High School: 12 June 2017

This week we have detailed summaries of the many wonderful activities that took place during our Key Stage 3 Project Week… Year 10 students Muskaan and Sophia Tell us their success story from the Dragon’s Den Competition at Patana… See what’s coming up on our calendar of events for the remainder of Term 3.

The week before half-term was our first ever Key Stage 3 Project Week, with students working on one of thirteen different projects:

Artificial Reef: During Project Week we designed an artificial reef that will help the marine life in the Gulf of Thailand. We hope to sink our artificial reef between Pattaya and Koh Chan East and allow marine life to grow on the structure so that there will be more coral in the ocean. Our structure will also provide shelter for the animals in the ocean. The strengths of our structure are that it is a very simple shape and, because we made it a cylinder, that means that the current and the waves can travel through it, reducing water resistance. We have also added concrete blocks onto the structure so that it will have weight to stay down and it will not move by the waves. The size of the project is around the size of a human and this is good because it is not too big and it will have enough space to grow many corals and to give a lot of shelter for many fishes. The materials for this project are steel and iron beams and some concrete for the base of the design and there will also be the mesh that will give a home to the organisms in the reef.

Bangkok is Sinking: Students worked together to design a new capital city for Thailand, considering housing, transportation, entertainment and leisure, community etc., and produce a presentation that shows their ideas for New Bangkok.

Daily Challenge: Students participating in the Daily Challenge project were placed into teams of four and given a range of problems to solve throughout the week. The problems generally had a construction or engineering focus, such as bridge building, tower construction, streamlined boats or aerodynamic cars. We were impressed by how well each team worked together in order to find solutions to each challenge and by the level of practical skill on display when constructing prototypes. The week was definitely a competition, with a daily leader board so that each team could check its progress towards a final champion on Friday...

Escape Room: The main areas we were focusing on were communication, collaboration and creating and solving clues. We were then lucky enough to visit a real life Escape Room at the Escape Hunt in Asok, where we got to see how these rooms really work. When we returned to school, we discussed what we had learned and how we would use these ideas in our own versions. The rest of the week was spent designing the rooms and creating the clues for the other groups to solve. On Friday, you could really feel the tension building. It was really exciting to see what the other groups had come up with and we all learned how important following instructions and listening to one another are. The 15 minutes in each room flew by, and we had a walk through each room after our attempts to escape by the group who created the rooms. This was the biggest learning experience, as when they explained to us the clues we didn’t solve, they seemed so obvious!

International Sports: There are a lot of great sports played around the world. Students worked in teams to create videos showing the rules and highlights of some of the more obscure sports, such as Kendo (Japan), Futsal (Thailand and lots of other countries), Cricket (India, England and a lot of other countries), AFL (Australia), Baseball (America) and Kabaddi (India). Excellent teamwork and cooperation were displayed while the students created very informative and entertaining videos.

Merchandise Mayhem!: The Merchandise Mayhem project has been full steam ahead this week researching, designing and developing new products to bring to St Andrews. They came up with many varied and interesting ideas (stationery, sweat pants and umbrellas were among the contenders), narrowing them down to first five, and then two, after a series of focus group meetings with the PTG, our Marketing and Purchasing departments, the management of the school shop and students themselves to get a range of perspectives on the wants and needs of the school community. Their research led them to the decision that water bottles and wrist bands would both serve the needs of the school community and project the special nature of our community out into the world, and so they designed and developed a range of options for a variety of occasions. Look out for both of these items making an appearance around school in the not-too-distant future!

Muay Thai: Students got to know more on one of the best Thai martial arts, Muay Thai. They enjoyed practicing the basics of Muay Thai techniques: Punching (Chok), Elbow (Sok), Kicking (Te), Knee (Ti Khao), Foot-thrust (Teep), Clinch and neck wrestling (Chap kho), and Defence against attacks with two Muay Thai masters. They now know how to use Muay Thai appropriately. Students used their organisational skill to run the workshop effectively. Also they have chance to share these skills to other people during the Expo through both the Basics of Muay Thai performance and videos. It seemed that the audiences enjoyed these very much.

