Goetre Infants' School
Gurnos, Merthyr Tydfil
‘The stables for the horses are bigger than my street.’ At this school, in an economically disadvantaged area, outstanding use is made of historic local buildings to deliver cross curricular activities. Of the 150 pupils, 50% have special educational needs. Children are taken out as often as possible to provide them with a range of experiences. History visits to Morlais and Caerphilly Castles led to investigating the strength of structures and the forces used to lift drawbridges and raise water from wells for Science. Pulleys for raising the drawbridge also feature in Design Technology.
The industrial past of the area is a valuable resource and Rhonda Heritage Park was the stimulus for replicating coal mining conditions in the school’s role play area. A video was made contrasting the lives of different social classes after visits to Joseph Parry’s cottage and Cyfarthfa Castle. A project based on shops and shopping in Victorian Merthyr followed a visit to Gwalia Stores and Rhyd-y-car Cottages at the Museum of Welsh Life. The school itself is on the site of a farm; this has been explored to provide material for Literacy, Maths, Art, Technology and ICT. It would be hard to find a better model for the use of the local built environment in an infants’ school. DH
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