The lockdown period has meant that by the time we hope to return to the school campus, most children will have been in ‘virtual school’ for a considerable period of time. In spite of this our teachers have worked hard to ensure that pupils continued to receive a first-class all-round education, as well as outstanding pastoral care alongside their remote learning.
One of the top priorities at Trent College and The Elms since lockdown began has been maintaining the close relationships between pupils and their teachers and peers. In the Trent Lower School years, daily registrations, twice-weekly assemblies and 1-1 support calls have provided pupils with those all-important connections within our school community. Our school counsellors have also been accessible to any individual in need during these challenging times through informal ‘Time to Chat’ remote sessions, open to pupils and staff.
We felt it was important for our youngest senior school pupils to still feel connected to their school community over the summer holidays and to be as prepared as possible to resume normal school life this September. The Year 7 Summer Project provided a means of achieving this.
What is the Year 7 Summer Project about?
The Year 7 Summer Project’s mission is to ‘help make the world a better place’ and encourage among pupils:
- Positive accomplishment
- Positive purpose
- Positive engagement
- Positive relations
These are all important aspects of the Positive Education programme at Trent. Positive Education focuses on wellbeing and achievement in equal measure, helping each pupil to develop skills that will enable them to achieve their academic goals and maintain a positive mindset.
What challenges are involved in the project?
There are 25 challenges in total to tackle. These range from helping other people and learning new things to self-reflection and positive thinking, but every challenge promotes personal development and growth. Pupils have been invited to participate in the project over the summer holidays and post a picture of each challenge on Twitter as they complete it, using the #Y7SP hashtag and @TrentCollege handle to share their achievement with the school community.
Returning to school in September is very exciting, however we understand that some pupils may also feel a little apprehensive. We hope that through this challenge pupils will be able to demonstrate within their local communities, and indeed our school community, values which are so important to moving forward together as we emerge from the Coronavirus situation:
- Kindness
- Inclusion
- Respect
- Understanding
New responsibilities and privileges
When my new year group return to school, they will be the older year in Lower School with their own common room and privileges that go along with it. With those privileges come responsibilities to each other. The tutors and I believe that this summer project will help them to prepare for this step up in responsibility and strengthen the skills they need to flourish in year 8. I am excited to see their contributions and progress through the challenge!
You don’t have to be in year 7 or even a pupil at Trent College to get involved in our Summer Project. Although this project was created for 11 to 12 year olds, any person of any age can benefit from completing these challenges (even parents!) When was the last time you surprised someone with a kind message or took a break from social media or really thought about what you want to accomplish in the future? We can all do our bit to make the world a better place.
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Why not have a go at tackling the 25 challenges? Print out this print-friendly version of our Summer Project challenge grid and record your progress throughout August.
