It is important for students to go beyond the standard curriculum and challenge themselves with more enriching materials. The weekly Project Day therefore, provides Key Stage 3 students with an educational and engaging outlet to explore new topics or learn a new skill. The focus changes every week, allowing them to discover new interests or to stimulate curiosity.
The 1st of October marks the beginning Black History Month in the UK which was also last week’s Project Day theme, organized by the Student Parliament. The event aimed to spotlight achievements made in the black community and to celebrate different African cultures. The students had the opportunity to find out more about African cuisine, music and arts, which were unfamiliar to most of them.
In the first session, students demonstrated their independence learning as well as research skills by producing a piece of work on successful black figures and the contributions they have made to their field. It was incredible to see year 7 and 8 gaining more knowledge on complex topics like the Civil Rights movement. Touching upon political topics, year 9 students had shown maturity by producing detailed posters and videos to summarize their findings.
In session 2, the students were able to choose a cultural aspect that they would want to focus on - arts & crafts, music and cuisine. And their task was to recreate traditional clothes or products such as Binga Baskets (originated in Zimbabwe) and Djembe drums. Year 9 students took on more complicated tasks by attempting to compose a piece of blues music or cook a traditional African dish. We were absolutely amazed by the students’ enthusiasm and their out-of-the-box thinking.
