This year has been different for all of us in many ways, but as a Tutor I have spent much more time with my Tutor Group and the other Year 10 group led by Mr Instone than in previous years. We have registered outside every morning in all weathers and eaten lunches together every day. We have become very territorial about the bench on our break time patch and have enjoyed some lovely picnics together. As we have not been able to have full school assemblies we have joined ‘virtual’ assemblies on Teams and taken part in tasks as a Tutor Group on Tuesday mornings. I was delighted when, under the leadership of Mrs English 10H won the Christmas team activity afternoon. I was unable to take part but the Team messaged me constantly through Teams all afternoon to let me know how they were doing. Whilst one of the strengths of Fyling Hall is that all year groups mix together it has been great to see this group of year 10s really bond as a group as they have spent so much time together.

As we move into the final part of the school year the Year 10s are getting ready for Work Experience. Normally they would be leaving the school for a week to work with various employers in the area but this year as this is not possible Mr Instone and Mrs Jackson have been putting together a Fyling Hall version of work experience. There will be more on this as the weeks follow and as yet the pupils know very little about what awaits them, but we have watched some excruciating episodes of The Apprentice and had long discussions about the candidates. I think they may be getting some clues as today we did some Team building activities devised by Mr Instone and they were asked to evaluate their team and their leaders. Working under pressure is not always easy and the two tasks certainly made them think.

Task 1. A paper based task which asked the 3 teams to work on a plan to light a candle in an empty room. They were told they could have a candle, a box of drawing pins and a box of matches…..oh and the candle had to be exactly 1m from the ground! After 8 minutes discussion at least 2 of the teams had viable plans. I’m not going to give away their ideas but if you have suggestions perhaps you could send them to Mr Instone?

Task 2. To build the tallest, free-standing structure out of 30 straws, a pair of scissors and a roll of tape, in 15 minutes. This time the teams could actually build their structures and it was great to see them really working together, listening to each other and all managing to complete the task within the time. The winning team managed to build a straw structure of 35cm, but the other 2 teams were close with 103cm and 85 cm. All the structures met the brief, and it was clear that the groups are definitely going to be able to work together over the course of our Work Experience challenges.

I have certainly enjoyed more time with my Tutor Group, but I am also looking forward to their learning the value of work experience. Watch this space for further information about Fyling Hall Year 10 Work Experience in the coming weeks as it is sure to be interesting and lots of fun.

Cathy Hornung, Year 10 Tutor