Voyages Across Learning Borders
Who
St Margaret Clitherow RC Primary School in partnership with Emergency Exit Arts
What and how
Years 1 and 3 worked with artists from Emergency Exit Arts to explore cross-curricular work, linking geography, art, science, dance, history and the core curriculum subjects of English and maths.
The Year 1 strand of the project aimed to support students in developing more knowledge of the world around them, sharing information about their countries of origin with each other. Pupils received a letter from a character that lost their treasure and needed to find it, with their help of finding out about different parts of the world.
The Year 3 strand broadened the pupils' knowledge about Australia through a cross-curricular experience.
A sharing assembly celebrated the project and informed parents about their children’s learning and new methods of engaging them in their learning. It also provided pupils with the opportunity to have their work acknowledged by their parents and the wider school community.
Sharing experiences and learning with staff not involved in the project was important as the school intends to move towards a more cross-curricular model of learning.
Film was used to capture some of the project activity and feedback from all those participating. The film will form the basis for a teacher resource, which will support the legacy of outcomes. As part of this process, practitioners will work with and film small groups from both classes to reflect on their experience of the project, the ways which they think they learn best and how they would like to learn in school.
Why
The school wanted to explore the possibility of introducing a Creative Curriculum throughout the school. The project was used as a way of continuing with developing opportunities for creativity in the curriculum and identifying Gifted and Talented pupils with a view to providing enrichment opportunities.
Last year the school explored Assessment for Learning which was a continuing strand throughout this project, this was to ensure pupils were aware of their personal targets and develop ideas on how they could move their learning forward. Using a cross-curricular approach the school wanted to support pupils on identifying links between the different aspects of their learning, enrich their experience and develop their enthusiasm.
