MANGOTSFIELD School pupils put their textbooks aside for a day of challenges in and out of the classroom.
The school’s second Challenge Day at the end of March saw them take on projects to broaden their understanding of a number of different subjects.
Year 7 students had a ‘Love Bristol’ theme for their day and visited historical and cultural sites including the M Shed museum, Christmas Steps, city walls and Queen Square, where they were chased by seagulls for their lunch.
Pupils in Year 8 focused on modern foreign languages and split into different groups to discuss and experience aspects of French and German culture, cooking, art and music to sports.
Student Chukwudubem Asime said: “Challenge Day was fun. First I made German rap music, then painted German art, decorated German cake, completed some German sports activities and German quizzes.”
Year 9 students visited St Fagans National Museum in Cardiff as part of a day of historical activities, learning about life in Wales by viewing a row of houses through time.
Pupils in Year 10 worked with mental health and well-being organisation Humanutopia, to talk about and reflect on their past experiences of bullying and mean comments, and how they affect them today.
Student Alice White said: “I find it cool that Humanutopia creates a safe environment to be able to talk about these experiences.
“Later on in the day, we talked about trying to fix broken relationships and fixing them by standing up and being brave and apologising. Finally, we talked about our dreams and goals in the future and how we want to improve our lives right now.”
Keira Lane added: “We looked at how our actions affect others and how we should adjust our attitudes so that everyone is able to thrive cohesively together in a community.
“It was an enjoyable day, filled with lots of energy, which left us thinking about ways we should be more compassionate and inclusive.”
Head teacher Hetty Blackmore said: “Now, more than ever, building resilience in our students must be part of our curriculum and our challenge days give our students the chance to do this in different and creative ways.”