Miss Allison has left the blog in the safe hands of Mr Barker this week, let’s see how the term ended..

This time last year I was genuinely staggered not only by the amazingly creative and diverse ‘Cities of Tomorrow’ that were produced by classes and year groups on our last Teen Tech day but also by the fantastic way we all came together working towards a common goal. Could it be bettered?

On Thursday afternoon and Friday we came off timetable again for another Teen Tech extravaganza. It all started with Dallas and his colleagues delivering a presentation on Thursday afternoon. The theme was asking our young people to imagine they have arrived on a new planet and they are responsible for creating a kinder, smarter and safer place for us all to live. Our students were given the choice of designing a spacesuit to explore their new planet or a new, improved building for people to live, work or play in.

We all split into year/class groups to plan, design and make our fantastic creations during Friday. The Teen Tech crew came to have a look at our work during the morning and were really enthused by our innovations. Display tables were set up after lunch for the designs to be displayed before our show and tell assembly. Our assembly was a fantastic collaboration of everyone’s work with numerous real life spacemen and models expertly and enthusiastically described and talked about by staff and students.

What an amazingly productive day and a half we have had at the Learning Centre! A massive ‘thank you!’ to Daniel Wood for facilitating and organising this memorable end to the term. Here are some snippets from our classes about the work they have been doing..

• Year 13 have fully embraced this challenge. We have created a planet named Freedom 13, this planet will have happy people who are well educated with no poverty. We will have a fully self functioning planet. The students really enjoyed creating this and everybody got involved. Well done!

• Mrs Robinson and Miss Knox were amazed by the great ideas 12SRN came up with for their Teen Tech project. Once Covy had suggested we create a futuristic hospital, the suggestions for different rooms, wards and labs came flooding in. Joseph made some great hospital beds with famous people in them, Ryan, Sophie and Farhaana made cryogenic chambers for the people who were awaiting a miracle cure and Dyme and Bobby-Joe cut out and stuck down lots of bits and bobs. Sophie collected vegetation for the roof vegetable garden and Joseph fetched water for the rooftop water collection tank. The hospital also boasts a helipad, an organ room for transplants and a state of the art operating theatre with Mr Quinn on the bed. (Not sure what procedure he was having!) Miss Allison was also a patient on one of the wards! The group worked brilliantly together and we all had great fun!

• The Nurture Group and Hortus worked together on our project. We split into 2 teams with the Hortus team designing our village and the Nurture Group designing our space suit. We had a group discussion and decided on our space suit. We needed a water tank, oxygen tank, portable life support machine, liquid cooling garment, helmet, weighted boots and special gloves..

 Meanwhile the Hortus group constructed a underground complex on Mars. They went underground because the storms on the surface were too strong. They built a laboratory, living areas, leisure area and a 5 mile Forest joining the units together. The Hortus group added solar panels and wind turbines for power. For water the condensation from the 5 mile Forest is recycled and then distributed to where is needed.

• On Thursday and Friday, the Ebase 1 students took part in the Teen Tech activity, Cities of Tomorrow. This year the theme was “Space”. The Ebase 1 students made a fantastic house that sat upon the moon..

The house was fully self-sufficient and had a wind farm, solar panels, a water collection point that fed back into the house, farm animals, fruit trees and even a vegetable patch which was fertilised with human waste. Usayd did a really good job of gluing the fruit trees onto the base of the roof top garden..

Junaid made some really good wind turbines..

Sarah Jane painted the moon..

Ryan came in to give us a hand and really enjoyed making the waste pipe which would feed the vegetable garden with poo!

The students really enjoyed this activity and each received a certificate in recognition of their achievements and participation. Well done EBase 1!

• This week in EBase 2 we have been busy thinking up ideas of what we could make for our Teen Tech creativity task. We decided to make a space suit. Our thoughts developed from making just a super jacket to making a whole Martian with a jacket, wings and rocket jets for travelling. He now has a safety helmet, goggles a backpack and other fun stuff for making his life easier on another planet. Our students have worked really hard and got really messy with the staff to develop our Martian now named Marvin..

• 14VPK decided to escape from Brexit and live as one community in a place with lots of atmosphere. We live together at Peacock Court and our ethos is to work together in the onsite brewery and allotment, and socialise and sing together on our rooftop terrace, thus leading to great friendships and teamwork. We have not allowed any animals to go with us to our new home in order to eliminate any allergies that they cause. We are aware that we will need to be self-sufficient and will have a vegi-diet which we will cultivate ourselves. Our main worry though is that some people may resort to cannibalism but we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

• Mrs Brierley’s class..

