Friday Headlines
the weekly newsletter from EHS
Year 9 Higher Project
13 November 2020
The Higher Project is a one-year course offered in Year 9, where we were given the chance to plan, manage, develop and review a project of our own devising.
This project could literally have been about anything on the planet, and we all chose very different things to explore.
This project was excellent preparation for the challenges that we are facing at GCSE level in Year 10.
We learnt and improved a whole range of skills including how to complete independent research, finding guests for interviews and developing our analytical writing, editing and proof reading skills.
We also learnt the pitfalls of asking bad questions on a questionnaire meansing you get no useful data. We also had the realisation that not everyone you contact will give you an interview or even reply to your query. And we also gained the knowledge that a deadline actually is a deadline and we had to get everything in on time.
We took ownership of our projects over the course of the year, gradually building up a portfolio work. Finalists were chosen to present projects to a panel of judges to decide the winner of the Higher Project Cup.
However, it was not just learning about our topic that was important. The Higher Project also encourages you to learn about yourself. We understood what our strengths and weaknesses were and we could improve upon these as the project progressed. We are really proud of our final portfolios and proud of ourselves for persevering with the project alongside our studies. It is stressful at times but definitely worth it and we are already looking ahead to the Extended Project that we can do in Sixth form. We are already thinking about ideas we could research.
We have thoroughly enjoyed taking part and hope that Miss Hayday and Miss O’Hare will enjoy working with the new Year 9.
Over the next few weeks we will give you an insight in to the finalists projects and the most fascinating things that they found out during their study...
LUCY
My project was on the effects of tourism on Cambodia following the Pol Pots regime and in particular the impact following war tourism on Cambodia. I chose this topic because I visited Cambodia in the summer of 2016 and when I was there I was intrigued by the history and the lives the people who lived there had led. I talked a lot to our tuk tuk driver – a tuk tuk being the equivalent of a taxi driver. He taught me a lot about the country, including the fact his own parents had been killed by Pol Pot because his parents were teachers – which at the time meant they were feared as being too intelligent. My topic was challenging and whilst I found out some fun facts I also researched some of the more upsetting experiences people had. My interview with Manon from Clean Green Cambodia suggested tourism doesn’t just have a positive or negative impact on Cambodia- it is a pillar of the economy but we need to think to the future and see how we can make it more sustainable.
MONA
My project was on the downfall of the British Empire. I picked this topic because I think it is so amazing for such a small nation to become so powerful and achieve so much, but then to have a downfall and for everyone to forget about them. The British empire is the most powerful in history and it is remembered and honoured for its large, long lasting and far reaching sovereign activities that signalled in an era of globalisation and connectivity. An interesting fact I found out were that the British Empire was the largest Empire in the world and it actually took up approximately 25% of the Earth's land mass, leading over 458 million people, at its height in 1922, before it began collapsing. Ultimately I wanted people to realise that big things can still fall down and nothing lasts forever.
Year 9 Higher Project
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