Lower Sixth IB Diploma girls spent Wednesday (8th June) in an Extended Essay (EE) Workshop, and Thursday and Friday (today) collaborating on their Group Four projects. 

The main focus of the EE workshop was academic honesty and the session sought to explore the context for good academic practice, referencing and citation, beginning with an exercise considering the characteristics of knowledge ‘then’ and ‘now’. The glass wall in the library provided the canvas for the girls’ Venn diagrams and scales. 

‘Sustainability’ is the Group Four project theme this year. Working in small groups, girls collaborated to design and test sustainable solutions to enhance the school environment. Girls designed systems to generate hydraulic and solar power, diversify the natural environment and harvest grey water. The process began with a visit to the School’s new Cople Playing Fields and clubhouse, where the project manager toured us and highlighted the sustainability issues that the site development encountered, including the provision and protection of natural habitats for wildlife. The apple trees, for example, are spaced to prevent interruption to the flight path of an owl, we learnt. 

At the end of Friday afternoon the girls gave group presentations, a crucial part of which is the opportunity to evaluate the project ideas of others, and reflect on the processes and strategies employed from beginning to end.