Primary 7
The P7 teacher is Mr Gibson and Mrs Gregge and Miss Bready are the classroom assistants.
P7 is really a very exciting and full year as our pupils enjoy the special status of being the oldest in the school. With this comes the opportunity to take on many different roles of responsibility as we appoint pupils from P7 to act as school librarians, digital leaders and to be members of the 'Crew' (our hands-on team who help set up play resources for the younger classes and manage the general setting up in the hall). The children really enjoy these roles and take their responsibilities very seriously. We also support our younger pupils, especially P1, through ICT partners and playground buddies.
Primary 7 gets off to a busy start as some of our pupils prepare to sit the AQE and/or GL. Children are well prepared and supported by staff as they work hard to develop valuable numeracy and literacy skills needed for the test. Children who do not wish to sit the test also work hard on P7 numeracy and literacy and consolidate their skills in preparation for Year 8.
P7 Topics
During the year we cover a range of different topics which, as well as relating to our literacy and numeracy, also cover the curriculum areas of history, geography, science and The Arts. We usually cover 5/6 topics throughout the year. Below is a list of topics that we choose from:
The Victorians
The Great Famine
The Holocaust
Looking after our environment
Mini companies
Space
Wonderful Me (coping with changes)
Moving on
We usually try to fit in an educational visit relating to our topic and we have enjoyed trips to places like the Down Museum, the Ulster Museum, The Planetarium and the Crumlin Road Gaol.
During the year we also have a lot of invites to Open Days and workshops in our local high schools as we get to sample what the next stage of our educational journey will be like. Also local youth workers from The Edge come into class to work closely with P7 on social and emotional issues.
Active Learning
In P7 we really like to focus on developing our pupils as active learners especially in Term 2 and 3. We provide many opportunities for group work and project based lessons. For example as part of our Victorian topic we are working together to write a Victorian based play script. We will then research Victorian style of clothing and make our own puppets of the characters that were created. Using our technology skills we then create our puppet theatres, practise our shows and finally perform for one of the younger classes.
