Pupils’ writing skills get a boost

Pupils at Drakes Primary School, in East Budleigh, have been learning writing skills with a difference - outside the classroom. The school has been firing pupils’ imaginations in a bid to boost their writing skills.

Drakes Primary School teachers have been firing up pupils’ imaginations in a bid to improve their writing skills.

The youngsters, at East Budleigh, have been taken out of the classroom in the hope real-life experiences will send their imaginations soaring and give their writing skills a boost.

Headteacher Carron Saunders said: “Writing is a critical skill for primary aged children and the more variety of experience they can enjoy at this early stage, the more genuine thoughts and feelings they can put into their writing and critically the more likely they are to want to write. “At Drake’s we are working hard at extending their experiences out of the classroom and really lighting up their imaginations.

“I believe it’s paying dividends and proving to stimulate and develop our children’s writing skills, something which should really support them well in their futures.”

The youngsters were recently visited by scuba diving instructor David Williams, who gave pupils a hands-on opportunity to explore diving equipment and learn a number of the techniques and hand signals he employs when under water.

Teacher Sarah Davie said: “It was a great chance to see and feel the equipment divers use and help the children imagine what it really must be like to swim under water.

“They have already started to use the experience to write stories involving scuba diving and the search for Atlantis.

“It’s great to see how an experience like that can enrich their work.”

Mrs Saunders said a night camping at the National Trust’s Killerton House, at Broadclyst, earlier this term had also played an important part in developing the children’s imagination.

The pupils experienced camp fire songs, owl and bat hunting, searching for mini-beasts after dark, a night walk, toasting marshmallows, camp fire cooking and a dawn walk.

“It was a great experience and something very much out of the ordinary for the young campers,” she said.