Whole School Projects

Every year at Langton we embark on a project with a common thread that runs through every year group and across the whole academic year.

These are usually focussed on global social issues such as plastic pollution and climate change or on philosophical questions such as 'What makes us human?' A whole school project is an excellent way to work together as a community to explore an important issue. The point of these projects is not to find or decide an answer, but to consider the question and journey through some possible solutions.

"The right question is usually more important than the right answer," Plato.

Below are the titles of some of the whole school projects we have embarked on over the last few years. Please click on the titles for more information.

2022-2023: Find your truth

Following the success of our project about memory, in 2022/23 we embarked on a journey understanding truth. Pupils explored concepts of true/false and perspective and bias, all absolutely vital skills in a modern world flooded with information and opinion. 

Every class across the school worked with our artist in residence to produce a piece of work inspired by this thinking. Large scale pieces were made without paintbrushes - children applied the paint with their hands, their feet, homemade implements and even just by throwing!

The finished pieces, displayed as a whole, were an interesting commentary on perspective and opinion. The artwork was created on large sheets of transparent plastic and some looked completely different when seen from a different angle, or when displayed next to another. Some details were surprising when seen from close-up and yet a large scale view revealed something as well. 

2021-2022: What makes a memory?  

During the 2021/22 academic year, students at Langton Green will be embarking on a project exploring the question “What makes a memory?” The exploration of this key question follows two distinct strands: the philosophical strand and the pedagogical strand. 

Philosophical Strand:

With the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic still all-too present in our day-to-day lives, the principal mission of this project was to be mindful of our present achievements and archive them in a way that enables our students to reflect upon them at the end of the year as fond memories which spark feelings of pride and cheer. 

Students will consider the emotional impact of memory: how tangible objects and our senses can provoke strong feelings that connect to a specific memory. One only has to look at the popular TV programme ‘The Repair Shop’ to see this in effect, with detailed family histories and stories being triggered and embodied by a single special object. 

Students in Years 1-4 are collecting items for a memory box, in which they will store selected keepsakes that they feel are significant in the course of their year; items that stir emotions in them strong enough to provoke memories of an event or task special to them. 

Upper KS2 are working with the brief of ‘Leaving a Legacy at Langton’. Students are considering the way that they can leave Langton Green Primary School a better place as they move onward; asking themselves “What positive impact have I had on the world?” Ideas include playtime clubs for inclusion, tree planting, mentoring younger students, community engagement and legacy artwork. 

Pedagogical Strand:

This strand aims to equip students with the tools to embed knowledge and create long-term memories through the explicit teaching of strategies which aid recall and metacognition. The integrated and discrete teaching of methods such as mnemonics, spiral learning and ‘memory palaces’, will help students to tap into their innate creativity to help them retrieve knowledge-based memories more easily, as neurological connections in the brain are strengthened. Through a study of the different areas of the brain, mindfulness activities, puzzles, quizzes and recognising the power of emotions, students will form a better understanding of how to learn and how to learn for life. 

This project culminated in a large-scale art installation called WYRD. More information can be found on our Art at Langton page.

Resources for Parents:

Articles/Blogs:

• https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2017/oct/06/what-every-teacher-should-know-about-memory 
• https://primarytimery.com/2017/09/16/memory-not-memories-teaching-for-long-term-learning/ 
• https://www.understood.org/articles/en/8-working-memory-boosters 

Videos:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GI4eTUyGSM 
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsC9ZHi79jo

Books:

• Amazing Brain Games for Clever Kids® by Gareth Moore
• Memory Improvement For Kids: The Greatest Collection Of Proven Techniques For Expanding Your Child's Mind And Boosting Their Brain Power by Lisa Marshall
• Mind Maps for Kids by Tony Buzan

2020-2021: What gives you the right?

For the 2020/21 academic year we launched a project which focussed on civil rights, equality and the Black Lives Matter movement. This followed on from many of the points raised during last year’s project and kick-started conversation about equality, giving us an opportunity to show our support for those affected. The project was be used to enhance the teaching about civil rights and responsibilities which already takes place as part of our PSHCE and History curriculums. Children across the school learned about human rights, their rights as a child living in Britain, and everyone’s responsibility to value the rights of others as much as we value our own. Each year group was also be given their own particular area of focus which they then looked into in more detail. They found out about the treatment of different minority groups, how this has changed over time and what else could be done to ensure everyone is treated equally.

During our period of remote learning, each year group produced an assembly on the subject of our whole school project. Links to each of the assemblies can be found here: 

Reception - Rights & Responsibilities

Year 1 - Human Rights

Year 2 - Children's Rights

Year 3 - Women's Rights

Year 4 - Disability Rights

Year 5 - Black Rights

Year 6 - LGBTQ+ Rights

Resources to support parents having conversations with their children about similar and related topics can be found on the Equality & Diversity page of our website.

2019-2020: What makes us human?

 In 2019, we launched a whole-school project with a wide-ranging scope to allow the pupils in every year group to dictate where their discussions and explorations went.

Classes interpreted the question in different ways such as:

• How are humans different to animals?
• What makes human beings special?
• What have human beings achieved? What is our most significant achievement?
• How do humans think?
• What does it feel like to be human?

 Unfortunately, the children's work on this project was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and school closures. But during the period of remote learning, the teachers produced a series of video assemblies about our school core values, intended to remind us what it means to be human and the qualities that would support everyone throughout pandemic.

2018-2019: How can we reduce plastic pollution?

In the 2018-19 academic year the whole school considered the growing impact of plastic pollution across the globe and the problems that human refuse causes for the natural world.

Each year group considered this in different ways, looking at how plastic products could be recycled or even reconsidered altogether. As a school we set up systems for recycling some of our own plastic waste that is generated during the school day and as a whole community we worked towards earning a Bronze Ocean Guardian award.

https://www.plasticeducation.com/

Our project culminated in a day of climate action to show support for Greta Thunberg's climate strike at the start of the next academic year, when all pupils spent the day thinking about environmental issues, including planting trees locally and even recording their own climate strike protest song!