ANNUAL EXCITEMENT...COMING TO A SCHOOL NEAR YOU!

Friday the 13 th of July, an unlucky day? Well not for the students of Tapton School ! It's Cross Curricular! A day of learning with a ton of fun thrown in! Instead of the regular, run of the mill stuff that we usually get, we have a range of multi-cultural activities, including sushi, origami, street surfing, drama and dance. This day gives students a chance to learn about other cultures, gain new experiences and do new and different things. Even teachers are allowed to have fun! Students can work together with teachers and sixth formers in creative and unique ways.

If only every school day was as fun as this!!

Marcus and James Y9

At the start of the morning Ms. Royles takes time in ensuring that students are where they should be. Whilst talking to her she explained that lots of organisation and planning goes into the day itself. Each department gets involved and contributes their own ideas for that department. Ms. Royles is also in charge of making sure there are enough activities for everybody and a lot of thought goes into getting permission from parents and getting everything together. Part of the last minute arrangements is putting everybody into groups and making sure everything runs smoothly.

To ensure that there are enough supervisors for each activity Ms. Royles spends a lot of time getting in touch with personal contacts, some other people contribute. For activities such as bell-ringing and rock-climbing members of staff also forwarded ideas. Also, by contacting the university Ms. Royles arranged for some Japanese students to help with some activities such as, Japanese culture & food. Many flyers were made to encourage outsiders to get involved.

Ms. Royles explained that all events usually go well, although a personal favourite of hers is the Y9 Asian affair end performance. She said, “It is very special. In the morning the children had nothing and by lunch time they had created something spectacular!”

As well as doing all this planning on the day Ms. Royles makes sure that everybody knows where they should be and that all the staff involved has got everything they need.

Ms. Royles told us that everything was definitely worth while! And they stress the day before paid off!

Lucy and Liz Y9

When we were given the task of interviewing Mr.Bowes, we thought it would be easy and enjoyable. However, it turned out, tracking him down was neither easy nor enjoyable. We trekked round school for what seemed like ages, on two different occasions, to continually be told that he had just left the area that we were in. As you can imagine, we were very frustrated and felt like giving up, even if it did give us a good chance to see all the things that were going on!

Just as we were about to return to the media room, we found him, hard at work, making paper aeroplanes with Y8's. He was really enjoying himself, and was excited about the fact he was going to fly the aeroplanes he had just made.

After walking through the school with him, we ended up in his office, not a familiar place to us! There, we held a proper interview where we asked him all about Cross Curriculum Day.

When we asked him why it is that this day is so important he answered, “It is all based around what we do all the time in this school, learning. It's just learning new things, exciting, interesting, new things. Everybody works together, and people get the chance to work with new teachers and 6 th form students, who they wouldn't normally work with.”

These new activities are all ideas put forward by the staff, but the real driving force of the day is Ms.Royles described as “the mastermind behind Cross Curriculum Day” by the Head. He told us, “All the staff volunteer and put ideas forward for new activities. For example, Peter, one of our caretakers, suggested the idea for the bell ringing.”

And now for the burning question: if he was a pupil at Tapton school, what would be his favourite activity?

He told us, “Well, as you could see, I just had fun flying the paper aeroplanes. I really like the science subjects, the aeroplanes and the rockets because I like the applied science as I am a scientist. But at the same time, I had a secret go on the bells last night before anyone else! I also like the art and drama tree production, I like the creative side and I am helping out there after lunch. But first I am going to eat some sushi made by the Y9's for my lunch!”

He concluded by saying, “I love this day because you can see the pupils benefiting and how at the start of the day there's nothing then by the end of the day so much has happened, big megapods and such. This day is about having fun and learning at the same time”

Overall, as you can see, Mr.Bowes is very enthusiastic about this day and so he should be, it's an exciting change for the students and a fun day had by all.

We thank Mr.Bowes for his time…and the free mints!

By Fran and Josie Y9