Audio Guide
A: Assembly Hall
Welcome to Leighton Middle School. This virtual tour will take you around our beautiful site and give you an insight into some of the exceptional educational provision provided.
We begin our tour at the Assembly Hall. It was built in the late 17th century as a banqueting hall. The space beneath it was used as a stable block, and evidence of that can be seen by the low windows on the exterior wall. We hold our Christmas concerts and drama performances here as well as assemblies
The boards at the back of the Hall show past pupils who have been nominated for a variety of awards when they left in year 8. Pupils are nominated by staff and the awards include those who have achieved highly, have shown perseverance, been a good friend or made excellent personal progress.
When you are ready, head into the corridor towards the classrooms where you can find out more about our maths provision.
B: West Wing
This is the West Wing. The classrooms in the West Wing are used for a variety of lessons. All of our classrooms have interactive boards and visualisers to support learning.
As you go through the double doors ahead and up the stairs, you will see the Library. This is a lovely quiet place to visit, and our library contains over 8000 fiction and non-fiction books.
The Library is open at break and lunchtime, and children can borrow books from here as well. Pupils also have a lesson every week in the Library, where they use Accelerated Reader to support their learning journey.
Some pupils are specially trained as library assistants to help other pupils.
From here, climb the stairs to find out more in Rooms 18 and 21 before heading all the way back down the stairs.
C: DT
This is our Design Technology Room. In DT, pupils complete activities such as woodwork, textiles manufacturing, and computer-aided design.
As in other places within the school, students benefit from learning with highly skilled teachers in an atmosphere that fits the learning taking place.
Here, we even have another computer room specifically for design and research.
Pupils are able to use a wide range of different tools including a laser cutter and 3D printer.
After you have explored the DT Room, please go up the steps towards our Year 5 Block.
D: The Y5 Block
Coming up the steps from the DT Room, you will find yourself next to the newest addition to our school: The Anne Thompson Building, better known in school as the Year 5 Block, acts as a hub for our new year 5 students.
Here, staff work hard to develop the positive relationships with new children that will form the basis of their time at Leighton Middle School, and the mutual respect that builds a genuine love of learning.
Year 5 pupils have their form classroom here and some of their other lessons and clubs.
Pupils have access to a locker outside their classroom. This is something that Year 5’s really look forward to having.
You can find out more about what happens upstairs, where you will find some more classrooms open.
E: The Memorial Lawn and Dining Hall
The next part of our tour takes you on a short walk around some more scenic parts of the school. You will pass between two buildings we call the Stables and the Pump House. The stables are used for small group and one-to-one pastoral support.
Ahead of you will be the Dining Hall, and beyond that you will find play areas for the different year groups. Follow the arrows to the front of the Dining Hall, where you will find the Memorial Lawn. This houses the memorial to Old Cedarians; this is a tribute to the men who attended Cedars School but who lost their lives in the First and Second World Wars.
The Dining Hall itself has been renovated and extended in recent years. Pupils enter the dining hall on a rota system so the hall never feels too busy. We serve a range of hot food and sandwiches. The Dining Hall is also open at break time so pupils can get snacks such as pizza bagels and bacon rolls.
We use an outside provider to run the after school club which is based in the dining hall, this is operated by Kidz Zone.
After you are finished in the Dining Hall, please continue on towards the courts and the Art Room.
F: The Ninja Trail and Courts
As you head towards the field you will see the ninja trail on the right, which is certainly the most exciting recent addition to the school.
The art room is to your left, and ahead you will see the courts. Each court is assigned to a different year group at break and lunch time. The Year 8 pupils have access to the Memorial Lawn and the Snack Shack. This is a special privilege for year eights and they are able to eat their lunch there if they wish.
Before heading back past the front of the dining hall, please take a moment to look at our large field, which is a play area in summer and often plays host to various sporting competitions of all kinds throughout the year.
In the distance, you will be able to see Pulford Lower School and All Saints Church.
G: PE Department
Heading back from the Dining Hall, you will pass some of our recently-installed scooter racks before coming to a high arch on the right. Beyond the arch, you will find an entrance to our PE Department and our school Gymnasium.
