Flexible Days 2012
This year, the St. Edmund Arrowsmith Flexi Days suspended the pupils' normal timetable and focused on activities revolving around science, technology, engineering and maths. This STEM initiative is part-funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families to inspire young people to take a greater interest in these subjects and improve their employability and "support the UK's future competitiveness". There were several 'doorways' to cover these broad subjects, ranging from Sustainability to Evolution, to Space, to Medical Science and Nanotechnology.
Pupils elected which doorway they wanted to participate in, but to ensure equal year distribution, only 30 pupils from Y7-Y10 could join one doorway. Staff, under the guidance of one or two group leaders, organised and supervised various activities. These ranged from operating robotic hands to planting a sensory garden, to visiting Chester Zoo to creating a space station, to testing reflexes with a batak reaction wall, to devising a radio podcast, and to designing a new community building. Even solving a crime on the school site!
Most importantly, these Flexi Days provided pupils with the opportunity to mingle and work with other year groups. They were also given an insight into how science, technology, engineering and maths can be transferred from knowledge in a classroom to something solid and practical in the outside world. It taught pupils to appreciate the advancements that have made our lives easier and healthier and more exciting. With the demands of the National Curriculum being what they are, Flexi Days such as these teach the lessons that are so often forgotten but so necessary when young people need to prove their understanding and independence.
Flexible Days 2011
In honour of the school's impending Golden Jubilee, the St. Edmund Arrowsmith Flexible Days suspended the pupils' normal timetable and focused on activities that celebrate the cultural, physical and technological changes that have occurred over the past fifty years. As one of many events to commemorate the school's birthday, the Flexible Days were designed to acknowledge the contribution that St. Edmund Arrowsmith has made in shaping young minds of past generations.
This year, the 'doorways' were separated into school subjects with activities or scenarios related to each subject. Pupils elected which doorway they wanted to participate in, but to ensure equal year distribution, only 30 pupils from Y7-10 could join one doorway. Staff organised and supervised the various activities, but in many cases encouraged independent learning and creativity. Some pupils were challenged to raise money for charities; others looked at our changed society from an alien's perspective; others still resurrected The Beatles!
However, as ever and most importantly, these Flexible Days provided pupils with the opportunity to mingle and work with other year groups. They were also given an insight into how values and tastes have changed, becoming points of contention between generations - usually due simply to a lack of mutual understanding. It taught pupils to appreciate the advancements that have made our lives easier and healthier and more exciting. With the demands of the National Curriculum being what they are, Flexible Days such as these teach the lessons that are so often forgotten but so necessary when young people need to prove their understanding and independence.
