Gifted and Talented Maths Day

Today, some of the most able mathematicians from Earl Soham, Bedfield, Creeting St Mary, Helmingham and Sir Robert Hitcham, Debenham, came together to enjoy a day of maths puzzles, problems and challenges.

They calculated how fast they could run in mph and compared their average speed with that of other animals; they built an array of 3D shapes from wood and masking tape, and studied their properties; and they solved some tricky problems to earn crystals in the Crystal Maze.

It was a fantastic day, and a great opportunity for these children to mix with like-minded individuals from their local community and begin to forge friendships.

Thank you to Mrs Lawrence and Sir Robert Hitchams School for hosting the event.

Getting to Grips with Computing

On Monday, a small group of our most able ICT users in years 5 and 6 joined their counterparts from other local schools at Stonham Aspal for a day of ICT activities. The children were given the opportunity to explore:

• Lego WeDo Construction sets, making programmable Lego creations; 
• Audacity - sound wave editing software; 
• Picasa - Image gallery and manipulation software;
• Scratch - a graphical programming language aimed at children;
• and an Unplugged activity in which the children had to think logically to solve a problem. 

As you can see from the photographs, the children had a great time and took lots of new ideas back to their schools.

Task Tacklers - Fireworks!

The 'Task Tacklers' from Earl Soham, Bedfield, Debenham, Stonham Aspal, Wetheringsett and Helmingham met at Debenham High School for their latest challenge.
During the morning, the children experimented with a variety of compounds to produce the colours for fireworks. They discovered that green is made by using copper chloride, red by using lithium chlorine, purple by using potassium chloride and orange by using sodium chloride. They found this out by dipping the tip of a wooden splint into the substance and then setting light to it using a Bunsen burner.Iron fillings were then added which saw the creation of 'sparks' to the flames.
After more experimenting, Mr Rockett and Mrs McBurney showed some fantastic 'explosions' using gas, washing up liquid and magnesium! Then it was time to design sparklers, followed by the making and testing!
There were some fantastic ideas as the children worked hard to get the mixture of glue, iron filings, magnesium powder and compounds right to have the desired effect. This meant a continual cycle of making, testing and evaluating as the children tried to improve on what they had done previously.
It was a simply great day.

Wingfield Barns Art Experience - Day 2

Friday 11th February saw the second meeting of the Debenham High School Pyramid Art Group, following on from their visit last term.

This time the focus was on a variety of printing techniques - with the outcomes shown below. Feedback from staff and pupils suggest a great time was had by all.

Art Day at Wingfield Barns

Five children from Upper Key Stage 2 spent a fantastic day, alongside their peers from other Debenham pyramid schools, taking part in a wide range of art activities at Wingfield Barns. This was the first of three planned sessions over the course of the year.
The children looked at the fantastic sculptures of Fred Watson, Carol Hodgson and Michael Lyons all on show in and around the centre. They used these as a stimulus for their work for the rest of the day.
Children worked in their school groups, creating 3D shapes by using tissue paper and brown gummed tape. This was carefully moulded around a particular shape or form. Whilst these were drying, the children moved outside, collecting items from the environment. These were then used to imprint on clay which was then used as a mould for plaster. The effects were fantastic!
The children then went back to working on their models and created some more 3D pieces to take home.

There's Something Strange Happening up the Road!

The morning of Friday 26th March, 2010, was a rather strange one. The events of the previous evening had resulted in reports of sightings of strange glowing objects in the sky and unexplainable noises.

An early morning call from Mrs Elliot at Laxfield Primary School saw four intrepid investigators set off to try to work out what had actually occurred.

They were met by a host of excitable children and the local Police Officer, explaining the events. There was a strange green substance across the playground and over the field. This strangely disappeared near the drain covers. A variety of metallic object were found scattered in the the school grounds, some which looked as though they had bite marks.

Special Agents Handley, Piper-Williams and Holland-Howes (x2) took samples of the green 'goo' to investigate further at school. I look forward to reading their findings...