I think it’s safe to say that our Learning Centre assembly was well and truly ‘out of this world’..

Well done to our students who successfully completed their first Bronze DofE practice expedition earlier this week! You can find out how they got on in Mr Taylor’s report here.

I’m handing over the rest of this week’s blog to our Year 13 students who went on the Calvert Residential so they can tell you themselves what they thought about their adventures..

• I was a bit scared of leaving my mum and dad but I loved being with all my friends. I did the zip wire, I was scared at first, then when I’d done it I felt fantastic ~ Ellen
• I really enjoyed canoeing. I was excited about doing it, I haven’t been canoeing before, I splashed Veronica, one of the Calvert staff. Me, Patrick and Mr Taylor jumped in the water at the end of the session, it was freezing!
  My group went in to a cave in the mines. We had helmets, torches and waterproofs to keep us dry. When we got to the end of the mine, we had to turn our torches off and try and make our way back out. Only me, Mr Cawley, Jermaine and Patrick managed it. I was glad to get out! ~ Lewis
• I did the zip wire, I was alright until I was about to step off then my legs started to shake. It was a big hill to get up to the start of the zip wire but I felt brilliant at the end, I’d do a zip wire again. I enjoyed canoeing with the girls, it was great being out on the water, it was peaceful and the sun was out. I enjoyed it but I looked forward to going home and sleeping in my own bed ~ Jade B.
• My best bit of Calvert was going on the zip wire. My first thought was ‘I’m not doing it!’ Then I did it and I felt really proud of myself because I’ve never done a zip wire before. I liked sharing a bedroom with my friends and I enjoyed the disco on the last night ~ Jade D.
• I really liked going horse riding. I’ve never done it before but I wasn’t scared. When I got off I had to brush the horse for about an hour. I liked the zip wire, I was a bit scared at the beginning then after I felt excited and proud of myself ~ Matthew
• My favourite activity was horse riding. I did it a long time ago when I was little but I haven’t done it for a long time. Someone helped me ride the horse around the paddock. I had to brush the horse afterwards, I liked doing that but it was hard work. It was good being away from home with my friends but I was glad to get home ~ Jordan Y.
• I liked going shopping with my friends, Keswick was lovely. I did lots of activities and I liked everything! I went horse riding, I was scared at first, the horse was big but I was OK when I got on as someone helped me by leading the horse. I would do it again. I enjoyed sharing a room with my friend but I was glad to get home too ~ Sophie
• The activities at Calvert were good. The zip wire was my favourite, I was a bit nervous as I got ready but I got an adrenaline rush going down, it was brilliant! The wheelchair assault course was fun. I had to drive over obstacles, I scared Mr Lawrence to death when I went over the see saw and I ended up nearly tipping into a tree! I enjoyed riding a horse and then grooming him. I rode in a carriage behind the horse ~ Kara
• I especially enjoyed the food, especially the puddings! The high ropes and the swing were good. I also enjoyed coming home to my PS4! ~ Kade
• I really enjoyed my week at Calvert, I enjoyed canoeing the most because we were on the water. I also enjoyed the night walk because you could hear the owl. The zip wire and the horse riding were also good ~ Sabeel
• I enjoyed Calvert Trust very much, I liked the zip wire because it was fast and made me excited. The canoeing was brilliant and the staff were really nice ~ Nathan R.
• I really enjoyed my week at Calvert. The activities I enjoyed the most were mining because it was adventurous and exciting; I also enjoyed the swing because it was very fast. I felt a bit nervous about the canoeing but in the end it was good. The staff at Calvert were very welcoming and polite and looked after all of us. The staff from New Bridge did a great job making sure we had a great time ~ Nathan W.

Well done to everyone! It’s clear to see that the zip wire was high (ahem!) on everyone’s list of favourites! To see all the pictures and find out more, please click here to read Miss Wright’s ‘Calvert special’.

I’ll leave you with a challenge from Mrs Needham for the Easter holidays – how creative can you be with Maths?

Have a lovely Easter and we will see you back at the Learning Centre on Tuesday 23rd April,

John

You can find Gavin’s blog for the school site here

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