Dragons’ Den comes to Haybridge High School

If you’re looking for new and exciting ways of engaging your new year 7 learners then this is a fantastic example of how to do just that.

This post has been provided by Paul Evason from Haybridge High School. If you would like to speak to Paul directly for a more detailed chat, you can email him at pevason@haybridge.worcs.sch.uk

“Dragons’ Den has now been running successfully at Haybridge High School for four years. It is the starting project in Year 7 to introduce our students into the Haybridge skills based curriculum – Unlocking Learning. The skills based curriculum fits perfectly with the development of our Frog area. It allows us to engage the new intake in September and also introduce effective use of online forums and learning areas.

The dashboard

The forum

Students are directed to the Dragons’ Den Frog area to find out who the Dragons are and also what tasks they are going to be taking part in. The Frog page contains videos of good and bad Dragons Den presentations with advice and guidance on how to be successful in the project.

When the project is running there is an active forum to allow students to share resources and comment on how they are developing their own skills. This forum is used in and out of lessons as an independent activity, along with being set by teachers as homework. The forum area has demonstrated an alternative way for students to communicate and always interests teaching staff. There are numerous occasions where students who are quiet in lessons voice their opinions and thoughts on an open forum demonstrating their knowledge and also applying their learning.

Frog is an important part of all our Unlocking Learning projects. It always plays its part by pulling together resources and involving students. Other examples include the online voting for the castaway project and the online forums and administration of the Olympics project during the summer activities week. It is now considered an integral part of project planning and an excellent way to engage students in the skills based curriculum.”