Welcome to Sowenna!

            

 

Our Class

Sowenna is a Key Stage 2 class with high expectations and is made up of an enthusiastic, inquisitive, friendly, and sociable group of pupils who all enjoy the challenge and excitement of learning! They are supported by a dedicated and knowledgeable class team consisting of their class teacher Ryan Latino along with four experienced teaching assistants. The class team liaise and work closely with our Specialist Intervention Team who complement our team of Physiotherapists, Dieticians, Occupational and Speech and Language Therapists to set both group and individual programmes as required. Sowenna class enjoys and embraces the opportunities that they have to frequently participate alongside their peers from other classes through social interactions and opportunities for collaborative learning. Sowenna class has the opportunity to work alongside Illogan School which promotes our ‘two schools, one community’ ethos, embracing new experiences and building relationships.

Our Curriculum

Our curriculum is planned around engaging and exciting topics. Each term, through topic-based activities, relevant key signs and key vocabulary are taught helping to develop and extend our repertoire of Makaton signing and vocabulary. Each session and subject taught is fully tailored to the individual needs of the pupils. Individual learning targets are set, these are personalised to meet the learner’s individual needs and support the teaching staff to help learners to reach their potential at an achievable yet challenging level. Activities are varied, as is the environment, and they are delivered and enjoyed through a multi-sensory, hands on, experiential approach, allowing pupils to experience the world around them whilst developing core numeracy, literacy, and communication and social skills. In Sowenna Class we work hard to promote greater independence with learning and to further develop confidence with communication skills, social skills and each pupil’s health and wellbeing.

Reading in Sowenna Class

Reading is at the heart of the curriculum in Sowenna class, and every opportunity to practice and apply our reading skills is exploited. We have daily phonics practice, with longer sessions each week to consolidate previous learning and to introduce new learning.  We love the structure and repetition within these sessions and are always very proud of the sounds and words that we are able to read. The majority of the class are ‘emergent’ readers, meaning that we are learning letter sounds and developing our ability to pronounce words correctly and to communicate our knowledge.  We also have some children in class that are working on their comprehension skills alongside their reading skills, and we are all encouraged to read, recognise and use signs and symbols within the environment. 

Books, stories and non-fiction texts are used to support cross curricular learning and enhance topics and themes.  In Sowenna class we all love a good book, and when we find one that really captures our imagination the teaching team will find ways to build this into our learning. Recent favourites have been The Mousehole Cat and Look who is on the farm today. These books allowed us to branch out and build cross-curricular links to other subjects including Art, DT and Science.

Learning Environment

We love the challenge of learning and the experience of learning both in our vibrant classroom, our small garden area and beyond. We all love the outdoors, rain or shine and all the benefits that are associated with fresh air, nature and the outdoor environment.  At Curnow Lower School we are very lucky that we can access a range of learning environments which support and vary our learning opportunities. These include: Wild Woods, Outdoor Learning Classroom, a gardening allotment, a sensory room, a movement room, trampolines, large outdoor equipment, large sandpit, jungle gym course, teaching kitchen, library and the school hall.  Additionally, we also participate in activities within the local community including swimming at Carn Brea Leisure Centre. Getting out and about in the local environment, socialising and making new friends are activities that we all favour, benefit from and really, really enjoy!

The pupils in Sowenna class are a joy to teach and they are a real credit to Curnow School. The close friendships that Sowenna’s pupils develop with their peers and the staff from Illogan School is a positive step in the right direction of successfully removing barriers to learning and achieving our vision of ‘Two Schools, One Community’.