Facilities
Classrooms & Teaching Spaces
All classrooms within Orchard have been designed with a modern feel and benefit from large amounts of natural light creating a bright and airy environment. The various indoor areas of the school have been made even more comfortable following the introduction of air-conditioning.
We have a large school hall, where lunch, school assemblies, dance classes and indoor sports are held. The area can be adapted to accommodate the extensive staging used for school and nursery productions.
The Outdoors
From the beginning the outdoors has featured large in the life of Orchard pupils. The local Nature Reserve provided such a magical playground during our early years that we have endeavoured to create a similar experience for the children on our school site.
Working closely with English Nature we have planted over fifty locally sourced trees together with a hazel walk leading to a tree house. A reading corner is hidden under a canopy of trees, and for those looking for more rigorous pursuits we have a climbing gate, tractor tyres and activity trail. The camouflaged den and seating around the fire bowl provide opportunities for imaginative play and a meeting place for our Beaver Scouts.
The large canopied sand pit gives ample opportunity for large excavations whilst the smaller mud kitchen presents a different medium ideal for our early years. Our small orchard has trees that reflect the class names and further seedlings have been planted in the sensory tyre garden, which forms a barrier between the playground and playhouses. We are active members of the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and reshaping our allotment to increase our growing potential is our next big project.
We bring the outdoors into the classroom and we take the classroom out into our extensive natural environment that enables our pupils to experience every day the fascination that nature has to offer.
The outdoors also offers playing fields for both lunch time knock-abouts and formal games. Our refurbished playground offers both tennis and netball courts and a running track for our youngest pupils to run their morning ‘mile’.
Nature & Wildlife
Nature and the local wildlife play a large part in life at Orchard as it provides a fantastic environment for furthering a child’s education. We have a large pond teeming with wildlife providing a wonderful opportunity for hands-on learning and the school is able to take advantage of the adjacent Nature Reserve to enjoy the plethora of flora and fauna that the area has to offer.
We have large chicken coop, though the chickens are rarely at home, preferring to roam the school site and often making an impromptu classroom visit. Our budgerigars and cockatiel are very happy all year round and like the hens are cared for with the help of our pupils.
Off-Site Facilities
At Orchard we are lucky enough to benefit from our own swimming teacher and lessons are held for Year 4 at Flitwick Leisure Centre
