Engaging and extending middle years students in mathematics is a continual challenge. One of the aims of the "Australian Curriculum: Mathematics" is to ensure that students are "confident, creative users and communicators of mathematics" (ACARA, 2011). Use of mathematical models and/or problems has been suggested as methods of achieving this aim, and mathematical investigations have been shown to improve student engagement. This paper looks to build on these ideas and combine them with the framework of Knowledge Producing Schools (KPS) (Bigum & Rowan, 2009) to determine whether, when students are working on a community based project of their choice, students become "confident, creative users and communicators of mathematics" (ACARA, 2011). [This work is being funded by an Internal University Research Grant from the University of the Sunshine Coast.]