“Lessons go really quickly on DLDs”…

…said a Year 8 girl to her friend as she joined the lunch queue on Wednesday. This is praise indeed; a number of Year 7 students had gone home enthused about their Maths or MFL day, according to their parents at Wednesday evening’s Meet the Tutor Evening.

It was a great day. Usually there are fewer students on site because we also run curriculum visits on DLDs, but that made no difference. Students undoubtedly deepened their learning in a series of activities matched to their age and stage. As well as the “obvious” themes, students develop softer skills, too. For example, Year 8’s enterprise day focused on designing, costing and marketing a product, but there was a huge emphasis on teamwork and presentation skills as well. Another theme was challenge: would Year 7s eat a snail ? would Year 8s present well in front of their peers ? how would Year 11 do in their controlled assessment ? DLDs are also used to cover aspects of the Personal Health & Development curriculum, which was certainly the case for Year 10. In terms of cultural education, the Year 7 Languages day exposed students to various aspects of French and Spanish culture, including cooking fajitas, a French restaurant and boules. Year 9’s day was one of my personal favourites, with a powerful focus on developing countries using simulations like the paper bag sweatshop, and building your own shelter. The other half of year 7 exercised their mathematical skills of problem solving and creation of symmetrical patterns in a series of activities; it was great to see the levels of thinking and collaboration.

So, depending a little on which Year they are in, students will have had an enjoyable, challenging and thought-provoking day. If it goes quickly, and they come home talking about their day, then I think that’s a job well done. Many thanks to my colleagues for creating, organising and delivering the various activities. The next DLD will be at the end of November!

Year 8 Adventure Clothing
	A two-storey deluxe shanty?
Year 9 paper bag sweatshop	Year 7 fajitas in preparation
Year 7 collaboration
Year 11 controlled assessment….
Year 10 parenting	Year 9 scavenge for building materials