St Vincent's Catholic Primary School

“Caritas Christi Urget Nos –

The love of Christ urges us to care for each other and strive for excellence in everything we do.”

LKS2 Project Entry Event: Can rocks show us how to be sustainable?

This term, Lower Key Stage Two have launched their new project “Can rocks show us how to be sustainable?” with two exciting and immersive experience days. Over the two days, the children took part in a variety of hands-on activities exploring volcanoes, earthquakes, rock formation, and the layers of the Earth. These activities really brought science to life and sparked lots of curiosity for our learning ahead.

Layers of the Earth
The children began by learning about the Earth’s four layers — the crust, mantle, outer core, and inner core — and what each one is made from. They then created their own Earth flip books to help them visualise the structure of our planet and understand what lies beneath our feet.

Volcanoes
A highlight for everyone was watching a volcanic eruption brought to life in the classroom. Using baking soda, vinegar, washing-up liquid, and food colouring, we produced a dramatic reaction that showed how magma erupts from within the Earth.

Earthquakes
Through a simple but effective demonstration using cardboard, wooden blocks, and sandpaper, pupils discovered how tectonic plates move and cause earthquakes. They investigated the different types of plate boundaries and saw the powerful impact of these natural movements.

Types of Rocks
Children had the chance to investigate how the three main types of rocks form. Using biscuits and marshmallows to build sedimentary layers, melted chocolate to represent igneous rock, and pressure to show how metamorphic rocks change, they explored these key scientific ideas in a practical, memorable way.

Virtual Reality Volcano Workshop
On the second day, the children took part in an unforgettable Virtual Reality workshop all about volcanoes. Wearing VR headsets, they experienced what it is like to stand at the edge of a volcano, explored its structure, and witnessed close-up eruptions. This unique experience brought their learning to life in an exciting way.

These immersive days gave LKS2 a brilliant introduction to their new project, sparking curiosity, excitement, and lots of big questions about our planet and how we can look after it for the future.

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Curriculum Intent

At St Vincent’s it is our INTENT is to enable ALL children to thrive through the opportunities we provide them with, in order to:

  • Live their lives by the Gospel and Vincentian values instilled in them at school.
  • Understand that everyone has the right and responsibility to live in our world constructively and ensure that we leave it in a better state than when we entered it by living and working through the principles of Catholic Social Teaching in line with the UNCRC (United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child)
  • Experience creativity across the curriculum through specialist art and dance lessons and opportunities to take part in art, music, dance and creative writing competitions.
  • Know the joy of outdoor learning, the rich biodiversity within our school grounds and locality and develop a responsibility for the environment we share as stewards.
  • Understand their place in the world, globally and locally, knowing the history of our school, Mill Hill and the Daughters of Charity and knowing where our diverse community members have their roots across the world.
  • Be ready and well-prepared for their next steps in life, having high aspirations for themselves and for others because they have experienced success and a belief in learning from mistakes.
  • Have a life-long curiosity, stimulated by the driving questions of Project Based Learning approach to the curriculum fostering inquiry and independent learning skills, which give confidence to ask big questions about the world.
  • Be literate and numerate having experienced a rich variety of texts to stimulate and excite the mind while developing skills in investigating and problem solving to enable them to excel in their future passions.
  • Be confident and happy young people that have a broad understanding and tolerance of the world and others around them with excellent communication skills honed by their experience of Restorative Justice and respect of the dignity and wishes of the individual.

Curriculum Context

St Vincent’s is a 1.5 form entry school with 285 children ranging from 4 -11. Children come predominantly from the parishes of Sacred Heart in Mill Hill and St Anthony’s in Edgware.

Children come from a diverse range of socio-economic backgrounds, speak 17 different languages and hail from 26 different ethnic groups. The curriculum we present, and promote, to the children is an endeavour to reflect these differences by providing opportunities to explore the different countries, languages and customs our children are part of through the projects they investigate. We have looked closely at the context of our school, the backgrounds of the children and how life is for a child growing up in North London today. We have used the underlying principles of our Catholic Faith and the example of our namesake St Vincent to create a set of values which lie at the heart of our curriculum.

We are aware of the changing nature of society and the pressures faced by young children as they enter the next stage of their education. The rise in Mental Health related issues has been widely documented across the media. Therefore, issues such as internet safety and the enormous impact across society of social media are at the forefront of our minds when planning our curriculum. With the current worldwide concerns relating to Covid 19, racial justice, equality and diversity, as well as gender and economic background, we feel it is our duty to prepare the children through a concerted focus on building independence, resilience and communication skills linked to our Vincentian Values.