An inventive team of Year 7 students have come up with a way of helping newcomers adapt to life in high school.
Park High School’s student confidence taskforce Hollie-Sarah Thompson, Bethany Millar, Megan Davies, Tamryn Vermaak, Callum Jackson, Owen Bateman, Kirstie Gouldsborough and Elizabeth Martindale developed a “confidence treasure hunt” for the next batch of Year 7 pupils.
This allows new students to move around the school, knocking on doors and asking staff questions or receiving the next clue. They then follow the trail throughout school premises, becoming more familiar with the layout, while the school corridors are quieter and other students are in class.
Explaining how the idea was formed, PE teacher and enrichment tutor Stacey Roscoe said: “Parents have told us that a concern of future Year 7 students is getting lost in a bigger school, so we wanted to come up with a fun way of helping future new students adapt to their unfamiliar surroundings quickly and understand that all staff are friendly, supportive and approachable.”
The student team, who have now test-driven the hunt, feel the exercise will not only help students find their way around the school, but will also help them grow in confidence and become more assertive, enabling them to settle into their new school as quickly as possible.