We have held a Sports Mark Award since 1998 and the Silver Kite Mark. Part of the Sports Mark Award is due to the number of specialist PE staff involved and the number of children that take part in a range of extra-curricular activities throughout the school year.
The PE Department has regular sporting success at local, regional, and national level in a variety of sports, and their range of clubs on offer aim to develop skills in a number of sports. These include: football, rugby, netball, hockey, gymnastics, dance, basketball and dodgeball.
As part of our caring ethos, we encourage students to take on leadership roles; in PE that can include becoming Sports Leaders and helping to coach others. Please go into the Gym to find out more.
H: Food Technology
Having passed through PE, turn right. The next building on your right is our Food Fabric Technology building.
As a part of our Design Technology Department, pupils study a range of different practical and theory skills. They make curries, Christmas cakes, and healthy soups to name a few.
The staff teach them how to develop a healthy lifestyle and make healthy choices with food. Please go in to find out more.
I: The Old House (exterior)
As you continue to walk around the path, you will find yourself outside the Old House. This structure was built in the late 19th century and was the childhood home of Mary Norton who used it as the setting for her children’s book series The Borrowers. You may have noticed the blue plaque on the front in reference to this.
The Old House is where we study Computing and where Reception and the Head Teacher's Office are.
Enter the Old House to find Room 3 and say “Bonjour” to our French teachers. This room is used as a specialist French teaching room. We are very lucky at Leighton Middle School to have staff who teach based on their own subject specialism.
After exploring French, please go up the stairs towards our Computing Suite.
J: Computer Studies and PSHCE
On the middle floor of the Old House you will find our computing teaching room. All pupils have a specialist computing lesson each week. We have other computers around the school - laptops in the West Wing, networked PCs in the Library and 30 Kindles in every year 5 and 6 classroom. We also have 2 class sets of iPads that pupils can used in lessons.
There is a computer club every week and digital leaders who help and support the younger year groups, supporting in class and during lunchtimes.
We have a comprehensive school website, and Facebook and Twitter accounts where information is regularly shared.
K: Music
From the ground floor of the Old House, exit and move to the right ahead of you leading towards the Music Room. The Music and Practice Room have excellent facilities for practical activities.
We have Apple Mac computers where pupils use GarageBand to create music tracks or to compose film soundtracks and even their own remixes of classical pieces.
Pupils take part in a variety of concerts, Easter and Christmas services and shows. Most recently, in the summer we put on a special performance of Beauty and the Beast.
There are many opportunities for pupils to share their unique talents in performance. Step into the Music Room to find out more.
L: Science
Up a couple of stairs from the Music Room you will find one of our two science labs, used by all classes around the school.
The specialist Science teachers at the school enable the children to perform exciting experiments that teach them about the wonders of science.
The Science team also provide opportunities for practical and engaging science clubs available for all year groups that focus on career links such as first aid and dissections, or engineering sessions with Dyson. Find out more in Lab 10.
M: The Grounds and The Base
As you leave the Science Lab, walk around to the right towards the tall stone building with columns outside it.
Some of our trees are very rare whilst others are some of the most important species in Britain, and we have planted more trees for future generations. A keen set of gardeners in the school are also maintaining a tranquil garden full of wild flowers and vegetables.
If you are lucky you will see some of our friendly squirrels around. We don't use wrappers when we have a snack here in school so that the squirrels can't take them from the bins and scatter them around the site. If you are really lucky you may even have spotted deer, rabbits or pheasant on the field.
The structure you are heading towards is known as the Base. It was originally a garden temple to the goddess Diana and is a grade 2 listed building.
It is used throughout the school day for pastoral support.
The Base is open and supervised every break and lunch time for people who want somewhere quieter to go, to play games, or just have space to read. Here, the nurturing culture of our school is on display as much as anywhere.
This marks the end of our tour. Please head past the Base and down the steps until you are standing outside the Year 5 Block. Then turn right and follow the path towards the exit. I would like to thank you on behalf of the staff and the governors for visiting our school. I hope that you have enjoyed your tour, and that you come back soon.
