The Island

A thematic learning approach

6 week cross curricular project
Date: January 2014 Half Term
Year group: Year 8
Subjects Involved:
Curriculum All subjects
CAS Music, DT, Art, English, Drama, social sudies
Staff allocation: One designated member of staff per subject area

Learning Objective Students will have the opportunity to

develop creative thinking, problem solving and
communication skills through a variety of tasks in order to
gain freedom from the Island.
All year 8 students will be involved in the Island project for the duration of 6
weeks beginning January 2016. Curriculum subjects have agreed to run a
specialised curriculum during this term. The theme is the Island.
Synopsis:
The year 8 students have crash landed on a seemingly deserted island
somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Each student will be given a character, job
and develop a back story to their character on the initial launch day. The
students will also be divided into groups/Tribes in which they will work over
the forthcoming 6 weeks. Each students primary objective is to gain
freedom from the Island; however they can only do this by completing
several problem solving and cryptic tasks in each curriculum area. In
addition each Tribe must complete independent learning tasks; tasks which
require creativity and teamwork.
Independent tasks/Enquiry, Creativity and Problem solving
Each student will be given a passport on the launch day with their own photo
in it and personal information regarding their character and job. The
passport will also contain important information regarding the project;

information such as a blank map of the Island, a list of the independent

learning tasks and blank spaces for each student/Tribe to gain stamps/points.
These points are needed to complete certain areas of the Island and in turn
release information critical to the group if they are to gain their freedom from
the Island.
For Example:
In Math the group must complete a Bowland Math task whereby the
students must use mathematics to obtain a code, each tribe who
successfully completes this task will obtain their Math stamp and unlock a
part of the Island as a result.
Responsibility
Each curriculum will have a designated member of the team responsible for
the running of the cross curricular project in their area. The theme of the
project is the Island and there will need to be a success criteria for each
student/tribe to meet in order to obtain their stamp from that curriculum
area and in turn unlock another piece of the Island.
The project will culminate in an Instillation of the Island housing the work and
learning journey of the year 8 students the construction of which will be
completed by the art department with the help of DT and ICT. Performances
from Music and Drama will complete the Installation.
IBLP
The project is designed to introduce our lower school students to the IBLP
and the ethos of the IB. Students will be challenged to think for themselves,
problem solve, be creative and work together as part of a team; In short will
need to use all of the IBLP attributes to complete the project.