Written by Amy, Year 10
On 1st February 2023, OHS Student Ambassadors for Teaching and Learning took a trip to meet the Learning Leaders at our sister school, Northampton High School.
When we arrived at Northampton High, we were greeted in their Ideas Room with refreshments, which included a selection of biscuits and drinks. After we dropped off our bags, we were given a tour of the school by some wonderful Northampton High School sixth formers.
We were then treated to a delicious lunch before we went back to the Ideas Room. After 15 minutes of preparation time, we were ready to start our presentations. Up first was Flo (Year 7), Tendo (Year 7) and Abhi (Year 13) from Northampton. They gave a fascinating talk on learning characteristics. It was really interesting to hear how they had conducted their research and used their findings to work with staff to create five new key attributes for the Northampton Rose (one of their school logos).
Next, it was Druvi (Year 8) from OHS. She was presenting her findings on Year 7 homework management. Through her research she had come to the conclusion that Year 7s find their homework manageable, but could sometimes benefit from more instructions on open ended tasks.
Then it was Tvisha (Year 9) and Maria’s (Year 11) turn presenting their project “What effects reward systems have on student motivation and ambition?” This research follows the new house and reward system which was implemented at Oxford High School, at the start of the academic year.
Following their amazing presentation, Lilia (Year 10) and Rose (Year 10) at Northampton High School presented their findings on “How effective Google Classroom is, as a learning platform?” This highlighted, how our two schools used Google Classroom in different ways and offered some ideas that both schools could adopt in the future.
Then it was the remainder of the OHS presentations starting with Araya (Year 11), Bea (Year 11), Zed (Year 11), Taia (Year 8) and myself presenting our research on “Exploring how student behaviours in Key Stage 3 (KS3) and Key Stage 4 (KS4) impact summative assessments,” mainly focusing on perfectionist traits. I found it really pleasing to present the research that we had worked so hard on, especially as everyone was interested in the work that each other had done.
Following us, Angela (Year 11) and Haijra (Year 11) presented their research on “Effective study methods for essay based subjects.” Along with Ruby (Year 11), they had conducted this research and it was good to hear the voice of OHS students conveyed through their findings.
After the presentations had finished, we had a small Q&A session so we could ask each other questions about the research carried out. It was so nice to hear from others about their projects and it gave me ideas on how we could advance our own project. It was such a lovely reward for completing our research projects, and all in all it was a brilliant day.
On behalf of the whole group, I would like to thank Miss Steer and Miss Sissons for helping us and inspiring our research. Without their fabulous guidance none of this would have been possible.
