Boys swapped their usual lessons on Tuesday for an exciting day devoted to our Future Skills curriculum.
This latest Curriculum Collapse Day centred around our five values of kindness, endeavour, responsibility, integrity and curiosity, and the skills they impart. With 28 sessions throughout the day, it was filled to the brim with exciting activities!
A mystery mosaic hunt fired the boys’ curiosity and tested their problem-solving and teamwork skills. In an exciting lifeguarding session, boys learned lifesaving skills and drew upon endeavour. Thank-you cards and some seriously tasty Rocky Road traybakes allowed the boys to embrace kindness and say thank-you to chosen family, friends and staff through the gift of giving. Designing around opposites fired boys’ creativity, and collaboration was clearly on show, alongside some brilliant dance skills from both boys and teachers, in a fun Bollywood dance session. Elsewhere, boys solved complex logic problems, held debates and explored leadership and emotional intelligence in just a few of the many activity sessions on offer.
The activities also extended beyond school, with boys heading out to our nature reserve at Ickwell to learn forest skills and, just down the road, to Elcombe House Care Home. Here the boys focused on the skills of empathy and kindness, playing board games with the elderly residents, reading poetry and performing musical pieces, which were all very well received.
“I really enjoyed going to the care home. It was good to communicate with the older people in the local area. I enjoyed playing dominoes and bingo with them.”
The day also saw our boys in the Houses busy preparing for House Drama, which fittingly tied into the day by focusing on the fables of Aesop and the moral lessons they teach. Throughout the day, the boys worked hard rehearsing for the evening’s competition. While in the Quarry Theatre, boys created lighting states for each House’s play. The result was an extraordinary evening.
Following the boys’ brilliant performances of Jay and The Peacock, The Fox and The Stork, The Goose and The Golden Egg and The Mouse and The Lion, Harpur House was named the overall winner by judge Craig Stratton, Director of Dance and Drama, Bedford Girls’ School, and Oliver Gibson (Y6) from Bunyan House the most promising actor. The evening also helped to raise £127 for the school’s House charities.
The organisers behind the day, Miss Goodman and Mrs Turton, commented afterwards, “What a simply superb day! Well done to everyone who took part with such enthusiasm and commitment. It was a delight to see boys of all ages and all Houses learning, working and performing together.”
