De Havilland Primary School welcomes Baroness Barran

It’s not often a Baroness comes to Hatfield, on Tuesday 30th November De Havilland Primary School was delighted to receive a visit from the Under-Secretary of State for the School System, Baroness Barran. The Baroness toured the school with Sarah King the Headteacher and met children and staff.

Sarah King and Baroness Barran discussed the changes to De Havilland’s Building Futures curriculum. The curriculum has been rejuvenated and transformed so that it caters to De Havilland’s children’s needs. It enables the children to become confirmed in core skills like reading, writing and maths but also to explore topics that they might not experience in their everyday lives. The new topics this year explore frozen kingdoms and allow the children to meet inspirational individuals, showing the children a wider world and engaging them with it. 

The Baroness was particularly interested in the mental health of children and staff. On the tour she visited The Hanger which is a nurture provision for children to learn in a calm and safe environment and to unpick challenging behaviours to support talking about emotions and to actively support their own wellbeing. The space is part home and part classroom where the children learn and eat together as a family, for some this has helped the transition from homeschooling to school based education.

Sarah King said: “I was delighted to share with Baroness Barran the improvement journey our school has been on since joining Danes Educational Trust. In particular the development of our wonderful learning environment and teaching and learning opportunities for all our children.”

Following the tour there was time to discuss and the support De Havilland have received since joining Danes Educational Trust, a multi academy trust in October 2020. 

The Baroness said the visit was an absolute joy and she invited the children from De Havilland to visit her in Parliament and the House of Lords.