The Excellence Cluster provides schools with a number of enrichment projects that last for between one and five days.
Specialist tutors/providers work in school with groups of students, or students visit specialist centres.
Some projects include staff development/ planning days.
There are opportunities for two or more schools to work together and also for transitional projects.
The aim is to give students the opportunity to work for a sustained periods on single or multifaceted projects, to explore different possibilities, to spend time on the process of a project, on planning, thinking, debate and research, as well as a final outcome.
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Science and Maths at Ninfield Environmental Centre |
A group of students (years 4 - 6) from St. Mary Star of the Sea, St. Leonard's, Hollington, Churchwood and Robsack Wood schools participated in a science and maths day at Ninfield Environmental Centre.
The activities provided were pond-dipping, looking at the classification and characteristics of various creatures, and measuring heights of various features (for example trees and pylons) using clinometers. |
Muse |
The Hastings and St Leonard's Excellence Cluster Gifted & Talented team worked with 36 students from four schools, Elphinstone, Blacklands, Sacred Heart and Castledown during July developing a project loosely based on the game of Chinese Whispers.
From an idea suggested by Dance tutor Ian Fuller and developed by Jennifer Seaton, students from each school worked with specialist tutors over the course of four days. Half a day was spent with Ian Fuller (Dance), Richard Evans (Poetry and Creative Writing) and a day with Carolyn Jackson (Art).
The idea of the project was to provide the first group of students with something to stimulate their creativity in a particular discipline, record their responses in a suitable way, show the results to the next group of students, without telling them what the original stimulus was and see what they would come up with. In this way the creative muse was passed from one school to the next.
At the end of the week students from all four schools spent an afternoon together for 'project revealing' and exhibition, attended by teachers and parents. The students were fascinated to learn how the next group had interpreted their work and also how and from where the trail had progressed. |
Visit to the Observatory Science Centre at Herstmonceux |
Forty two year 9 students from all six Excellence Cluster secondary schools spent the day at Herstmonceux science centre during June. They enjoyed the hands on exhibits and took part in specially designed scientific team challenges.
Other activities included touring the famous telescopes and observing and participating in "Don't try this at home" style chemistry experiments. |
Konflux Drama Project |
Several pairs of schools in the Excellence Cluster have enjoyed making a 'Play in a Day' with one of the directors from the 'Konflux' Theatre-in-Education company.
Fifteen students from each school got together for the day and at the end of the afternoon were able to put on a performance for classmates, teachers and parents. They had to make the play their own.
Seen in the pictures are students from Christ Church CE and St Leonard's CE schools, rehearsing for their performance of 'Greece is The Word' |
Other Activities |
At Christ Church an innovative dance programme focused on Afro-Caribbean samba with a consideration of African gods and their characteristics, and how this related to various aspects of dance.
At Churchwood a group of boys produced some stunning images of the wildlife found around the school and have produced personalised calendars with these images.
Follow-up materials have been sent into school following the science and maths project so that students can access a challenging website classification game and make their own clinometers . |
