Hi Lucy,
As you may have gathered from my lack of further post I have not progressed those very far. The interdisciplinary project was a casualty of Covid because it was due to happen in camp week – which was cancelled. The teacher who was the driving force behind it has since left and so the who project has been dropped. I have yet to hear what is happening this year in its place.
The community project did run this year but on a very minimal scale and I have found it hard to get me teeth into it. I did give a session about carrying out primary research and putting their ideas in context but little more. In our school the community we ask students to engage with is always the rest of the school. They are not asked to reach outside. They are also only given form time (20 mins) a day to work on it and therefore the scale of their work is generally small scale. For example in the past we have had teacher appreciation boxes, poster campaigns to remind students to recycle, revision guides and campaigns to introduce meat free days into the canteen. While I can see an opportunity here I am also weary of imposing a workbook on students unnecessarily. I will give it some thought over the holidays – I am dedicating the break to FOSIl – and let you know where I get to.
Ruth