14 September 2021
Over the past seven weeks, 40 year five students have been ‘battling through the jungle’ in a Jumanji inspired challenge.
Each week participants were faced with a challenge they had to overcome, each one designed to build the 21st Century skills they will need in their future. Challenges included making shelters, creating shoe covers to reduce the noise their shoes made and building a catapult that could fire an object into the distance, creating a distraction for nearby threats.
The program was thoroughly enjoyed by students who enjoyed coming up to the local high school for a specialist program “The program was really good. It was lots of fun and really put our skills to the test. We got to learn different ways of thinking and how to solve problems”, said Mia, Lilly and Lucas from Meadow Springs Primary School. “The best part was working with people from other schools and making new friends. We even got to meet up with a few of our old friends who went to different schools.”
The Jumanji challenge formed part of the Inspire Project, an innovative academic extension and enrichment program delivered by Coastal Lakes College, to students in our local primary schools and forms part of the College’s STEAM focus. Students from Lakelands, Meadow Springs, Oakwood and Singleton Primary Schools participated in the initiative.
The specialist curriculum leaders who have delivered the program have been impressed by students’ willingness to learn, Keavy Diggens, Head of Learning – Mathematics, said “Learning these (21st Century) skills are more important than ever before. Not only do they help students learn in a classroom environment, they also prepare them for a rapidly changing future where change is constant and learning never stops.”
“When these students enter the workforce, they will likely be going into jobs that don’t even exist yet, so it’s important that we start to build these competencies early and provide them with the skills they need to be successful, both in the classroom and in their own lives.
By providing these extension courses to students in our local primary schools, we also create a scenario where these students then go back to their classrooms and teach other students the skills they have learnt, so the learning continues. We have really enjoyed working with these students and we can’t wait until they join us at Coastal Lakes College in a few years to further their learning journey.”
