Byron Primary School
MFL (Modern Foreign Languages), Learning for Life, UNICEF RRS and Lyfta - Citizenship at Byron
MFL (Modern Foreign Languages)
Our aim is that when children leave Byron at the end of Year 6 they:
- Use and apply their learning of French in a variety of contexts, laying down solid foundations for future language learning.
- Use and apply a growing bank of French vocabulary, language skills and grammatical knowledge.
- Create their own accurate and personalised responses to complex authentic French language questions.
Our MFL Curriculum
We use the Language Angels programme to inform our MFL curriculum.
Learning for Life
Our aim is that when children leave Byron at the end of Year 6 they:
- Understand and value how they fit into and contribute to the wider world.
- Navigate their world and to develop positive relationships with themselves and others.
- Have respect for and sensitivity to others and consider their own thoughts and opinions and how to communicate their personal responses.
Our Learning for Life Curriculum
We use the SCARF programme alongside the Medway Scheme of work for RSHE to inform our Learning for Life curriculum.
UNICEF RRS (Rights Respecting School)
Rights Respecting Schools award
The RRSA is based around the United Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) written by UNICEF in 1989. This document has been agreed by almost every country around the world to work to protect children. These rights are all about what children should have or be able to do.
Click here to see the full list of rights https://www.unicef.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/UNCRC_summary.pdf
As a school, we were reaccredited with the SILVER AWARD in June 2024 and are now workig towards GOLD. At Byron we model rights and respect in all our relationships and day-to-day routines as we continue our rights respecting journey with UNICEF. Here are some of the things we have been doing to spread awareness and make a change.
Fundraising events
During the school year of 2022/2023, we took part in a number of fundraising opportunities to support those in need. Some of these events included our Poppy Appeal in November that raised £978. We raised £607.50 for the Toilet twinning scheme to support countries with poor sanitation and was awarded the toilet twinning award.
Marys meals 2023
Mary’s Meals serves nutritious school meals to children living in some of the world’s poorest countries. We collected coins to create a piece of art, through this we raised £211.73 which was enough to pay for 2,180 meals.
Steering group
The steering group are filled with members from each year group who meet regularly to discuss how they will work to drive a change within our school, local community and wider world. These children are also heavily involved in ensuring that our school community are aware of their rights and work very hard to share these through posters, discussions, displays and assemblies. The steering group have their say on different events and play a huge part in protecting children from many different walks of life.
We have also recently had some staff members and parents join us in these steering group meetings to share and push ideas. It has been great to see different points of view and benefit from the expertise we have in our school community.
Lyfta
Lyfta provides students with the opportunity to experience different cultures and perspectives. It allows the children to see and connect with positive human stories from around the world. Lyfta is the vehicle that provides the opportunity for teachers to nurture the global citizens of tomorrow, supporting the children to make links between local and global issues through teaching Global Learning.
It is a digital platform where teachers and pupils can access immersive storyworlds and curriculum-based lesson and assembly plans. Lyfta is a powerful tool for enabling children to make cross-curricular links, such as Geography, PSHE, Art, RE and RRS. Children are asked specific questions to make links, such as: Can they name the continent, country, etc…? What time of the year is it? How can you tell? What are they wearing? Is the weather the same/different from here in Gillingham?
Lyfta's storyworlds are a series of immersive learning environments where students explore real life human stories. They travel to new places and experience these powerful and inspiring human stories through stunning 360° interactive environments from around the world. They are real places featuring real people, whom children can get to know and understand through powerful short documentary films and virtual reality experiences.
The sessions are interwoven with meaningful class discussions about the new experience - both the sensory details of the spaces that are explored, and the themes that are related to the short documentaries. Learning during this session allows pupils to regularly experience different cultures and perspectives. It provides the opportunity to see how resilience, problem-solving, teamwork, and many other critical skills, values and competencies happen in the real world; transferring that understanding across the entire academic and social school experience.