For the Autumn Year 9 project, we explored how to Respect, Engage, Accept, Care for, and Honour the world around us. This was linked to our school values and emphasised our R.E.A.C.H. goals. It was important for our students as they mature to begin thinking about their lives in and outside of Gesher School and how to be impactful within our community. Through this project, we aimed to teach students how to expand our window of tolerance through respecting and caring for ourselves, others, and our environment. Students explored the R.E.A.C.H. goals through scenario workshops, collaborative activities, observational drawings and self-reflection across multiple subjects including PSHE, Performing Arts, Art, Media, and P.E. As a final product and exhibition, students hosted a wellbeing day with a focus on the R.E.A.C.H. goals.

Teacher’s Reflections

“The project proved to be engaging and meaningful, aligning seamlessly with the start of the term and facilitating a smooth transition for students. However, lacking a core subject, the project struggled to capture the desired level of student engagement initially. The structure of the secondary timetable posed challenges, hindering Project-Based Learning (PBL) from becoming a central focus in the student’s learning journey. Despite these obstacles, the exhibition was a success, with students taking pleasure in showcasing their work to parents. The collaborative effort of many teachers played a crucial role in supporting the students and ensuring the success of the exhibition.”

– Tianna Maciver

Students’ Reflections

“I found the iceberg activity really interesting as the parents gave different opinions than mine and it was interesting seeing how everyone thought about each neurodivergent trait.” – Bea

“I really enjoyed my mindfulness workshop and I was really performing for everyone. I used my script and I really enjoyed playing my classmates games and having all the parents here.” – Moshe

“My highlight of the project was the Q and A. It was fun because we got to discover what the parents liked and didn’t like.” – Rafael

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This term, students embarked on a reflective journey in which they identified whether life is fair and what equalities they may face, as well as personal triggers and how to overcome them. This project linked to the school’s R.E.A.C.H goals, and emphasised the importance of Respect, Engagement, Acceptance, Care and Honour to those around us. Through this project, we aimed to teach students how to communicate their needs in a situation they may feel is unfair and learn to build resilience. Students explored Animal Farm and looked at writing narratives with a similar theme. They also considered things that are enjoyable and calming to them, to help them get to a regulated state when needed. Students were able to apply their knowledge of plot mountains as part of narrative writing in English, to make an emotional plot mountain models. Students also explored mental health and wellbeing careers to better understand people in the working world whom they can turn to for support as they progress beyond Gesher. In Art, students created self-portraits inspired by the artist Frida Kahlo. For their exhibition, students created a gallery displaying their portraits and plot mountains.

Teacher’s Reflections

“This project was a lovely one to start with in the new year. It is crucial for our students to reflect on what they find challenging in the world and how to navigate their emotions in the world. Students were able to apply their knowledge about Frida Kahlo and her life in order to make their own portraits. They demonstrated unique and creative skills in making their plot mountains as some used clay and some used LEGO. The tools they established throughout this project are something that they can stay with them throughout their lives.”

– Bethany Rentall

Students’ Reflections

“I learned about mental health and emotions.” – Ivy

“I felt really happy with my finished product and was very proud of my work.” – Jack

“The most memorable part of my project was seeing the final product.” – Yitzi

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This term in Keren, we looked at the important themes of transition and change as our students were handling the change from life as primary school students into secondary school students. Keren did an amazing job in English, planning, drafting and rewriting narratives exploring the theme of transition. They then voted on which story they enjoyed the most and using the skills they have been learning in Performing Arts, turned the story into a script. In Creative Art and Design, they designed their backdrops created puppets for each of their characters and explored characterisation and emotion in art. Our trip to Warner Brothers Studios to explore the puppetry and set design was very helpful in the creative process for our own show. As a class, Keren rehearsed their show before putting it to film to create a seamless final product!

