Can one pupil change the world?
- Mr O’Reilly on Humanities at our Junior School
It is assembly season; that time of year when classes proudly present to parents, grandparents and siblings what they have learned so far this year. The class assembly offers a wonderful opportunity for pupils to showcase their Creative Curriculum topic, and there is a wide range of fascinating topics taking place this term. Year 6 pupils are studying World War II, Year 3 is taking on the subject of the Greeks, and in Year 2 the girls’ topic is ‘We are detectives’. Since the Junior School introduced its unique Creative Curriculum in 2013, we have been keen to use topics which provide elements of Development Education.
Development Education is an approach to learning about global and development issues through recognising the importance of linking people’s lives throughout the world. The approach places emphasis on much more than just learning about the world’s problems, also considering how each one of us can act to bring about change. An excellent example of this in action this term is Year 5 pupils’ ‘welly walk’ which takes place in two weeks’ time. As part of the girls’ Africa topic they are learning about food poverty, and the problem of farming in extreme climates using only basic farming tools. To broaden their learning, the girls think about what they could do to help or enact change. Examples of solutions involve charity work, an awareness raising campaign, or lobbying politicians. This term the Year 5 pupils had the idea of supporting Farm Africa by doing the welly walk, around Coe Fen, to raise sponsorship money to ultimately donate to the organisation. Another great example of pupils’ ideas for change was the letters the Year 4 girls wrote to the Brazilian Ambassador which highlighted the issue of deforestation – to which they even received a reply!
Through the Junior School’s Creative Curriculum we try to develop in the girls more than simply knowledge of global issues – but a sense of responsibility, as a global citizen, asking the fundamental question: how can I act to change the world?
Year 6
As the 11th hour fell on Wednesday 11 November, Year 6 pupils joined other members of the public at the War Memorial behind the Cambridge University Botanic Garden to pay their respects to fallen soldiers. Their attendance at this moving event was particularly apt for the girls this year, as their current class topic is on World War II. The group has been looking at Winston Churchill’s speech following Operation Dynamo, and the girls have spent time analysing how powerful his speech was for the UK at the time.
Year 5
Year 5 pupils have been busy planning their ‘welly walk’. As mentioned above, the girls hope to raise money for the charity Farm Africa, which works to ‘give hunger the boot’ through supplying African farmers with new tools, and teaching them about efficient farming practices which should increase crop yields. This is part of the Year 5 Africa topic on food poverty. It is wonderful to see the girls engaged in, and motivated to raise as much as they can for such an important cause.
Year 4
As part of the Year 4 Pompeii topic the girls have been learning about the evidence preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The group looked at photos of the many mosaics which still remain on walls and floors in Pompeii, and the girls have designed their own which they will be making using tiles.
Year 3
The Year 3 girls have been learning how to display information in word clouds. They have selected special places or buildings in London (their current topic) and have produced an information sheet that looks a little bit like the London Underground system! The girls will be extending their knowledge of London through Art, ICT and research over the next few weeks.
Year 2
Last week Year 2 pupils visited Mountfitchet Castle – a reconstructed Motte and Bailey castle. The girls spent the day as historical detectives and looked at all the evidence to find out more about what life would have been like during the Norman times. There were plenty of peasants and a Lord and Lady to look at, and the group could explore the watch towers, workshops, homes of peasants and the great hall where the Lord would have resided – deciding that living as a Lord seemed the far more comfortable option. The peasants lived with the whole family, and all their animals, and only had a bath once a month in the summer and never in winter. The girls enjoyed training as soldiers and trying on helmets and chainmail. Norman toilets consisted of a simple bench with a hole – the girls weren’t keen to try these out, but they did take a look around the prison. Mrs Owens locked the girls up briefly, but decided to let them out for good behaviour!
Year 1
Year 1 pupils have started their new topic: Christmas. The girls have been listening to Hoffmann's story of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. In Geography lessons they have been locating the different countries from which the ‘land of sweets’ entertainers hail. In History, the girls’ focus has been on the traditions of a Victorian Christmas.
Reception
Reception pupils study Humanities to gain an understanding of the world. The girls have recently been finding out about different kinds of homes, and the girls were very busy working together as a team to build an enormous home which would have lots of rooms for everyone to sleep in, using construction resources outside.
