Our school has strong links with the local community, and pupils and staff engage weekly with local businesses and initiatives that support cognition, learning and social development. 

Vocational educational opportunities are arranged by Mrs Bradley (DHT/ALNCo) to support the development of life skills of identified pupils, which include:

 

• Weekly visits to Miss Tilley’s Community Cafe: where the pupils use money to buy items, support the Miss Tilley’s staff to count and serve goods to customers, engage in turn-taking activities, prepare and perform short songs and rhymes. Miss Tilley’s community cafe experiences also supports role play opportunities, emergent literacy and numeracy development back at school. The pupils and staff love visiting the community cafe and fully support Miss Tilley's team goal to celebrate individuality, promote independence and self-esteem.

 

• Weekly visits to the Rhiwbina Hub: where pupils access the library, choose books to read and use their library cards to borrow and return these books. The books chosen by the pupils are to read for enjoyment and are also used to support project learning for that week. e.g. cookery books to choose a recipe from, gardening books to learn about the outdoors, thematic books to support class-based topic work.

 

• Regular visits to the Rhiwbina branch of the Co-op: where pupils take their prepared shopping lists and buy their goods using real money. The items purchased by the pupils are used to support their learning that week. e.g. ingredients to make cakes for a school-based cake sale, and craft items to make greetings cards for special occasions.

We feel that such experiences provide opportunities for identified pupils to realise the four purposes of the Curriculum for Wales and utilise the skills integral to the four purposes across a broad range of learning and teaching.

 

Should you have any suggestions of further community links or local initiatives that could be beneficial to promote life skills for pupils, please contact rhiwbeinaprm@cardiff.gov.uk, marked for the attention of Mrs Bradley.