Curriculum Enrichment

In order to further enhance, engage and motivate the children in learning and broaden their experiences, we strive to expand our offer to include a diverse range of enrichment opportunities.

We are committed to the Oldham Pledge in providing and promoting opportunities for children and young people to develop key character traits supporting every child to be school ready, life ready and work ready.

Live Music Now fosters musical lives. Their world class musicians connect with people experiencing social exclusion or disadvantage, working together to create engaging, interactive, evidence-based live music sessions that meaningfully enhance health and well-being, improve communication, strengthen relationships and deliver positive effects.

Alice is a double bassist, singer and occasional ukulele twiddler from Manchester. She started playing the double bass as soon as she was tall enough to carry it around, and loves the range of musical opportunities it affords her; from symphonic orchestral and chamber music to folk, jazz, pop and beyond. Alice gigs with function and original bands across the north and in London, plays with Manchester’s Kaleidoscope Orchestra and Untold Orchestra and the London ensemble Street Orchestra. 

In 2019/20 Alice was accepted onto the prestigious Trainee Music Leader Scheme, run by Spitalfields Music in partnership with Orchestras Live, and now works on collaborative community projects alongside orchestras such as The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Manchester Camerata. Alice is also the musical director of the Bradford Friendship Choir, a joyful singing group that welcomes people seeking asylum/refugee status and their friends. 

Alice believes that live music is a human right that should be afforded and accessible to everyone, and is thrilled to be this years’ Live Music Now musician in residence at Kingfisher.

This year at Kingfisher  Alice will be joining us for the Live Music Now Residency Project. 

We have an anuual visit from ‘Living Eggs’ that all the children at Kingfisher enjoy – as they watch the eggs hatch! The children not only watch the chicks hatch from their eggs , learning about life cycles in Science, but some of the children contribute to the care and feeding of them through PSHE sessions. During the short time that the chicks are with us at Kingfisher, the children have the opportunity to see closely how adorable and fascinating animals and creatures in our world are!

Animals Take Over’ offers fun and educational animal handling workshops which are suitable for all ages and abilities. Based in Cheshire, North West England, they have a special selection of animals that children can touch and hold, whilst learning lots of fascinating facts about each and every one of them. They cover topics such as Rainforest Animals, Mini-beasts, Nocturnal Animals, Classification, Pets, Habitats, Lifecycles and many more! 

Lyndsay from Animals Take Over has a long history with Kingfisher School Special School. We have had Lyndsay and her animals to come to visit the children here in school at least once a year for the past eight years. The visits link to the Science strand ‘Animals and their Habitats’ which are taught as part of Science lessons through the topic cycle. The children can have a real hands on experience with animals they have been learning about in class. 

The children have the opportunity to meet a range of creatures from reptiles and insects, to birds and mammals. This year Lyndsay brought her friends Woody the Owl, Otto the bearded dragon, Miss Stick the stick insect, Peter the rabbit, Monty the python, Fredo the tree frog, Squeak the mouse and Sonic the hedgehog. We are very lucky to have the outdoor classroom over at Halcyon Way where the children can join their teachers and class friends to learn about all these wonderful animals. We look forward to Lyndsay and her animals to come back again. We can’t wait to meet the creatures she chooses to bring with her! 

At Kingfisher we have adapted and revised the recommended implementation of the core principles of the Oldham Pledge in order to make it relevant and accessible to the children and meaningful to their stage of development.  The principles and Pledges are incorporated into the school’s vision and values and curriculum offer in providing a rich and diverse educational and cultural experience ensuring children develop essential life skills.

Kingfisher Pledge Vision: To provide accessible and meaningful opportunities and experiences for all children to develop key character traits and essential life skills. The implementation of the Oldham Pledge together with the school’s own vision and values underpins our commitment to the promotion of SMSC and British Values.

The Partnership between Manchester United Foundation and Kingfisher Special School enables a full time Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Officer from the  Manchester United Foundation to be based onsite at Kingfisher School, offering a wide range of unique internal and external opportunities for the pupils to access and benefit from.

The Foundation aim to help open up new opportunities for Kingfisher pupils by building stronger links within the local community to provide more opportunities for pupils, offering extra-curricular activities and days such as inclusive family days over the summer, hosted at Kingfisher.

Current programmes and initiatives being run include  1K a Day – a whole school approach where classes, pupils and staff aim to start each morning by accessing the 1K a Day playground track, adding a structured daily routine to each morning while benefiting from the increased levels of physical activity. Kingfisher to 5K – a parental engagement programme exclusive to Kingfisher pupils’ parents, carers and or family friends, aimed to contribute to the mental health and wellbeing of parents/carers through increased levels of physical activity by attending weekly pre-planned and tracked walking routes, progressively increasing the distance covered to achieve our target of 5km.

Included as  part of the class timetable is a whole class P.E. session where classes take part in a structured progressive physical development programme aimed to improve their gross motor and fundamental skills while focusing on new objectives each week. In some classes this is planned, implemented and led by the MUF Officer, alongside other physical development sessions on the adapted/accessible bikes.

Targeted 1:1 interventions to help meet the needs of any identified individuals include a range of physical movements to help regulate the pupils individual needs through various proprioceptive and vestibular movements as part of their structured daily routine. Externally, unique opportunities through Manchester United are offered such as training ground visits, Old Trafford visits, player appearances, Match Day tickets and many other special events.

Yoga helps develop Mind, Body and Spirit.  Yoga is used to help promote mindfulness and encourages mid-line crossing motions stimulating motor development on both sides of the body.   It helps children to focus, concentrate and learn how different postures can stimulate or relax different parts of the body.  It improves confidence and self-esteem, flexibility and fitness.

Relaxation encourages children to expand their imagination and creativity and reduces stress and anxiety.  It calms and clears the mind, relaxing the body, promoting better sleep.