Students at Derby High School experienced a week of diverse sessions when traditional lessons were suspended for one week.
The sessions were designed to broaden students’ horizons and equip them with real-life skills as well as being fun and informative.
They included a full day of activities based on science, technology, engineering and maths; a team building trip to Conkers; a talk about body image and self-esteem; trips to Buxton and Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Duke of Edinburgh expeditions.
A business session was also held during which students were asked to create packaging for sweets with the best design winning a hamper from Intu sweet shop Sugacane.
Michelle Short, from Sugacane, judged the girls’ designs and presentations.
She said: “To say that they only had a morning to come up with their designs, the students did an amazing job. They were really creative and came up with some great ideas. Packaging needs to look neat and tidy whilst being eye-catching and appealing.”
Sarah Hilton, Head of ICT and Business at Derby High School, said the students thoroughly enjoyed the challenge: “Taking part in this challenge has seen the students work on their team skills and they’ve also had to be creative while using their ingenuity. It gives them a real taste of the Young Enterprise programme and hopefully they will want to take part in it in the future.”
Students were also given a taste of the school’s unique Truly Educated programme, during which Upper Sixth girls learn real-life skills including how to build a brick wall, mend a puncture, perform basic checks on a car and build and assemble flat-pack furniture.
In other sessions, girls changed a car tyre and learnt how to cook on a budget.
Denise Gould, head teacher at Derby High School, said: “Activity Week is an excellent opportunity for staff and students to work together in a different way. It provides rich experiences and opportunities to develop important skills such as team-building, communication and problem-solving as well as lots of fun.”
