We have begun the next step in our journey towards inquiry-based learning, and it was wonderful to see our children embracing it.

Rather than beginning with teachers giving children the questions and the answers, we began with curiosity.

WHO ARE WE AND HOW DO WE BELONG?

This week children across the school immersed themselves in a range of experiences carefully planned by our teachers. They mixed with different age groups, worked alongside younger and older children, talked to one another and, most importantly, were encouraged to look, notice, wonder and ask questions.

They explored old school logbooks and photographs, images and sounds from our local area, Welsh music and art, people who once attended our school, young pictures of the staff, ideas around who should lead Ynystawe, and lots more.

There weren’t necessarily answers waiting for them. Instead, we wanted to hear:

What do you notice?
What does this make you wonder?
What questions do you have?
What would you like to find out?

We finished the week by inviting parents, businesses and local professionals in to our school and allowed the children to choose who they wanted to talk to and find out more about.

The children embraced this experience with curious minds and and very warm welcome to all of our guests.

The took part in karate, Welsh folk dancing, watercolour painting and drama. They sat in a police car a learnt about being a police man and woman. They children swung from trees with our local arborist, the local Scouts and Beaver's leaders played games, they found out about what it is to be a vet, a firefighter, a doctor, a nurse, a librarian, a barrister and many other professions. Our local community groups from The Men's shed brought activities to share with the children, Dynamic Rock came to talk to the children about rock climbing and the events in their climbing centre as well as many other local groups. 

We would like to say a huge THANK YOU to all of the the parents and volunteers who came in to our school to work with our children this week. It really does take a village. 

This is at the heart of inquiry-based learning. We want our children to become curious thinkers who question, investigate, make connections and develop a genuine interest in the world around them.

It also means gradually putting more of the learning into their hands. In these sessions, our role as teachers begins to shift from always leading the learning to becoming the enabling adult: listening carefully to children’s ideas and questions, noticing where their curiosity takes them, and then providing the experiences, resources and guidance that help them take their learning further.