July 1st 2016
Activities Week presents the opportunity to introduce a completely different curriculum, and for the boys to learn in an alternative way. There have been so many wonderful events and activities taking place at school this week for Year 5 and below, all under the theme of “Mystery” - boys in Years 3, 4, and 5 were in one of three groups, either “Scooby Doo, The Famous Five or Sherlock Holmes”. One of the many highlights was the Riverwalk, which involved hiking upstream towards Wallingford, having a BBQ and then kayaking/canoeing back (or vice versa). On this journey, boys hunted for various clues to crack a code. An equally wonderful sight could be seen at various times during the week by looking down on the Moulsford river frontage: groups of boys were given the task of starting small fires using flintlock self-starting kits and at one point, I counted eight mini bonfires all with smoke rising directly upwards!
The Pre-Prep have had their own activities programme, Years 7 & 8 have been in Devon, and Year 6 had an overnight camp and then undertook a series of tasks at Moulsford, designed to build resilience. The benefits of such a week for all boys are huge. For example, it gives boys numerous opportunities to express themselves; the confidence to have a go; it encourages collaboration amongst both peers and between different year groups; and there are all sorts of links made across the curriculum. This last point is particularly important as it can be very easy for boys to view academic subjects in isolation. Education becomes particularly powerful when boys can see that subjects/topics/activities all link up and connections can be made. The Year 7 Dragon’s Den project (which takes place in the Spring term) is also a classic example of this. Boys (in pairs) design a product in Art, create a prototype in Design and Technology, build a website for their product in ICT, and then present a business plan to the Dragons (in front of their whole year group) in an attempt to win investment. Both Activities Week, and projects such as Dragon’s Den play a large part in preparing boys for life in the modern world.
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