Teacher’s Reflections

“Overall, it was a fun and meaningful exploration of the pivotal themes of transition and change and our final product was outstanding. It was lovely to see every student so engaged in the whole process from writing their stories to creating their puppets and ending with their show. It was a great way to get the students to be introspective and consider which emotions they feel whilst handling transition and change as well as strategies to manage such changes. The trip, in particular, was a highlight, watching the students take inspiration from the Harry Potter movies whilst having a great time was lovely. It would be lovely going forward to stretch the students to do a live performance instead to build their public performance skills and their confidence.”

– Aymane Hamidi

Students’ Reflections

“My favourite part of the project was doing lots of things like making big puppets, going on a school trip and writing stories.” – Chaim

“The project was fun because we all made puppets.” – Ben

“The highlight of the project was making the puppets. It was very fun because they were really hard to make, but it was nice when we finished them because I felt accomplished.” – Josh

“My favourite part was making the puppets because it was fun and it was something different than usual.” – Daisy

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This term we explored World War I and II and the impact they had on the world. Students delved into the complex history of the World Wars and investigated how these global conflicts shaped the world and influenced their own lives. They explored what it was like to be in the war, looking at society, politics, and culture, both globally and locally, and they created poems about different events using their knowledge of onomatopoeia, similes, alliteration and rhyme. They also explored history and how it impacts us today. Students were also lucky enough to have a visit from The History Man to explore how World War II happened and the path it took across the world, and also got to visit the Battle of Britain Bunker in Uxbridge.

Teacher’s Reflections

“This project was brilliant! We were lucky to be able to incorporate many of the pupil’s interests and family history into this topic. It felt really special to see the pupils engaged and pretty immersed into with this era of history, particularly for those who drew personal links to our learning. A key highlight of this project was creating our war poems. It was great to work in-depth on a piece of writing and focus on one type of writing throughout a whole half term.”

– Jodie Sampson

“I think the project went really well considering we had to change it last minute due to the current war. I think the highlight of the project was the feedback and critique session we had across the two classes, they really seemed to enjoy all the different ways of giving feedback and it created high-quality work. Another highlight was the History Man and the trip to the WW2 bunker. What I would do differently next time would be to challenge the Higher Achieving students with looking at different types of poetry and maybe create a second poem using this style.”

– Kathleen McEnallay

Students’ Reflections

“My favourite part of the project was going to the RAF Museum.” – Zak

“My highlight part was the History Man, I learnt more about planes and tanks.” – JJ

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This term Gefen and Rimon took part in a fun project based on the body. They looked at the different parts of the body and their functions and also the importance of a healthy diet and fitness regime. They incorporated interactive and sensory activities and found out information which they turned into an information body journal. This included a breakdown of the body parts and functions, how to keep healthy, personalised affirmations, as well as healthy recipes and instructions on how to do a fitness video. They used their science skills to investigate body functions and used their ICT skills to present their findings. They also created fun, healthy recipes in life skills lessons, and in PE, learnt how to keep their bodies fit!

Teacher’s Reflections

“I really enjoyed this topic and so did the students. I feel they learned a lot about things that they can carry with them for life, including food group knowledge, having a balanced diet, and all about their own body and how it works. Students loved cooking and creating recipes taken from their everyday lives, and making a food diary over the holidays really allowed them to feel a part of the project. One thing I feel the students lacked was more of a creative side as there wasn’t much art or creativity involved – I would like to make sure they get in the next project.”

– Leah Wright

“I think this project went well. It was a fun project which involved many hands on/interactive resources. The children enjoyed learning about different sports from staff members and tested them out themselves. They showed a lot of interest and asked thoughtful questions. There was a lot of information for the children to learn but I feel that some children could have been challenged by extending their learning further. It was also a project in which the children were able to apply their knowledge – thinking about what food they should eat, different food categories and why it is important to eat a balanced healthy diet.”

– Stephanie Sungtong

Students’ Reflections

“My favourite part of the project was fitness video.” – Liam

“I learned about more body organs.” – Noah

“I learned about the skeleton.” – Livi

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