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Timetable Suspended To Offer New Ways Of Learning

A two-day programme of activities aimed at getting students to think in new ways proved to be a success.

The first series of Integrated Curriculum Programme (ICU) days took place this week and every student was taken off their normal timetable to participate in the cross-curricular events.

Each year group had its own activity which was designed to get students thinking creatively across different subjects.

Year 7 took part in Super Soap days, where they had to design vacuum moulds and soaps trays through DT (pictured), develop a marketing campaign through IT and expressive arts, test the soap through science and measure gift boxes through maths.

Science Teacher Louise Oliver led the activities and she said: "Super Soap days were a terrific success. "Feedback was really positive, with many students saying how much they had loved the activities. In fact, they even asked if Super Soap could be extended over a longer period of time in future so they could spend longer working on the different activities.

"There were 16 activities and they were all designed to help students to develop their own personal learning and thinking skills."

The theme for Year 8 was the Olympics and day one saw students organised into different countries. They took part in eight activities with an Olympic theme, including language workshops, fitness testing and the history of the Olympics.

On the second day, students had to decide who from their 'country' was going to enter each event, which included cricket, football, an opening ceremony performance and producing a highlights reel.

It was followed by an awards ceremony and Portugal, who were crowned overall winners, were presented with the KSA Olympic Champions trophy.

The day also involved a visit from David Holding, a wheelchair athlete, who presented the awards.  

Year 9s took a trip to London and had the chance to visit the Natural History Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Globe Theatre or other venues.

The theme for students in Year 10 was Ethics and they spent the two days looking at families, religion, marriage and divorce.

The highlight was a mock wedding ceremony complete with a vicar, signing of the register, rings and music for the bride to walk in to.

Student Danielle Fuins said it had opened her eyes about things, saying: "I found out there is a lot more to do with relationships. What we learnt about divorce also made me realise that it's a lot more painful to go through than I had thought."

Year 11's theme was Inspire and Progression and it included a talk by 400m runner Daniel Caines, who completed in the Sydney Olympic Games.

He told the year group about the setbacks he suffered, including injuries, and encouraged them to surround themselves with positive influences.