Independent Learning
Each year, Year 7 pupils participate in an Independent Learning Programme, a three-day project to encourage the girls to think widely, work in teams, and be creative.
The theme of this year’s project was teams, which the girls embraced with typical enthusiasm. Divided into small groups, with friends from different classes, they were tasked with interpreting the theme over the course of three days. They conducted extensive research, developed ideas and produced a wide range of impressive outcomes, acquiring a range of new skills in the process.
The groups worked independently with great enthusiasm to devise, structure, organise and complete their task. At the final show on the Wednesday afternoon, the girls presented their work to parents, teachers and judges, confidently explaining and persuasively selling their ideas. There was a wide variety of wonderful things to admire: brains, Matabele ants and entire solar systems made out of papier maché; a team of forensics at a crime scene; a clan of meerkats; and a variety of 3D models, videos and posters of protestors through the ages, world war allies, atomic bomb builders, Grenfell Tower volunteers, feminists and suffragettes.
The overall standard of work was very high, and the judges had a difficult time reaching their final decision. Prizes were awarded to a number of teams who produced particularly effective work: Team 21 (Yasmin, Sadie, Filippa, Agatha and Nina) for their creative use of AV; Team 10 (Imogen, Lucia, Maddy, Sofia and Ananya) for their excellent group work; Team 14 (Leni, Elena, Sylvie, Anna and Katie) for the quality of their resources and presentation; and the overall winners, Team 23 (Elea, Millie, Angelina and Ava), for their comprehensive study of honey bees and how they work together, complete with dripping honeycombs and a hologram.
The Independent Learning Programme is spearheaded by Dr Egan, Assistant Head responsible for Research and Innovation. It is one of the many projects undertaken by pupils that encourages a spirit of enquiry and engenders curiosity – a hallmark of South Hampstead’s rich and varied curriculum. In the Junior School, for example, regular ‘open homework’ assignments instill girls with a sense of autonomy, inspiring them to take risks, to innovate, to explore new routes and broaden their horizons.