room. This is a designated space for children with additional needs, including emotional and well-being needs, to use for small group learning sessions and calming activities. Our on site ELSA (emotional literacy support assistant) works with children and their families in the nurture room on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays promoting our pupils' overall well-being.
We have a perfect location in the rural countryside in Kent; surrounded by fields and woods. Our curriculum is inspired by our setting and all pupils can be regularly seen learning through the outdoor environment come rain or shine. In the past three years we have supplemented our outdoor learning facilities with an AMAZING banked play area, designed and built by EarthWrights (the company who design play areas for the national trust), this exciting and innovative outdoor play area encourages physical strength and agility, teamwork and safe risk-taking. We have a cosy outdoor learning classroom, nestled on a hill, which we have fondly named 'The Grotto'.
With our school chickens and dwarf bunny to help look after, our sensory garden is the perfect outdoor learning space to help children to feel calm and settled, encourage talk and also to teach our children about future sustainability.
We have also greatly developed our sensory garden area, adding sensory plants (lavender, lemongrass, strawberries etc), a sensory pathway, a water feature, wind chimes, a fish pond, and seating area. The plants were donated by a local garden centre, strengthening our links with the local community. This provides a really calming space for children to use for emotional regulation and interventions.
We are hugely excited to have added two school minibuses to our school resources, allowing us to get out and about in our local community for even more off site visits and sporting opportunities.
Our Forest School Base is packed full of exciting activities. Based around the central fire pit, pupils learn all about how to safely engage in the local woodland environment. This includes whittling, making their own small fires, weaving, nest-making etc. Every class has a weekly slot for Forest School, and the woodland area is also used throughout the wider curriculum as appropriate.