Project Based Learning

Project Based Learning was introduced as an important part of our curriculum to widen and extend the learning experience of our children; to inspire curious learners, foster a collaborative based approach to interdisciplinary learning and to develop independence. As a new development in the academic year 2024-25, we are moving PBL to 3 drop down days; one in each term.  This means that on one day a term, all pupils will be involved in a PBL project.  Each year group will still have the three projects they work on, with pupils working through the projects on a carousel, so pupils participate in all 3 projects throughout the year.

Every year we ask pupils what they would like to learn as part of their curriculum.  We want our curriculum to be engaging and pertinent to our children; for them to feel they have an input into what they are learning – and PBL allows us to do this.  We amend and develop our projects each year, using feedback from the pupil voice work we do throughout the year.

In Autumn Term 2024 we are introducing a mindfulness project into Year 7, which reflects pupil’s increased mental health awareness.  We are also developing a project on conspiracy and fake news, as pupils are increasingly aware of the manipulation that can take place in the presentation of events on social media and television and print news.

In PBL pupils are taught the necessary content and given information needed, but also have
opportunities to work autonomously, developing their projects within their groups and utilising their skills, whilst developing and learning new ones such as problem solving, decision making, communication skills, research skills, ICT and time resource and time management.

The outcome will be different in each project, some producing a written piece, whilst others produce a documentary or a piece of drama. The outcomes of PBL will be varied; some showcased throughout the year on Twitter, in live performances for peers, through work with local First Schools, in school displays or in written pieces.

The introduction of PBL in September 2019 gave us the opportunity to develop partnerships with outside agencies and companies, exploring both the provision and the philosophy underlying PBL and enabling us to further enhance the PBL experience for our children.  In 2020-21  we worked with staff from Newcastle University to explore PBL pedagogy and possibility within the wider curriculum and developed a bespoke project on Sustainability, which is part of our Year 7 PBL curriculum.  A link to The University of Newcastle Upon Tyne teacher guide, Planning curriculum-embedded PBL with real world connections includes examples from our PBL work and can be found here.

In 2022-23 our collaboration with Newcastle University moved to developing a project on Climate Change, which has informed our Year 8 Climate Change project.  In this year we also collaborated on a Chapter which appeared in The Ideas Informed Society, edited by Chris Brown and Graham Handscomb.  In 2023-24 we worked with both Newcastle University and The Royal Society to create a project exploring our carbon footprint in school and exploring ways to reduce this.  This work is now being expanded in 2024 to inform planning in the Year 5 Eco Project and we hope to include some of the planning and funding into our other Eco and STEM based projects.

Examples of Student Work in PBL

PBL updates :

In September 2023 we were informed that we were successful in our bid to The Royal Society and were awarded £3,000 to develop our Climate Change PBL. Information about this grant is here. The additional funding allowed us to develop a project to explore carbon footprint of the school and how we could reduce this.  The University of Newcastle Upon Tyne agreed to continue to work with us and we created a bespoke, cross-curricular and cross-Key Stage, year long project, led by Ruth Webb.

We are coming to the end of this collaboration and in 2024-25 we are exploring ways to widen the experience and impact of this work across school.

2024-25 PBL Project Overview