During Cumbria Education Trust’s “Be the best you can be week”, students are given the chance to really push, challenge and express themselves. Here at WHS, our teaching staff have also been challenged to “take a risk”, this week.
It has been exciting to see how staff are using different teaching and learning methods to teach their curriculum in a creative and different way. Languages staff have taken learning outside the classroom to play some French playground games, while others enjoyed tapas tasting sessions.
Meanwhile, in English lessons, a Year 9 class was set the task of making a ‘The Apprentice’ style pitch for a new product. Another class dramatically reenacted ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’; Year 8s made board games linked to Of Mice and Men; and a Year 9 group class tackled a Gothic-themed Escape Room.
Year 7 Geographers have been applying their knowledge on settlements to GIS software; in Science, students have been trying to solve a forensic murder mystery; and in Maths, the Accelerate group have looked at problem-solving using practical materials.
KS3 mathematicians have been taking lessons onto the astro turf to gather ‘live’ data and test hypotheses. They’ve then used this data back in the classrooms to enhance their learning.
Year 12 Philosophers have even been looking at how they could create some new Environmental and Development Education resources, whilst Year 10 Child Development have developed a range of board games aimed at children of different ages.
Mr Trewhitt, Deputy Headteacher and Teaching and Learning Lead, said: “It has been fantastic to see such a diverse range of different and exciting teaching methods being used this week. Staff were challenged to ‘take a risk’ and think differently about their delivery of the curriculum during their lessons, and it has been a pleasure to see this being done in such innovative and unique ways. The engagement from staff and from pupils has been a joy to observe and you can really feel the excitement and purposeful energy from the whole school community.”
