Project Policy

A project is to be defined as a detailed piece of study or research, which the pupil will complete over a long period of more than two weeks as opposed to an assignment, which is a task that the pupil will do over a short period of less than two weeks.

The terminology is essential and it is important that we inform the pupils of the difference so that there is no confusion or assumptions that they are doing a number of projects throughout the year.

Intention
The intention behind a project is to provide the pupil with the opportunity to do in-depth research in their own time and then to present it to the class in the manner prescribed by the teacher. However, it must be kept in mind that even though we expect the pupil to do research and preparation on their own, there is still a need for direction and supervision, particularly in the lower grades. Thus it is important that the pupil receive detailed information about the required work and an indication of the supervision offered and evaluation to be done.

The project should be created in such a fashion that the pupil is able to access the sources available at the College; ie the library and the Internet. The project should not be of such a nature as to require specialist information, which is extremely hard to come by.

The teacher must not simply assume that information is available – the teacher needs to check on the learning resources at the pupils’ disposal, prior to setting the task.

Supervision
The supervision should be very controlled with possibly one or two lessons being put aside for preparation and planning, and, the entire process should be closely monitored with each step of the process being assessed or evaluated. This will allow pupils to ask relevant questions of the teacher, and to gain a sense of direction.

If a teacher intends for pupils to work at a project over the holiday period, the project should be introduced prior to the holiday period, so that any difficulties relating to the project can be dealt with, and keep in mind that the holiday period should be an opportunity for the pupil to recover from the intellectual challenges during the school period.

Frequency
It is highly recommended that each subject provide the pupils with one, or two, projects a year because it is pupil-driven and therefore it allows the pupil to make his/her own discoveries, and thereby accumulate relevant concepts/ideas. This practice will be valuable in later life, at tertiary level and in the world of employment, because this type of learning will be the norm. Projects should not be overly complicated, or set in an unreasonable amount of time to complete. The work must be, as far as possible, stimulating and not overly taxing in terms of resources.

Finally, it must be kept in mind that each subject will want to present a project to their pupils, so it is important that a project schedule be drawn up for each grade and for each term so that all the teachers are aware of the projects being given to the pupils and so that there is a fair spacing between the various subjects so that the pupils are not overburdened with too many projects at one time.

A schedule will be drawn up at the beginning of the term, by the Deputy Head: Academics,  from the project schedules presented by each subject. This will be presented to the Heads of Department and Subject for comment and approval and, once accepted, will be implemented for that term with as little deviation from the schedule as possible.