James D Allen, Deputy Headmaster of Riverston School, on a week of learning and fun designed to change understanding and attitudes
In every school, the curriculum and the school’s over-arching aims and goals that underpin its ethos continue on a daily, weekly and termly basis. Sport, extra-curricular activities and curriculum options reinforce a school’s attitudes towards education, its pupils and what is important in preparing children for life beyond school. It is predictable, routined and comfortable, exactly as it should be to enable pupils to succeed within a structured and familiar environment.
This predictable pattern is punctuated by equally predictable events which break that routine, bring pupils off-timetable, further enabling the school to deliver what is considered to be important beyond the curriculum. A service of remembrance to commemorate the Centenary of WWI, a day spent dressed as your favourite book character for World Book Day, or a cake sale to raise money for Red Nose Day are all examples of how the school’s daily routine is interspersed – and enhanced – by foreseeable activities. Unpredictable events (often less positive and uplifting) present a necessary opportunity to teach, learn, explain, consider and discuss.
January’s events that followed the terrorist attacks in Paris, subsequent unity marches across France and the ensuing Charlie Hebdo publication, whilst shocking and disturbing, provided the very real chance for pupils to understand the impact of actions around the globe. Discussions for older students centred on the meaning of freedom of speech and expression; should the resulting impact of that freedom have any bearing on the action? During that week of ‘living history’ it is critical that, as a school, no view or opinion is expressed by staff, but rather all sides of a debate are presented to allow pupils to consider their own views. These questions are considered and pupils supported in their understanding of such events within the context of a structured and familiar routine.
Recently, the country has celebrated British Science Week – a chance to celebrate anything and everything scientific – to wow, to engage, to impress and to enable enquiry. With the end of term approaching, immediately followed by the WWF’s worldwide Earth Hour, an opportunity appeared to present itself to engage the whole of Riverston School in a final week of learning and fun that would be remembered and, it is hoped, would in some small part, change understanding and attitudes. And so, it was agreed…British Science Week and Earth Hour would combine in a tumultuous timetable of activities that would conclude the spring term in the most dramatic and erudite fashion, culminating in the school’s very own Earth Hour shut-down.
Our team of scintillating scientific specialists astounded and wowed us on a daily basis with lesser-known facts, feats of the impossible and experiments to help us to question and to comprehend. Science assemblies opened the week and, following a trip to Homebase for the essentials, our younger pupils began the process of creating their own mini bio-domes, as Year 7 and 8 students Skyped with a group of students from Urbnisi School in Georgia.
The middle of the week brought the opportunity for mufty as pupils across the school arrived in their own clothes, not only bringing a pound for the privilege. The day was to present so much more than simply fund raising. The previous two weeks had seen the school’s foyer turned into an extract from The X-Factor as break times became an ever-present chance to practise those critical moves that would create the final piece on Wednesday afternoon. Bedecked in specially-designed t-shirts and led by one teacher’s unstoppable enthusiasm, the whole school from year 6 to year 13 walked from Lee to Blackheath to perform an imaginative and energetic flashmob dance to attract the attention of the local community.
Pedestrians stopped in awe of the spectacle, bus travellers were seen waving in support of this worthy cause, and local walkers joined in with this most unique of impromptu gatherings. Of course it might be considered that to include a group of teenaged boys, dress them in attention-grabbing t-shirts, put them in public and ask them to dance, something of a tall order at best, and a risk at worst! However, the school rose to the occasion as upwards of sixty students and staff danced their global socks off, with the rest of the school in hand-clapping support. It was a spectacle, it was an achievement and it raised the profile of this global occasion for students and staff, their families, and the local community and beyond.
As this most global of weeks forged ahead, the school was fortunate to have representatives from the Lush Company to talk to and work with the students on creating sustainable bags from scarves. Practical, hands-on activities to enhance their learning and understanding of what British Science Week and Earth Hour are all about. As Friday arrived, the students enjoyed the Science Olympiad, a triad of challenging experiments to design floating vessels, three-dimensional spaghetti structures and the largest bubble. With hands-on learning at the heart of the entire week, this couple of hours was no different. Whilst some hands were getting wet with water, sticky with marshmallow and creative with tinfoil, others were similarly resourceful with a sewing machine in support of the official launch of the Riverston bag for life. Bags-for-Life is a whole school upcycling initiative which aims to inspire students and the wider community to think creatively about waste. All bags are made from materials destined to end up in a land fill – donated fabric remnants, trimmings and surplus garments. Each bag is unique and made individually by hand bearing our own ‘Handmade@Riverston’ label. All proceeds from the bags will contribute to tree-planting next term, reducing our environmental impact and further raising the profile of this cause.
And finally…twenty-four hours ahead of Saturday’s global Earth Hour, this unique of weeks climaxed with the school’s very own electrical shutdown. Lights, computers, monitors, projectors and screens, telephones, cookers and sewing machines, were switched off between two and three o’clock. In Food Technology, pupils in year 9 cooked miniature pancakes using recycled tin cans, a candle and a lot of patience! Those in year 6 created catwalk dresses and accessories from bin liners and clothing cast-offs. After five days of high-energy activity, learning and unique events, British Science Week at Riverston School finished in the calmest of ways with an hour without power.
Bags for life and a Skype link with a Georgian school…exploding corks, mini bio-domes and a flashmob dance in Blackheath, assemblies, experiments and a conclusion to the week switching off from everything that has become familiar and accustomed. Not a bad way to immerse us all in learning, launching us into the Easter holidays full of scientific enquiry and engagement with the world around us.
For more information about Riverston School, click here.