Assemblies take place up to three times a week. A variety of themes are explored and often feature outside visitors. The school will sing together during most assemblies. In addition, each class from Year 1 upwards will perform a short assembly each academic year to which parents are invited to watch. Assemblies are also used to celebrate achievements and present certificates. 

Since the ‘take off’ of outdoor learning, there have been an increasing number of studies on the benefits of learning outside, particularly in a woodland environment. We are lucky enough to have two forest schools at Greenfield, which are incredibly popular with the children.

Nearly every day a class of children is taken into our onsite Forest School, a wooded area at the edge of our playing fields, complete with tepee, log piles and open campfire space. The area is used for ‘traditional’ Forest School sessions, but the woodland is also used as an opportunity to take the classroom outside, for lessons such as English and Mathematics. This opportunity, to take academic learning outside the four walls of a classroom, allows children to think differently about their understanding of concepts and apply them to problems presented to them in the real-world environment of the Forest School.

As an even larger area, the off-site Forest School gives children the opportunity to follow windy woodland paths and explore in the trees. Eventually the site will also have a canopied base camp, where children can shelter from the weather, light a fire and enjoy the odd marshmallow or two!

The Forest School ethos consists of six main principles. These include and explain the importance of Forest School taking place in a woodland environment where nature has been allowed to ‘run wild’, providing the children with infinite inspiration and allowing them to see the impact that they can have on the natural environment. Forest School is play based and learner centred, meaning the children are not told what they should be doing and what task they must complete, but they are given the chance to explore and create their own games. This freedom and space support their learning of skills such as creativity, independence, confidence, resilience, sharing and communication. Forest School is there to provide stimulus which promotes the development and growth of each child and their individual needs.

Examples of Forest School tasks include: mud monster faces, art patterns, natural weaving, den building, whittling, lighting fires, ‘cooking’ with natural resources (which usually turns into potion making!), searching for invertebrate and map drawing (sometimes to find the monsters that call our Forest School their home!).

Read our Forest School blog to find out more about what outdoor learning brings to the children at Greenfield. You can also view photographs of the our time in the Forest School here and here.

Specialist Teachers – Staff & Curriculum

Our curriculum staff and peripatetic teachers are all industry professionals who are still working musicians, composers, dancers or actresses but who have also trained as teachers. This gives a unique and real world relevance to our curriculum. Students are exposed to varied syllabi and have a breadth of curriculum which is exclusive to Greenfield. They also have a genuine experience as to the value of Arts as a vocation.

The children have exposure to every instrument in the Orchestra and in Jazz and Rock Music. They get to experience Music Technology first hand and look at the history of music to influence their own compositions.

Every child leaves Greenfield able to read Music and with an appreciation of Performance Arts, whether that be as an audience member, performer or musician.

Instrumental Lessons

All children are taught instruments in small groups and with specialist teachers on a weekly basis and on a range of instruments to enhance their Music curriculum. These are as follows:

Year 1 and Year 2	Recorder
Year 2	Violin
Year 2 and 3	Ukulele
Year 3 and 4	Trumpet

Did you know? 85% of our children take instrumental or drama tuition from a specialist teacher on a one to one basis. These lessons come at an additional charge, with costs available on request.

Industry Hub

We have a great deal of Performing Arts expertise in our parent body and accordingly are running networking events to put Woking on the map as an industry hub in Theatre, Film and Television. These professionals are also working as ambassadors of the Performing Arts for our children.

Festivals and Competitions

The Music and Drama department has enjoyed great success at local festivals including winning Junior School Choir and Orchestra categories many times. Many of our students are entered for group and solo performances across varying instruments and disciplines. These festivals not only reward the children for their valuable hard work but also give them the opportunity to receive valuable feedback from an industry professional.

 

Annual Arts Week

Greenfield has recently added an exciting venture to their calendar. Each year the school will take inspiration from an Artist and the Art, Drama, Dance and Music departments come together to produce a week of celebration for the arts. This includes:

• Workshops from professional artists and dancers.
• Gallery events.
• Play Performances.
• Dance performance with afternoon tea for local care homes.
• Composition workshop with working musicians and orchestras from other local schools.
• Whole School mural creation
• Trips to live Theatre.
• Art and Dance therapy day.

