Last week, Year 8 enjoyed participating in an off timetable morning, where they took part in various team building and bonding workshops.
They were particularly inspired by the session that they had in Green Park with Mr. Fletcher (Director of Performance at Dukes Education), who put them through their paces with some trust and bonding exercises. The pupils worked on exercises where they would have to achieve an outcome by working in sync and communicating with each other, so pupils would learn that they had to communicate and trust their peers in order to complete the exercises.
Year 8 took away some valuable lessons, here is some feedback in their own words:
- Communication can be in silence
- You have to listen carefully to all instructions otherwise you can miss key information
- Listening is key to trust
- We should listen more than we speak
- We should try to do things in sync more
- If we don’t understand something then it is okay to ask again for clarification
Upon their return, they were lucky enough to take part in some poetry workshops with the award-winning ‘grand-slam’ poet, MiKo Berry. The pupils were extremely moved by MiKo’s personal story, as well as entertained by his witty and relatable poems. In addition, discussions also took place on topics such as homophobia and materialism.
Year 8 left for games at lunch with distinct positive energy, from what was an enjoyable and inspiring day for all.