Bridge Building - THE TESTING

After two days of designing and construction, this afternoon saw the ultimate challenge for our budding engineers. Would their bridge span the 1metre gap? Would their bridge support the weight of a large toy VW Beetle? Would the car be able to travel smoothly over the bridge? Did it look aesthetically pleasing? And finally, what was its breaking point? 

In front of a packed hall these tests took place with a variety of outcomes!

Choccos

Earl Soham Bridges

Busy Bridge Builders

Epic Earl Soham Builders

Big Busy Builders

Transportation

Bella's Jolly Great Builders

Crales

Golden Bridge Builders of Great Britain

The outcome was that every group was successful in one way or another. Ultimately, teamwork was vital and was apparent throughout this mini project. 

Bridge Building - The Making

As part of their activities week, children in Years 2 - 5 were given the task of planning and designing a bridge which would span a 1metre gap and provide support for a rather large toy car. The idea was based on the fact that the Orwell Bridge is likely to reach capacity in 2015 meaning that planning needs to be in place to build another crossing. 

Having watched a fantastic programme on how the Milau Bridge in France was made, the children set about their task. However, they could only use sheets of newspaper and PVA glue, had to keep company accounts (due to a limited budget for materials) and research bridge designs from all over the world too . 

Testing pictures and results to follow soon...

African Adventure Day 1 continued

After the hard work in the morning, the team were in need of some downtime, so we enjoyed a wide-game in the woods.

This was followed by a trip to the beach, where we had fun burying one another in the stones and seeing how high we could jump!

African Adventure: Day 1

We arrived safely here in Africa, after a long journey, at 10:00am local time. The UN team gave us our briefing; we have been brought in as an emergency relief team to provide much needed aid to Karyango village. Our first task was to get to know our fellow team mates, in a series of activities which required us to work closely together to achieve our goals.

Next we had to get the lay of the land by exploring our immediate surroundings. We set off to find out more about the situation we had been flown into. It soon became clear that there were a number of problems facing the village. Inside the village compound we discovered shell casings, indicating the presence of soldiers in the recent past. The huts were deserted, but had clearly been left in a hurry. Beside the village a minefield was roped off. We found a graveyard a few hundred yards from the compound, with graves of adults and children, the youngest just one month old.

We used maps of the area to further understand where we are.

Following our explorations we produced our own maps of the site, using natural materials.

A UN helicopter dropped an aid package, which contained a DVD produced by Abraham, a resident of the village. He told of the plight of his family and fellow villagers and asked for help to rid the area of mines, bring back water to the village and hunt for food.

Writer of the Week

Wall of Fame

Hi 5 Netball Champions!

Two teams from Earl Soham competed in the 'mixed' Hi 5 Netball Tournament at Stradbroke High School earlier this afternoon. Having turned up in time just to hear the klaxon signalling the end of the final game I was quickly debriefed on results and performances which sounded excellent...

It was great to be able to put out two competitive teams with one just missing out on 3rd place on goals scored and the other taking home the gold medals.

Yet again credit has to be given to the pupils for their approach to playing the game. It was remarked by a teacher from the school who finished 2nd 'what a lovely bunch of kids you've got'. And she was right - yet again, so very proud of you!

Big thanks to all of the parents for their tremendous support (one of whom took 254 photographs) and to Mrs Cardin and Mrs Robertson for giving up their Tuesday evenings to coach the teams to both enjoyment and success.

Mr Pearce - ice cream purchaser!