Durrington students work with peers in Thailand

STUDENTS at a Durrington school have been working with pupils in Thailand by using an online blog to share each other’s work.

A geography class of year-nine students at Durrington High School, in The Boulevard, recently created a set of resources to teach a school in Thailand about the 2004 Tsunami.

The topic was chosen by matching topics both sets of students needed to learn about.

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Once the resources were created, students uploaded work to the blog and waited for their peers in Thailand to complete the work.

A few weeks later, the students in Thailand uploaded the completed work and Durrington High students are now in the process of marking and assessing the efforts of their international peers.

Teacher Chloe Gardner, who has been leading the initiative, said: “The student blog has developed greatly over the past few months and we are finding new and innovative methods to incorporate it into lessons. This new initiative has seen students having to think about other students in another country, ensuring they teach the topic in a sensitive, but engaging manner. We hope to do similar projects with other subjects and countries following on from this.”

The blog is currently viewed by staff and students in 36 different countries and it has had more than 8,000 hits since it started in September, 2012.

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The students’ blog is just one of the ways the school is working innovatively at the moment.

The school also received three new iPads, donated by CILS International, Travel Places and Sussex Farmhouse Meals.

They are used by students during focus groups, business and IT lessons, and across the curriculum to support their learning.

There are also plans to invest in more iPads across the school for all subjects, and the school is also looking into getting VerTables – versatile tables – to benefit the students’ learning.

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The school is also fostering relations with the local business community, having invited businessman Lyndon Wood into the school and organised a tour of Shoreham-based engineering company Ricardo.

The blog can be viewed at durringtonlearningblog.wordpress.com

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