Independent Learning

This year, all pupils throughout the school will have been involved in an Independent Learning activity.  Our IL programme seeks to enable pupils to take greater responsibility for their own learning, through in-class activities and cross-curricular projects.  Pupils this year will have studied a variety of topics ranging from 'Conservation Issues in Peterborough' to 'Surviving Away from Home' and from 'The Environment' to 'Town and Country'.

Other groups have worked on an 'Enterprise' project which involved them being placed in 'The Dragons' Den'.

Throughout these activities, pupils have been required to plan and carry out their own learning within a framework set by their teachers.  They have been assessed by the quality of their research and presentation and we have been hugely impressed by the high standard of work that has been produced over the year.

This page shows some highlights from the projects undertaken by Year 7 and Year 10.

The Year 7 project was launched in October.  The basic theme was of Conservation in and around Peterborough.  The students worked in randomly selected grups to collect and collate a range of information.  The project culuminated in a presentation evening in late November, which involved each group producing a PowerPoint presentation, an information booklet and a large wall display.  The six areas investigated were:

- How conservation conscious is Peterborough High School?

- Conservation of wetland habitats

- Building in a conservation area within Peterborough City Centre

- Conservation of osier beds and traditional industries

- Conservation at Peterborough Cathedral

- Hampton Nature reserve

Later in the year, students in Year 10 participated in a fun-filled day learning about the airline industry.  A representative of Mondarch Airlines came to the school and presented to students a typical day on an airline as an air steward.

After being taught how to reach a break-even point, the teams then set off to create their own airline business, with each person in the team being allocated their own job title and area in which to work.

It proved to be a very exciting day, which ended when teams presented their airline concepts to the 'Dragons' Den'. 

Their second independent learning day taught students about robots, their background and things you need to make them.  Working in teams again,  the girls built their own robots and had to programme them to complete a series of moves inside a maze that had been set up.

After building the robots and completing the course, the teams then had to discuss marketing and what purpose their robots were going to serve to the general public.  The ideas were presented by PowerPoint to the robot specialists who had come in to school.

Students felt that both days were great opportunities to learn about how difficult but exciting it really is in the world of business.