Using Engage- Explore – Extend. Apart from lovely alliteration, it captures our three-phase curriculum representing our intention.
Engage – because many of our cohort are simply not in learning. Switched off and not participating in school. It’s our first step in connection.
Explore – once engaged let’s keep the participation and learning and find out where other successes can be found.
Extend – move the participation to the community, to real life purpose or find meaningful and real next steps.
Example of project;
Engage – woodwork, hands on practical skills. Engagement is making- sawing, drilling, sanding, hammering- using tools.
Explore – Let’s look at a ‘Trefoil’ – we see this geometric shape in the buildings around us – decorative and perfect – we explore language, meaning, geometry, history, our environment. Trefoils are a feature in many of the buildings where we learn.
Extend – Make a ‘Trefoil’ with a master craftsman- in a real carpentry workshop with different tools. Take on and build in new skills. Take part in a project to create trefoils to decorate the apex of a new building!
Please let me know if you now understand the phases and the importance of this project led approach. The pride in the children in succeeding to produce is the ‘why’ of what we do.
