Notre Dame High School remembered Shrove Tuesday this year by making 1,480 pancakes in just two hours and then selling them to staff and pupils. It was a cross-curricular project, with the proceeds going to Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund.
Girls from the REdepartment designed an information sheet on the history of the day, which was given out with each pancake. The maths department worked in groups, each doing a PowerPoint demonstration at the end. They looked at the cost, the quantities of ingredients required and the number of pancakes that could be made in two hours. Their figures were remarkably accurate - the girls made the exact number of pancakes that had been calculated.
Twenty pupils from the home economics department produced the pancakes for the day before Lent. We had two trial runs, which resulted in pancakes that were almost inedible. I then gave the girls a pep talk, emphasising the importance of the day; that it was for charity, and that it was an enterprise activity. On the day they worked together beautifully.
The event shows how the Curriculum for Excellence is being achieved in the school. The pupils learned how to make perfect pancakes and improved their technical skills with practice. They worked in teams and each group played a vital role. The girls were proud to know their efforts were valued, and were encouraged to be responsible citizens because they were working for a charity.
They also gained confidence through working together, achieving personal and group success, and developing new skills and knowledge. Their enterprise skills were extended, because they were producing and marketing goods for sale. The day also helped to “make learning active, challenging and enjoyable”.
Susan Freeman
Principal teacher home economics, Notre Dame High School, Glasgow
