Year 6 Independent Learning Challenge

Year 6 pupils will be starting their Independent Learning Challenge this week.

This challenge is an opportunity foreach pupil to undertake some research and perhaps practical tasks based on a subject/idea/topic that they are interested in.

Each pupil has to choose a topic or subject that inspires them. They then have to decide what they want to find out about or do. Each pupil is encouraged to include some research as well as a practical element. For example if you are interested in learning more about dog training, your challenge could then consist of some research into dog behaviour, your dog training lessons and then a record of how your training actually went. The most important part of the challenge is deciding what you want to do!

Our first session is all about thinking! Thinking about the currciulum, what you have to study at school and the things that you want to learn about.

Year 9 Independent Learning Days

This week some Year 9 pupils have been following their own interests and researching topics to present to an audience of staff and Year 6 pupils. They have had a period of three days to plan, research and present their findings.

They have had to fit in their research around some of their lessons and manage their own time and planning. The presentations were delivered today, Wednesday 20th using Powerpoint slides, music, drama, handouts and quizes.

One presentation was on Harry Potter and the other covered Fashion. Both groups did remarkably well and engaged their audience and entertained us with their presentation styles and materials. Both talks were interactive and made the audience think about the topic e.g. "Is size zero a good thing" or about the facts on the subject e.g Harry Potter quiz.

The students put in a great deal of effort into their projects and enjoyed the opportunity to choose the area of research for themselves. They also realised how challenging it was to organise your own time and motivate yourself to complete research when a teacher isn't constantly organising your time for you.

The pupils found the task to be valuable and good skills training for the start of their GCSE courses in September.