Fantastic Focus Day at Glebelands School

Students enjoyed a fantastic day of activities which enriched their curriculum and prepared them for the future and the world of work.

Year 7 spent their second Focus Day participating in a debut activity entitled the Make it Real Game which placed them in a fictional world dealing with day-to-day decisions and challenging scenarios.

Following feedback from last year, we gave Year 8 students a choice of two trips. Half of them went to the Science Museum where they spent a day at one of the UK’s most illustrious museums.

As well as viewing the display and interacting in the Launchpad Area part of the museum, students watched the Legend of the Apollo 4D experience.

The other half of the year spent a day exploring the South Bank looking at how the history of London has changed its geography over the years as a result of its unique historical and geographical location.

As part of this trip, students experienced the Tate Modern and spent 90 minutes on HMS Belfast handling artefacts and looking at historical evidence.

The Year 9 day was split into two. For half of the day, students participated in a Mathematical activity named Changing Rooms applying lessons learnt during the term to create a scale-perfect house along with all the necessary accoutrements. The other part of the day was spent in RE looking at how Art is expressed through religion. This included the development of a personalised mural.

In Year 10, the students experienced the perennial favourite, Bradford Business Day, run by local charity Surrey SATRO.

In small groups, the students created a company for the morning and had to manage their finances proving that they could create a product whilst making a profit in a fictional business scenario. This is an invaluable team-building exercise for the Year 10 students as we begin to think about Prefectship next year.

With important GCSE exams approaching, we wanted to give our Year 11’s some more holistic skills to help them cope with the increasing demands of their GCSE courses.

The first session looked at stress management and dealing with deadlines which was followed by a session of yoga and another entitled ‘How to Ace your Exams’.

To prepare for the wider world, students also experienced two sessions on addiction awareness and managing their money. The day was capped off by a session on time-management including a school-wide treasure hunt gave some invaluable lessons in prioritising time with a bit of fun thrown in.

Thank you to all the staff at Glebelands who have put time into planning this successful day, and also to all the visitors who came in to share their expertise with our students. A fantastic day was had by all!

Report and picture contributed by C Smitheram, Assistant Headteacher