Inaugural IB Outreach Event with Local Schools a Great Success
Students From North Devon Collaborate in Fun Crisis Management Event
High Octane Event Brings Together Students from North Devon
Saturday 28 January saw first the IB-Curious Crisis Management Exercise take place in the West Buckland Library. Students from Year 10 and 11 from Pilton Community College, The Park Community School, Bideford College and West Buckland School took part in an intense morning’s work. Participants were tasked with finding solutions to a major humanitarian crisis – a sudden influx of refugees into North Devon. How would all of the problems of housing, health, policing, education, human rights – and that was just the start of it – be managed in an impossibly short time?
How to Communicate Effectively in 90 Seconds
The participants each had under three hours to research, agenda-set, prioritise and communicate their solutions. To add to the difficulty, they were divided into groups which only had limited communication with each other: the police, the North Devon Council, the UN High Commission on Refugees, and the sceptical voice of Migration Watch. The final task was to express their priorities to the other groups in a speech which could only last 90 seconds!
Important skills of critical thinking, communication and prioritising
Everybody involved had a richly rewarding morning – ably led by the Year 12 Student Chairs who helped guide the participants through the Exercise. Great job to all four Chairs who did a brilliant leadership and feedback job: Lucy Allix, Alex Gard, Tom and Viktoriia.
Everyone involved in organising the day was thrilled with how all the Year 10s and 11s engaged with such a complex role-play. These skills of critical thinking; agenda-setting; inquiry; communication; prioritising – all under pressure are at the heart of the approach to learning in the West Buckland IB philosophy. Our Head Boy, Jono, commented particularly on how much more capable and mature the students seemed than their calendar age.
Many thanks to Mr Wilson for organising the day and to Ms Cartmell, Ms Corbin, Ms Estevez Martinez, Mr Paler and Mr Robinson for their help on the day.
