Aylsham High School

After the success of the 2009 Summer Challenge at Aylsham High School, we returned in 2010 for a second, even more ambitious, four-day programme. This was in collaboration with the University of the First Age, based on a combination of art activities and peer-tutor games.  The children worked with two artists over four days. Each day included an object-handling session, which gave all pupils the opportunity of studying art objects and archeological finds from the museum's collections and then giving presentations of their findings to the rest of the group. On the third day, we went on a coach trip to Holt Hall Field Studies Centre, where, as well as the object handling, there was also an exciting paper chase through the woods. Students from Harford Manor came to photograph the event, and there was den building to complete the experience, including an unfortunate incident with some angry wasps! On the final day, there were more exercises and fun activities, and in the afternoon a display was put up for parents to see the extraordinary range of outcomes that everyone had produced. Selected students were entrusted with showing parents objects from the museum, and everyone participated fully in making it a rewarding final event.

The theme this time was 'finding your feet,' which emphasized the importance over the four days of building self-confidence and group cohesion. Again, the premise was that children were making important transitions from one stage in their lives to another, and that talking about this and sharing activities with other children would help make these transitions easier and more successful. The year before had seen remarkable transformations in how the group had pulled together over the four days. This time a similar effect was observed, but with clearer evidence of individual progression, some pupils starting from very little commitment to becoming extremely positive and responsible.