Opportunities to perform on stage are plentiful at Greenfield and we encourage all children, regardless of whether they are a budding musician, thespian or debate king or queen, to embrace every chance to tread the boards. In addition to the below, every child in the school also takes part in the following whole school performance events: Christmas Carol Service, Remembrance Performance, Spring Concert, Summer Celebration, Class Assemblies and Performing Arts Assembly.

Year Group	Performances
Fledglings, Owlets and Owls	Advent Performance and Summer Celebration: An opportunity for the children to get used to people watching them. These are informal celebrations of the children’s work and an opportunity for the children who are able to speak and sing in public.
Robins	Christmas Concert Performance and Summer Celebration: The children perform a structured concert with songs, words and dance. This is a formal performance opportunity with costumes but is pressure free and fun!
Reception	Nativity and Summer Show: The children tell the story of the Nativity and perform in costume and on stage. As they move through their Music and Dance curriculum, the children’s developing skills enable a Summer Performance which includes musicianship, dance and acting and tells the story of a child’s take on finding a solution to a Global Problem.
Year 1	Pantomime: Developing their skills in choral speaking, choreography and storytelling, the children take on the roles of the Chorus in a full-scale pantomime with a live Orchestra.
Year 2	Pantomime and Violin Recital: Year 2 perform the main roles in the Lower School pantomime – each child works from a script and leads the performance with singing, acting and dance, performed on stage with a live audience. The children also showcase their Violin skills in a Recital during the Summer Term.
Year 3	Film Making: The children in Year 3 explore film studies concluding in their very own Film Premiere, complete with popcorn and a red carpet. They write the scripts, film the movie and write the accompanying music before presenting the end product to their parents at this very special annual event.
Year 4	Full Scale Musical: The children are cast in their roles, learn the songs, dances and script, and present a full scale, 40 minute Musical with a live Orchestra.
Year 5	Shakespeare Festival: The children learn about the plots and themes of Shakespeare culminating in a festival combining Art, Drama and English. The children will present scenes in original text as well as modern adaptations of the stories of William Shakespeare.
Year 6	Musical Performance: Our very own West End style performance of a famous Musical. The children audition for their roles and perform a musical extravaganza with full, changing set, costumes, Orchestra and ticketed audience.

Our ‘In Residence’ Series is a new venture that invites professionals to come into school and inspire the children with stories and information about their chosen career. Part of Greenfield’s aims and ethos is preparing children for a future in the ever-changing reality of the wider world, and we hope that by inspiring them at a young age to pursue their dreams we will equip them with the ambition and skill-sets necessary to achieve their goals.           

Enterprise Days are hosted twice a year and offer the entire school the opportunity to immerse themselves in a particular theme or subject. From French Day to Recycling Awareness Day to Wellbeing Day and Careers Day, the themes are varied and designed to ignite interest in children of all ages. The days are led by a member of Greenfield staff and the teachers all work together to offer fun, interactive and challenging activities, outside of the usual timetable, to help the children broaden their understanding.

We are often joined on Enterprise Days by children from other local schools, to allow all the children the opportunity to benefit from the activities on offer and experience working with others to reach their goals.

Enterprise Days allow our pupils the freedom to draw their own conclusions on important local, national or worldwide issues and present their ideas to an audience. These activities promote the development of important skills such as public speaking, negotiation, debate, creativity and thinking outside the box.

In Years 3-6, Sports Masters are invited to attend lunchtime sessions with a member of the PE department who specialises in coaching a particular sport. We are very fortunate to have a brilliantly diverse PE department, each with their own passions and skills for netball, cricket, hockey, rugby, football and more. These teachers offer children who have shown promise in a particular sport the opportunity to benefit from some small group coaching and additional time on the sports field or court. This extra tuition offers the children specialised and focused coaching to ensure they make the best possible progress. It enables the children to get even more out of their timetabled PE lessons by ensuring they have tailored input from specialist teachers who equip them with techniques and offer individualised coaching that they can continue to work on during lessons, clubs and games.