Year 7 Summer School
Endon High School Year 7 Summer School 2021
The Year 7 Summer School was a massive hit with over lots of pupils attending at the start of the summer holidays. The Summer School aimed to show the kind of activities that would usually be available in Endon high which were unfortunately cut back for their year group. The plan was to really show the creativity and excitement that would be offered at Endon. We decided that we wanted this to be based around STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths). We hosted a wide range of activities allowing the students to thrive in their environment and learn some new skills.
Our activities all had a STEAM basis as we wanted to focus on allowing students to have the freedom to create and explore. We set up many different activities throughout the two days. The sessions included;
A Driving course - the students would use a race car that was built by Ex-students and a driving course was set up on the front yard where students could learn how to handle a car and race try to beat each other’s time. This was a great activity for students to really experience something very different that they wouldn’t usually have a chance to get involved in.
Water rockets - Students built their own rockets out of recycled water bottles, they used MDF to make the wings and other parts of the rockets that they needed to really make them fly. This allowed them to put their design and engineering skills to the test as they needed to make their rockets streamline to go the furthest.
Weird Science! - We decided that we wanted to give the students the opportunity to have a go at some science experiments that aren’t usually done in the usual school curriculum. We also let students use their creativity and design their own circuits with connective wire which caused lots of excitement when the light came on.
Garden Renovation - To give the students a chance to feel a part of Endon High we planned a complete overhaul of an outdoor area, the students cleared the ground, dug over the soil and planted lots of new features and plants. It really gave the area outside of the language block new life. This not only gave the students a sense of accomplishment by the end of the two days but it will allow them to see their garden grow throughout their time at Endon High. For lots of students this was a real highlight.
Robotics- Combining engineering with creativity we wanted the students to create their own robot. They were given free rein to create whatever they wanted and then challenged to get it to roam a course successfully. Lots of fun with Lego.
Sports Activities – an external company came in to deliver sports activities each day from team based sports and assault courses.
For food we decided to give the year 7s a treat and one day we had an ice cream van come into school and the day after we ordered lots and lots of pizza from Dominoes. There was also many sweets handed out to students in a goodie bag on the last day to celebrate a good few days.
We ended the Summer School with a celebration of everything we had achieved and the best performing pupils from each group got a unique laser cut trophy. Pupils came away having seen what life at Endon High is really like and had a real sense of belonging.
