Outside the classroom

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After School Activities offer a host of pursuits such as kayaking, knitting, dance, chess or art.

They are greatly enjoyed by the children. “The difficulty is not encouraging them to participate but getting them to go home afterwards!” – Junior School Teacher.

This wrap-around care is greatly beneficial to working families and is designed to be flexible, to meet the needs of all parents. Importantly, clubs take place in the school so there is a seamless transition of care. To see an example of what choices are on offer please click here:

Sport

We strongly believe in the importance of physical exercise to a child’s development. That’s why we offer a varied range of sporting activities which promote healthy living.

The school owns the playing fields at Rawcliffe and runs many outdoor sporting activities throughout the year.

The school also has its own tennis courts, children in Years 2-6 have weekly swimming lessons, and the School Hall is a great venue to help children develop their skills in gymnastics, dance, judo, short tennis and basketball, to name just a few.

Competitive sport is a key part of the PE programme, with a full fixture list of matches against neighbouring schools and those further afield.

All our sporting activities are ideal preparation for Senior School and are fun at the same time.

Outdoor Education

With our own specialist outdoor education and Forest School trained teacher, we are able to offer our children enhanced opportunities to explore and be creative in the world around them.  We teach a progression of outdoor skills, from whittling to fire lighting, encouraging pupils to be risk aware, not risk averse.  In addition, we use the outdoors in many curriculum areas – what better way to learn about physical geography than by experiencing it for example.

The final element to outdoor education at Bootham Junior School is our residential programme.  Children from EYFS upwards are encouraged to gain independence and practise key life skills away from home.  This could be an optional one night ‘under canvas’ in the school hall for EYFS, or a self-planned, self-led week away for Year 6. We know they are gaining skills and memories that will last a lifetime.