Dame Alice Owens School and Sandringham
School
On to the Learning Bus we go!
(Sandringham Student Leadership Team - ready to get on the Learning Bus to spend a whole day at Dame Alice Owens School)
Eight students from the Student Leadership Team (SLT) from Sandringham School had been offered another remarkable experience and that was to go and visit another Secondary School for the whole day. The SLT had decided to carry out a student exchange with Dame Alice Owens School, another outstanding school, from Potters Bar. This aim of the trip was to see how other schools work and how this can then influence us and our school, to make it an even better experience for the students.
We arrived in time to meet our exchange student (buddy) from Dame Alice Owens and we joined them straight away for their tutor time. We had been communicating with our buddy on line in the week prior to attending so we all knew what lessons we would be going to that day. I am in Year 8 so was partnered with another Year 8 student and we went to an assembly where a Tutor Group were performing to the whole year group on the topic of addiction. It was good to see responsibility like this being given to the students. We then followed our buddy to their normal lessons in order to experience the classes the other school had to offer. This was really interesting and we were also made to feel very welcome by their teachers and students. We went to lessons ranging from English and maths right through to economics and textiles. As a music specialist school, their Music department was particularly amazing! We joined up again with the other Sandringham students at lunch and our buddies then took us on a full tour around the school grounds. The School is huge and it even has its own lake (which we would love to have at Sandringham). At the end of this day, we briefly discussed what our initial thoughts were from the experience in classes and then we got ourselves ready for the return trip.
One week later, the eight students from Dame Alice Owens came back to Sandringham and spent a day with us in our lessons. We took them to all of our lessons and we also stayed together at lunch and break time. At the end of this day, we then all met up together to discuss what went well and even better if. This was led by our Student Leadership Team and everyone contributed well. During this meeting, we discussed how we found the overall experience and what we do differently next time. From this whole experience, both schools have taken away a number of things, such as, that we really enjoyed the experience and that we would like to continue running learning buses to other schools, although we would take different students next time. We also have taken away a few suggestions which we would like to run past our own students before we go back to the Senior Leadership Team with some proposals!
(Students from Sandringham School and Dame Alice Owens School - accompanied by Mr Cotton from Owens School)
Overall, this was definitely a worthwhile experience and whilst we were all a bit nervous to start with, many of us have had a really enjoyable time, we have learned a lot and we have also made new friends who we plan to keep in contact with too. This way, we can continue sharing ideas.
By
K. Knight (8E)
Student Leadership Team (Teaching and Learning)
If you would like any further details about the Student Learning Exchange, please contact the teachers involved - Ceddy de la Croix, Deputy Headteacher, at Sandringham School (ceddy.delacroix@sandringham.herts.sch.uk) or Adam Cotton, AST, at Dame Alice Owens Schoolcottona@damealiceowens.herts.sch.uk
