Practising what I preached at the Skyteach webinar conference a fortnight ago about making writing real…
A few weeks ago I took over a class of low-int 10-11 year olds who are pretty errrm…energetic and fidgety (90 minutes last a while!) On our voyage through Islands 5, the topic of school came around, and using the IH Riga computers, they each researched one of the four main secondary schools in my hometown Horsham, using YouTube, Wikipedia and the school websites. I explained about the idea of a blog post, and although ‘enthusiastic’ isn’t the right adjective, they moaned less than in previous lessons.
Two main reasons for their motivation:
1. In the UK they’d be choosing and moving schools at this age, so could relate to the topic.
2. They are nosy about my life outside the window of 3.20pm-4.50pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so they were interested in my town. I could show them pics of my own school days at Tanbridge House.
The final project was to type up their findings in pairs and then express a preference individually. Disclaimer: there a several ‘alternative facts’. Enough preamble. Their work is below…
Millais
The school we researched is only for girls. There are 1500 students. They have school clubs in football and tennis.They have good food. FUNNY FACTS:
One time the school was on fire. They have a SPA. They have uniforms, skirts and sweater. – Edgars and Marcis
The Forest School
The school we researched is The Forest School . This school is the special school . There are only boys in this school. In this school boys make their own food themselves. In this school they play sports games like football, basketball, rugby. 1100 pupils study in this school . That’s alot!!! 
In The Forest School there are some clubs too: lots of sports clubs, I.T clubs, Drama Club, Art Club. They were winners of a National Cup. It began work in 1957. In 2006, the caretaker murdered his wife and left the body in the school grounds. – Jurijs and Artems.
Christ’s Hospital
The school I researched Christ’s Hospital is a private boarding school. It is a mixed school. At Christ’s Hospital there is a swimming pool, football pitches, rugby pitches, tennis courts, cricket pitches and more. A bit of Harry Potter was filmed there. At Christ’s Hospital there is perfect food. Students like food at school. – Alisa
Tanbridge House
Tanbridge House School is a community school. It is mixed. There is a good canteen and 90% of ingredients are fresh. In Tanbridge House School there are 1420 pupils. Also there is golf, gym and fitness centres. There are P.E. clubs, electric guitar lessons, Duke of Edinburgh and homework club. Happiness rating is 98%. – Nikita and Arturs.
Where would you choose to study?
Nikita: I would prefer to go to Tanbridge House school, because it`s mixed and a community school and James went there.
Alisa: I would prefer to go to Christ’s Hospital because this is a very good school. Students say that Christ’s Hospital is a normal school and there is a good education.
Artems: I want to go to The Forest School because it’s cool.
Marcis: I would like to go to none of these schools because my school is better.
Artur: I would prefer to go to Tanbridge House School because it is a mixed school.
Edgar: I would prefer to go to the Forest School because it’s like a camping (*James – “hahahahaha”)
James Egerton 