This year students from Notley High School and Braintree Sixth Form are taking part in a project involving local secondary and primary schools.

In the Learner to Learner project students will be working together to conduct research in their own and other schools around the topic of ‘what makes students happy and achieve in schools?’ Students work within mixed groups of Year 8 and Year 5 students, working with students from across the six schools taking part.

On Thursday 27 November the project had its launch event in the Braintree Arts Theatre. During the launch students competed in some ‘ice breaker’ activities to get to know their new team mates and began planning their research for the year. Students have been encouraged to research into issues that they are interested in; one group has decided to conduct lesson observations to see what motivates students in the classroom while another group has decided to focus on the how the physical environment of the school can affect learning. Students will keep in touch via an online blog before their next face to face meeting at Honywood Community Science School in February.

The six Year 8 students chosen to take part from Notley High School are Sophie Mortier, Sophie Mannering, Holly Cresswell, Joel Griffiths, Callum Millar and Alex Reynolds.