Welcome
The School
- Introduction
- History
- Contact
- Prospectus
- Ofsted Report
- Foundation Stage
- Our School
- Every Child Matters
- Events and Press
- Photographs
- Links
- Uniform Order
- Safeguarding Statement
People
Curriculum
PTA
The Village
School Excursions
Houses of Parliament - May 2011
Report taken from Year 6 Newspaper, published in June 2011:
ON Thursday the 26 May 2011 KS2 went to the Houses of Parliament in Westminster London. We left school at 8:00am and got there at 10:30am. First we had to check in at security and the police had Ak47s and MP42s. Once we had checked in we put our lunch boxes and coats in a basket. Then we went to the House of Commons and had a look around but we could not sit down. Then we went to the House of Lords and later we went and passed a law on banning smoking. We also saw John Prescott in the House of Commons.
History of Science Museum and Pitt Rivers Museum - Sept. 2010
Years 3 and 4 visited the Museum of the History of Science as part of this term’s Explorers theme. The workshop gave them a good understanding of explorers in Tudor times – specifically expeditions to the Spice Islands. They were able to handle and try to identify objects used in navigation and dress up as Tudor “ship’s boys”.
Exhibits
What is it?
Identifying Objects
Years 5 and 6 went to the Pitt Rivers Museum and the University Museum of Natural History. The children were able to meet intrepid Victorian explorer Mary Kingsley “in person” – ask her questions about her exploration of West Africa and see and handle some of the remarkable items she brought back with her for the museum.
Mary Kingsley
Mary Kingsley and the Crocodile
Examining Specimens
Wayland's Smithy and White Horse Hill
On Monday 17th May Key Stage 2 visited Wayland's Smithy and the Uffington White Horse. The children sketched the Neolithic long barrow and chamber tomb known as Wayland's Smithy as well as making a bird's eye view drawing of it. We then walked up The Ridgeway to Uffington Castle and then made our way down to sit just above the White Horse to do more sketching of the amazing view.
A slideshow of photographs from our day can be seen by clicking this link: http://s635.photobucket.com/albums/uu74/Cliftonschool/Waylands%20Smithy%20and%20White%20Horse%20Hill/?albumview=slideshow
Banbury Museum
On 10th November 2009 KS1 and Year 3 visited Banbury Museum.
A Victorian Girl
Victorian Toys
While at the museum children had the opportunity to dress up in Victorian clothes and play in a Victorian home corner. There was also a collection of traditional Victorian toys which the children enjoyed investigating.
Victorian Washday
Victorian Clothes
Using a Flat Iron
Oxford University Museum of Natural History
http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/
KS2 visited the Oxford University Museum of Natural History on January 29th 2009. With the Museum Education Officer, Chris Jarvis, the children learnt how fossils can give us valuable information about how dinosaurs lived. The children also thought about what materials would be suitable to make a trap to catch a dinosaur, and drew their design.
Trip to Watermill Theatre
http://www.watermill.org.uk/
On the 2nd December 2008 all the school went to the Watermill Theatre to see Duffy and Matilda’s Stupendous Space Adventure.
Watermill KS1 Display
Watermill Poster
University of Oxford Botanic Garden
http://www.botanic-garden.ox.ac.uk/Garden/gardenintro.html
On 25th November 2008 we all went to the Botanic Gardens at the University of Oxford, the oldest botanic garden in Great Britain which has been developed over 380 years.
In the Rainforest
Garden in Winter
While at the Gardens, Years 4, 5 and 6 looked at how can we look after the planet to make sure resources are available for future generations. Pupils became “Green Inspectors” and conducted their own fun audit to see how green the Garden is. This helped the children find out about sustainability and see it in action as well as leaving with ideas to take back to school and home.
Cake Ingredients
Cake ingredient?
Years R, 1, 2 and 3 looked to see if they could find all the ingredients necessary to make a Christmas cake growing in the Botanic Garden. The children found out how many ingredients needed for a Christmas cake come from plants and used all their senses as they hunted for exotic fruits and spices.
Tudor Ships at The Museum of the History of Science
http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/
On 11th November 2008 Key Stage 2 went to The Museum of the History of Science, a unique collection of historic scientific instruments in the world's oldest surviving purpose-built museum building, the Old Ashmolean on Broad Street, Oxford.
We went to discover what life was like at sea as a Tudor explorer on a ship bound for the Spice Islands. We had to smell and identify spices and were able to handle objects to help us understand how Tudor explorers navigated the perilous seas.