Charity CD Single created by LKS2 across the XP Trust to raise money for the WildLife Foundation.
In the Spring of 2022, year 3 and 4 pupils from Primary Schoolsacross XP Trust studied a cross-curricular expedition, ‘What a Wonderful World’ looking to answer the guiding question, ‘Why should we protect our beautiful planet?’
Our Learning
We undertook our expedition with the underlying purpose of highlighting, at first to our children, and then the wider community the environmental problems that we are faced with, specifically the impact of greenhouse gases on the melting of polar ice caps and rising sea levels. We did this through focusing on an area of the world known as Svalboard which is also the town where the core text is set. This part of the world has suffered the greatest temperature rise of anywhere else on the planet: a 6 degree rise in the last 100 years and 4 degree rise in the last 30 years.
To provide context and develop background knowledge, the first case studied centred around geography, locating Svalbard and comparing the two different localities focusing on geographical and meteorological differences, specifically topographical features as well as comparing the climate of both areas.
The second case study focused on the dramatic effect that greenhouse gases has on global warming and the impact it has had throughout the world but specifically focusing on the polar regions. Here, children examined many sources of data from scientific reports on air pollution to graphs and tables monitoring arctic ocean sea levels. From this, children then developed their understanding of climate change and the negative impact of humankind on it. To provide context of abstract ideas such as global warming, children undertook scientific experiments such as observing and recording ice under different temperatures as well as examining the different effects of having a thermometer in a closed container opposed to an exposed one. The second case study culminated in the children exploring magnetism and how that can help with recycling. A trip to a recycling centre brought this understanding to life for our children.
The final case study tied together all the children’s learning from the previous case studies and provided a platform to write their own lyrics to a Trust XP charity single. Here, they worked with experts on songwriting and drew on their learning from the literacy cycle that had a 3 week focus on poetry - using rhymes to construct rhythmic and melodic compositions. . During this time, the children evaluated and appreciated music throughout the decades to develop their understanding of melodies, lyrics and composition. Furthermore, they had the opportunity to create music in a class composition- using body percussion to represent a rainstorm and drawing on reused plastic materials to create the sounds. Finally, the children wrote their own verses to the chosen melody which resulted in them singing from memory with accurate pitch, singing in tune and performing with control and an awareness of others.
Final Product
Prior to the celebration of learning, all four primary schools came together at XP East
to perform and record the song with our experts, Geoff Hewitt and Alex Byard-Cooke. The children stood on the steps of the school’s auditorium and sang both together
and as individual schools. This allowed us to capture footage for the music video that was produced alongside the product by XPT Comms Crew. The single and the music video were launched by the children at the XPCC22 Climate Conference.
The schools then hosted their own celebration of learning by inviting families to come together and listen to the children performing the single. Children articulated
the journey of the expedition and presented key learning outcomes as well. Families were then given the opportunity to purchase or download the single and all proceeds were donated to the WildLife Foundation – a charity selected by the children and with whom we collaborated throughout the expedition.