The Year 6 PYP Exhibition

The PYP Exhibition

Celebrating 20 years of the PYP Exhibition

This year we celebrated 20 years of the Primary Years Programme Exhibition. It was wonderful to have the school community come together, especially after the previous two years of having to do the Exhibition so differently due to COVID restrictions.

The theme for the 2022 PYP Exhibition was ‘How we express ourselves’. The central idea, developed collaboratively by the Year 6 teachers, was ‘Issues and opportunities spark creative responses.’

As a starting point for the PYP Exhibition, students were required to research their chosen issue to establish current information and solutions. Following this step, they built on their knowledge by researching and accessing primary sources. This experience helped the students to develop their research, self-management and communication skills, and encouraged them to think deeply and formulate additional questions on their chosen topic. A new solution, or an adaptation or improvement to an existing solution, was then devised by the students, along with a creative response to their issue. This became the focus of what was communicated on the evening of the Exhibition. To complement the core classroom activities involved with the Exhibition, students also developed a broad understanding of their inquiry unit within the specialist subjects of Music, Dance, PE and Chinese. Students designed a song or piece of music with Mrs Mansley that was in response to their chosen issue. In PE with Mr Connor, the students created a routine that symbolised their issue. In Chinese with Ms Liu, students designed a poster of their issue and translated its text into Mandarin. Dance time was used to create the dance that was performed at the Opening Ceremony of the Exhibition.

This experience helped the students to develop their research, self-management and communication skills, and encouraged them to think deeply and formulate additional questions on their chosen topic. A new solution, or an adaptation or improvement to an existing solution, was then devised by the students, along with a creative response to their issue.

To those people who are unfamiliar with the PYP Exhibition, I like to explain it as a ‘concert for learning’. Just like a soccer grand final or an end of year dance concert, it is the culminating experience of everything our students know and learn. The students are so proud of their work and really enjoy showcasing their knowledge and skills to the school community.

This was my final PYP Exhibition at St Paul’s. Each year I sit at the Opening Ceremony with pride and amazement at what our student were able to achieve. On the evening of the Exhibition, as I admired the students’ displays, I was reminded of just how capable our young people are. I also reflected on the amazing PYP Programme and how lucky we are at St Paul’s to be a PYP school. I am hoping to come back each year to visit this important event.

Corinne Day

Deputy Head of Junior School (Curriculum)