Summer School in full swing!

Summer School is in full swing at The Hurst School, with 140 soon to be year 7  students arriving this morning for a three-day introduction to life at secondary school.

The day began with an orienteering challenge which is designed to help students navigate their way around the school. As part of the challenge they had to find various department buildings, several classrooms and also had the opportunity to  learn some interesting facts about The Hurst.

Working in their new tutor groups, they then took part in sample lessons, including English, Biology, Drama and Maths. In Biology, Mr Attridge was asking the students to label various parts of a microscope , before looking at a number of different items under the microscope including a bees leg and part of a rats brain.

Megan and Charlotte who were looking at a rat brain said: “I didn’t expect it to look like that. It was purple with squiggly lines!”

In Drama the group started their lesson with a warm up, where Head of Drama, Mr Attridge gave them a series of instructions to follow, whilst navigating the Drama Studio without bumping into each other. No sooner had the group mastered the commands of ‘stop’ go’, ‘jump’ and ‘clap’, Mr Attridge then reversed the commands so that each original instruction now had the opposite action! There was lots of giggling and everyone looked like they were having fun.

In English Miss Webb’s group were studying Robert Frost’s poem ‘The Road not taken’ before writing a letter to their new tutor, Mrs O’Shea, to tell her all about themselves, their hobbies outside of school, how they feel about joining The Hurst and what they are most excited about. Whilst she was writing her letter, Verity confirmed that she was having a good day so far: “I have had an IT lesson and enjoyed the treasure hunt orienteering,” she said.

In Maths, a group were working on bias and fairness using a dice, taking part in a number of games, led by Miss Conran.

The groups are currently in the hall on their lunch break and this afternoon will take part in a number of ‘problem solve’ activities including how to drop an egg without breaking, and how to get people from one side of a room to the other without touching the floor. We look forward to seeing how they get on! Jonah said: “I am having a really good time. Biology was really fun and I have been making some new friends.”

Tomorrow school continues tomorrow and Wednesday with lots more activities designed to give students an idea of what to expect when they come to The Hurst, help them to be able to navigate the school, and introduce a number of the subjects they will study when they start with us in September.