Scafell

Today everyone in Scafell has been developing the key skills we’ll need to become the next generation of roboteers, designing programs to make our robots do exactly what we wanted (well, sometimes!)

Fran from C-Stem came in with a set of Lego Mindstorm robots, and we’ve spent the day learning how to program them. We saw how robots are being used today in more and more applications – from the simple – hoovering the lounge – to the complex – building houses, making deliveries and driving our cars. In the future, using and programming robotic machines is likely to form a key part of most jobs, and so embedding key programming skills now is incredibly important!

It turns out it’s really hard to program a robot. Especially when the instructions aren’t clear and the robot won’t behave. Our problem solving was turned up to the maximum as we applied the simple things we learned at the beginning of the day and built them up into something much more complicated.

We started with maths – how many rotations of the wheel are needed for a set distance? Then, we moved on to moving forwards, backwards and making a turn. Eventually, we ended up making a shape with our robots, following the full process of being given a brief, designing our algorithm and debugging the program.

We had a great day and, even though it was hard work, we all felt very proud when our hard work paid off and we were able to solve complex problems by collaborating and thinking things through carefully.

A big thanks to Fran from C-Stem and to FOLS for funding the day!

This week, Year six have been revising and extending their skills in all areas of the NC programme of study for Geometry.  They can calculate missing angles in quadrilaterals, triangles and at a point of intersecting lines.  They are also pretty amazing at identifying parts of a circle; calculating the area and perimeter of parallelograms, triangles and rectangles; and estimating and measuring angles using a protractor.  All completed before 9am on Monday morning – there’s no stopping them!

Here they are in action:

This week, our year five pupils have been enjoying their first opportunity to prepare and serve a delicious two course meal for their parents and families in our brand-new dining facilities.  We are looking forward to inviting more diners to our special restaurant throughout the rest of the summer term.

This week, Scafell were learning all about how to create dens with tarps, ropes and pegs.  The first challenge involved making a taut ridgeline to support the tent.  We explored different ways to create anchor and tension knots; we carefully chose the locations of our tents; and then many groups used their imagination with natural materials to act as tent pegs to secure the shape and structure of a stable tent.  Well done everyone!