St Aidan’s Great Exhibition

As part of our whole school drive to improve standards we are always keen to develop in our students the ability to think and work independently.  One of the ways in which we do this is via our stretch projects that happen three times throughout the year.  The history department took ownership of the second cycle stretch project and Wednesday 3rd April 2019 was the evening when all the hard work and dedication of our students was rewarded.

We launched our St Aidan’s Great Exhibition where the students showcased their projects on change over time.  We saw football, shipbuilding and transport as some main themes, but we also had work on graffiti and war.  We established a museum type space which each of the students could take ownership of and display their work how they saw fit.  We had a wide range of work from traditional paper based projects through to multi-media presentations as well as a plethora of artifacts and historical novelties.  The independence of the students within their work was mirrored by their drive and determination to put on a worth while and engaging exhibition.  This they certainly did.  The many visitors we had through our doors on opening night was just feedback for the hard work the students had put in.  Our students engaged fully with all parents and members of the public and did the school proud.  All of the parents spoke of their pride in their young people as well as a genuine awe at the level of research and learning that had gone on outside the classroom.

 To further supplement our exhibition we teamed up with the Fans Museum from Sunderland who brought in football memorabilia and added a great deal of colour and vibrancy to our exhibition.  The students delved into the rich history of football and experienced things they could only have dreamt of – such as holding the World Cup trophy!  A great opening night and plenty to look forward to over the coming weeks.  The exhibition will remain open to view for the next two weeks and the students were keen to leave as much in position as possible to give any new visitor the full effect of the work they had done.