Whole School

Roboteers in Action!

 in Scafell / Whole School by

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!

Table Top Geometry

 in Scafell / Whole School by

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:

New Playground Equipment

 in Bowfell / Scafell / Skiddaw / Whole School by

This week, The School Council have been distributing the new playtime equipment that they have purchased on behalf of their friends so that we can be more active and have more fun at playtimes.

The items have been bought using funds raised by the School Council at events like our disco and our Afternoon Tea during the spring term.

The School Council worked together as a team carefully selecting equipment that they thought everyone would enjoy.

Thank you to everyone that has supported our fundraising events and well done School Council.

Wild Wednesday shelter building

 in Bowfell / Whole School by

Bowfell spent yesterday afternoon completing a set of challenges as part of their ‘Wild Wednesday’ learning. They worked in teams and were provided with a description of an animal. Each animal was hidden outside in different places for the children to find. The next task was to build a shelter for their animal. The children spent a long time engrossed in the activity, communicating their ideas, evaluating and changing their approaches as necessary, problem-solving and working as a team! They also spent time preparing our entry for the scarecrow competition we are entering at Countryfest in a few weeks time.

The Book Bus visits Levens

 in Bowfell / Scafell / Skiddaw / Whole School by

The Book Bus visited us today and the younger pupils had a lovely time, hearing the librarian read us a story and we all choose a book to borrow. This is a fantastic way of sourcing new reading material for school and the selection of new books is second to none! Thank you to the wonderful Library Service for all you offer to us.

Levens Pop-up Restaurant Returns

 in Scafell / Whole School by

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.

Bowfell Outdoors

 in Bowfell / Whole School by

Everyone in Bowfell Class has been enjoying our free-flow outdoor provision this week; with many children spending more time outdoors than in!!

Experience Easter

 in Bowfell / Church / Scafell / Skiddaw / Whole School by

We were so lucky with the weather this morning as members of St John’s Church community delivered a completely outdoor Experience Easter. First our younger children, then the older children travelled round 4 stations that took us through the story of Holy Week.

During the story telling, the children were engaged in different activities to encourage thoughtful contemplation. We held stones, made crosses, placed sticks on a fire and planted seeds. These nasturtium seed pots will be coming home for children to care for and continue to reflect on the importance of Easter to Christians all around the world today.

Thank you very much to all at St John’s who helped prepare and deliver today’s memorable experience.

 

 

Eco Team Litter Pick

 in Bowfell / Scafell / Skiddaw / Whole School by

Eco Team took part in the Great Cumbrian Litter Pick 2019 today, organised by Friends of the Lake District.  Despite the rainy weather, they were happy to get outside equipped with special monster litter pickers. At first sight it didn’t look like there was any litter to be found but on close inspection we found lots of small bits of plastic and sweet wrappers and collected a whole bucket full in the end. Well done Eco Team – a very good deed done!

Attendance Celebrated at Levens

 in Bowfell / Scafell / Skiddaw / Whole School by

Attendance at school was celebrated on the last day of the Spring Term.  We were delighted to celebrate so many of our pupils who have had good attendance this term as well as congratulate the pupils who have been registered with 100% attendance for the whole year so far!