A Big Move for a Small School

by the Diggle Junior Reporters

In June 2014 Diggle Primary School decided to make some major changes to the organisation of the school. They called it, ‘The Big Move’.

Up until ‘the big move’ year group classes were located in different parts of the school making it difficult for groups of a similar age to work together. To rectify this, the school relocated all its year groups. Classes are now organized sequentially. For example year five is now next to year six. The changes allow for the juniors to be together in one area and all the infants in another.

Jessica Ball from year 4 said: “This makes learning far more interactive between year groups. It’s added a flow to the school. The classes are now in order and learning happens naturally across the year groups.”

The following interview held on the 27^th June 2014 with Ms. Moore, deputy headteacher, explains why the the ‘big move’ was needed.

Q. Elliot (Yr. 4 Reporter): Why did you decide to make the big move?

A. Ms. Moore: Well, when Mr Fowler started in January 2014 he said there had to be some improvements made to the school to make it better. One of the ideas he had involved creating an outdoor classroom. Following discussions in school, the teachers and teaching assistants decided the only place to put an outdoor classroom was outside year six. So. In order to make it work, we decided to make ‘the big move’.

Q. Hope (Yr. 4 Reporter): When did ‘the big move’ happen and how long did it take?

A. Ms. Moore: It happened on the 16th of June and lasted until the 27th of June. It was expected to take two weeks but, in the end, only took one week and two days.

Q. Imogen (Yr. 4 Reporter): Did all the classes have to move?

A. Ms. Moore: Apart from class five all the classes had to move.

Q. Aaron (Yr. 4 Reporter): Where did you get the idea from?

A. Ms. Moore: Mr. Fowler said the outdoor area wasn’t appropriate for the Reception class so we decided to make the ‘big move’. We wanted the younger children to have a better outdoor space to learn in. We got ideas for the outdoor classroom by visiting different schools in the area. We particularly liked the music and water areas we saw, and the large tyres used to create a car track.

Q. Roman (Yr. 4 Reporter): How did you organise it?

A. Ms. Moore: Well, all the teachers went into the staff room and explored the possibilities. Having worked everything out, we then planned for the ‘big move’.

We decided that it would be best for: year six to go to year four, year four to go to Reception and Reception to go to year six. This was planned for the first week. Then we thought that in the second week that year one could go to year three, year three could go to year one and then year one could go to year two.

Q. Jess (Yr. 4 Reporter): And finally, how do you feel about the move?

A: Ms. Moore: I feel very excited and I think it’s improving the school for all the pupils.

For more information visit Diggle Primary School

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