Multi Media Art Performance: The multi media arts performance group consisted of 30 students, all with an interest in music, art and drama. The collaboration involved creating physical theatre, video projection and sampled and layered musical composition. Inspired by Andre Breton's prose "First and Last Drafts, the secret of the magical surrealist", students worked together to produce a truly magical performance entitled "Journeys". The piece comprised of physical theatre, video projections taken underwater in the swimming pool and eerie, dream-like music played on a combination of digital media and live instruments. So successful was the performance that it will be shown again at EXPO '17 on Wednesday 21st June.

Ready, Steady, International Cook!: On Monday morning the students were told what they had to produce: a restaurant standard three course meal for four, a cooking programme and research on their chosen country. They were split into two teams - Mexico versus Italy - and the competition commenced. Teamwork, collaboration and constant critiquing of ideas was evident throughout the week, whether shopping at Tesco Lotus for ingredients, cooking and tasting the food, or designing table settings. Then, on Wednesday, we announced a bombshell: their food was going to be judged by three professional chefs from the local area. Suddenly the teams raised their game, cooking exquisite food, producing fun and informative cooking shows and research PowerPoints. On Friday - Judging day - nerves were all around the room as they set their tables, showed their videos and showcased their menus to the chefs. During Deliberation Time, you could cut the atmosphere with a knife but, by just one point, this year’s St Andrews Project Week MasterChef went to Gusto Del Italia and their menu of Insalata Caprese, Linguine with chicken and lemon, and sweet bruschetta with kiwi and strawberry. Everyone agreed that it had been a fun, exciting week where they enjoyed learning new skills and working with different people.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: The aim of this project was to create awareness of the serious problem of plastic waste in the ocean and the impact this is having on sea creatures as well as humans, as plastic particles end up in our food chain. Students created products from recycled plastic and showcased their campaigns to get the people in their community doing small things that matter - like refusing a plastic bag at 7-11 or using a reusable water bottle. We hope this campaign will extend to the new High School campus so St Andrews can do their bit to help the environment. The whole week was a huge success with the students engaged with producing stunning designs. We hope to see some of their fashion creations on the runway at the fashion show next week!

Siege Machines: After spending their first morning glued to laptop screens researching castles and war machines from the days of knights and kingdoms, the pupils embarked on a mission of design and construction. Three Castles with twelve pupils in each were given the task to create four Siege Machines. They created detailed designs and sketches for Catapults, Mangonels and Trebuchets restricted by using the equipment that was available, then spent the next few days realising their designs in the DT lab. Many tears were shed as structures collapsed and buckled under tension; back to the drawing board, as adaptations needed to be made. On Friday morning the final tests were completed and the cardboard box castles were assembled on the quad, with beautifully designed flags and crests adorning the castle walls. Finally the three castles, using water bombs as ammunition, started a twenty minute long siege. The winning team had 4 players remaining from 12 at the end of this watery war.

UN Goals/Translator: The UN has set 17 goals for sustainable development. Our students first studied six of these goals and selected two goals to make a film and board game about. Both the film and game went through the process of planning, editing and finalizing. Finally, students created a task force to support their actions in the future and recruited other students during the exhibition.

Where in the World: Periodic Table Edition: During the week the students made and painted over 40 tiles to represent the discovery of elements on the Periodic Table. Students were challenged to research and come up with a new spin on how different chemicals were discovered, used and named. For example Helium has been represented by the Disney film 'Up', Iridium is shown as the Greek Goddess of Rainbows, after which it was named, Iodine appears as a camera, as this element features in photographic film, and Magnesium is displayed amongst foliage as it forms a central component of chlorophyll. Students worked independently to produce a piece of collaborative art alongside their individual artist's biographies.

It was a great week, with students’ questionnaire results showing that they have developed their Teamwork communication and collaboration skills and their creativity, and rating the week with an average score of over 4 on a 1-5 scale.

They also gave lots of feedback on how next’s year’s Key Stage 3 Project Week can be even better!

Thank you very much to Ms Brenda, the Project Week Working Party and each of the Project Leaders, as well as all the High School teachers and students for their contributions to a great week!