Always Improving 

Our new garden classroom was built in 2 weeks over the Summer Holiday.  It contemporary design will house up to 16 children at a time predominently for more creative subjects in the broader curriculum.     The room will boast an extra large central table surrounds by stools,  interactive screen,   DT/Art storage,  Heating/Air conditioning and shelving to display sublime works of Art - more internal photos to be posted soon - watchi this space!

The Hall was given a long overdue upgrade to the Audio Visual equipment.  This includes a light bar with wireless IPad control, new quad speakers controlled by a new Sound board and a wireless mics.    A new projector and associated VGA to HDMI upgrade was also included in the work.   We look forward to incredible performances in the future, including the Inaugural Art Festival taking place in May 2024.

All KS2 classes were fitted with Air Conditioning.     All classrooms now have Air Conditioning.   Thanks to The Friends for contributing the £10,000 that paid for this work.

The front of the school has been further smartened up and made safer for pedestrians with asphalt resurfacing and lines show walking routes as well as  car spaces.

We are in the process of updating our trim trail, an area that children have only been able to access safely during dry weather. Whilst we intend to keep some components of the trail, others have been removed to make way for the relocation of our school cabin. Once complete, this will become a quiet space for children to enjoy making crafts and playing games during playtimes and lunchtimes. 

Now that our library has been relocated, we are redeveloping the space to provide a quiet learning environment away from the main classroom. We have just invested in a 360 degree camera called 'Owl Cam' which provides children in the space with a live stream from their classroom. 

From a steep, muddy hill with deteriorating and dated apparatus (see below), to a new and level AstroTurf surface that can be accessed and enjoyed all year round. Children now have more space - almost an extra third on what was available before - to be physically active and access a wider range of activities to make playtimes even more fun! 

We continue to invest in our EYFS learning environment to ensure that our youngest learners have the best possible start to their education. This project involved landscaping a neglected muddy bank (see below) into a new construction area with winding paths and a stone pit that can be used all year round to promote play and develop gross motor skills.

We LOVE reading at East Farleigh and have always had lots of books to choose from. However, our old library made it difficult for children to choose a book because they were either hard to reach or muddled up; the room was also quite small so only a few people could fit inside at any one time. 

The old IT space has been transformed into a new library that provides a well-organised and calm space for children to read and choose new books. We have invested in lots of new books - thanks to funds raised by our Friends committee - that are now carefully organised: non-fiction books are grouped by topic and fiction titles are categorised by Accelerated Reader level. There are also lots of baskets of picture books for our younger readers to take home and read for pleasure alongside their weekly decodable phonics book. 

The learning spaces around the school were dated, tired and disorganised. We took inspiration from our outside environment and renovated every classroom, investing in decoration, furniture and flooring. The spaces now provide children with a bright, airy and well-organised space to learn and thrive. 

The boundary fencing was an area that needed some attention - the fences were very low or lacking structure in places and this made parts of the site feel unsafe. A project to build new perimeter fencing and fobbed gate entry completed in May 2020. The children report that this helps them to feel safe at school. 

The development of our EYFS classroom was the first to undergo its transformation as part of school redevelopment plans, a project that took just over 6 months to complete . Works started in October 2019 with an army of volunteers - parents, staff and governors - who sanded, painted and cleaned in preparation for new floors and furniture to arrive. The new learning space has transformed our provision and has had an enormous impact in the engagement and enjoyment of our youngest learners. 

The plans for redesigning and developing the EYFS learning environments (inside and outside) began in November 2018. Following the approval of structural plans to build a retaining wall and lay an AstroTurf surface, volunteers helped to clear and prepare the space for works to start. The building works completed in December 2019. The next nine months were spent sourcing high-quality outdoor resources, from wooden building blocks to themed activity sheds - this is something we are constantly adding to and improving.