Integrated Learning Week

As a World Class High Performance Learning school which focuses on thinking skills and attributes for lifelong successful learning, St Mary's offers an integrated curriculum which enables students to pursue learning in an holistic way, without the restrictions often imposed by subject boundaries. After all, life is not broken down into subject parts! 

Integrated learning develops:

• critical thinking, especially the consideration of different perspectives 
• creativity and imagination to think about things from different points of view
• creative collaboration to work in teams to design mini-projects

Overall, the aim of the integrated learning is to help our students demonstrate enhanced knowledge, skills and understanding, make connections between subject areas, and for them to know how to contribute responsibly to society, both locally and globally. 

To this end, Year 7 students have taken part in an integrated learning week, focusing on the Mary Ward characteristic of Eliminating Injustice as the theme of the week. All lessons and activities have focused on this theme. Activities have included a United Nations mock conference and a trip to Ely to learn about some of the injustices of medieval life, including the challenges faced by women like St Etheldreda, Ely's founding abbess. Students have also enjoyed singing protest songs, writing speeches inspired by Martin Luther King and using role play to consider how they can be a hero in their own lives. For many students, the highlight of the week was the full day they spent planning how they could change the world, preparing a presentation board to display their ideas and taking place in a marketplace to share and celebrate their work.