At our Y9 Signature Work Celebration on Thursday evening we celebrated a year of Y9 digging deep into the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), learning how to Live Well in a World Worth Living in. Every student chose a topic, linked to the UNSDGs and had the opportunity to spend significant time doing thoughtful reading and note-making over the course of the year, producing:
...first a 1 minute speech (the 'elevator pitch')
...then a 2 minute speech
...then a 750 word essay with a further 750 word response to questions
...and finally a 5 minute speech with up to 5 minutes of questions (their GCSE English Speaking and Listening Assessment)
...a formal poster 'abstract' summarising their learning over the year to showcase at the Celebration event.
By the time they got to the end of the year, many of them were real experts in their topics, proving that essay and speech writing done properly is really a tool for thinking with - and something AI can never replace! The product is the inquirer themselves, not the essay.
Flo's presentation on climate change was chosen to represent the spirit of all the other Y9 presentations on the Celebration Evening, and she really wowed the audience with her confident and professional yet passionate and thought-provoking presentation. Miss Flood, Head of English, described the event as "a fantastic showcase of the students’ learning and achievements", while Mrs Yeoman, Principal, commented that "the standard of work was extremely high, and the students were highly engaging to talk to about their work. Flo was superb and many parents mentioned to me how impressed they were with the work". Signature Work Inquiries are fundamental to a Blanchelande education as students learn to engage meaningfully with the world around them as they dig deep into topics of personal interest that matter to them and to their communities in a structured and supported way.
Y9 have had a busy couple of weeks, because every student also had the wonderful opportunity to attend at least three of the seven Y10 HPQ assessed presentations to see where they might be a year from now if they choose this optional qualification, for which the Y9 Signature Work is ideal preparation. Huge congratulations to all our Y10 HPQ students on their fabulous presentations, taking us from the outer Solar System to the Formula 1 race track and on into the jury box, via the beach. They have provided a wonderful showcase of how varied HPQ topics can be, achieving excellence in both research reports and artefacts. This year our artefacts outnumbered our research reports for the first time, including a website on Celtic Mythology, a Guernsey painting in the style of a surf artist, medical information leaflets on diet for cancer patients and a fully functional camera drone! As the only school on Guernsey to offer this inquiry-based GCSE qualification, we believe passionately in the life-changing power of supporting students through a systematic and structured taught inquiry programme to become experts in topics close to their hearts.
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