GQ: What makes a successful community?

Expedition Lead: A. Sprakes
Curriculum: STEAM/Hums
Phase/Year Group: Secondary, Year 7
Delivery Date: May 2016

Like last academic year, Year 7’s first expedition in September was All together now.

The learning targets were :

• I can discuss the theme of community by studying challenging texts
• I can visually express my ideas of a successful “community”
• I can write about community in a variety of different forms and for different purposes

Students focused on reading Seedfolks by Paul Fleishman and really delved into the changing community within the book and the different characters. In Crew students read The Giver by Louis Lowry which gave an alternative view of a community.

As part of the expedition students walked around the school’s community noting the successful and unsuccessful elements of it and then discussing the successful elements of Doncaster and what makes it this way.

Students looked at examples of successful communities and unsuccessful communities and how they had come together to make it more successful. Students then produced a written reflection on the answer to the guiding question. They also produced a watercolour painting of an aspect of what they felt makes a successful community.

The culmination of their work is an e-book that will have an edited section of their work alongside their painting.