Their topic From Here To There encouraged children in the Reception year group to find out about how people travel to their destinations and why they do it.

They began their transport investigation with a ‘visit’ to school by The Naughty Bus, the main character in their favourite story by Jan Oke that gets into a sorts of mischief – driving over dinner plates and falling into ponds.

The topic started with the bus ‘visiting’ their classrooms and making a terrible mess. The event really encouraged the children to free their imaginations and engage in story-telling about what cheeky adventures the bus would get up to and they created their own endings to the story. They also produced some beautiful art work, recreating scenes from the story using mixed media.

Next stop on their voyage was their own bus trip to Ramsgate harbour where they took a closer look at a wider variety of transport from boats and buses to cars and mopeds. The children created observational drawings and used tally marks to conduct a traffic survey.

Another favourite part of the topic was when special emergency services vehicles dropped by the school. It gave them a chance to see all the different parts of the big red fire engine – and they especially loved using the engine’s hose to water the school gardens.

Class teachers Nicki Cotton and Kirby Walker said: “The children adore the story of the Naughty Bus. Their imaginative small world play as we explored the topic was wonderful to watch as they created their own new worlds for the bus to explore.”

Deputy Head of School Hannah Cheshire said: “This is a valuable topic as it covers many areas and encourages our young pupils to think more broadly about the different types of transport that they see around their communities.

“It is great to get the children learning outside the classroom and giving them real-life, hands-on experiences, which is a very effective way of enhancing their work in the classroom.”