News list
As part of Book Week, author Andy Shepherd (https://www.andyshepherdwriter.co.uk) visited Byron House to speak to the children about her hugely popular dragon books. Her book The Boy Who Grew Dragons was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children鈥檚 Book Prize 2019 and long-listed for the Blue Peter Book Award 2019. The story is the third in the series and tells of Tomas, who hatched his own pet dragon, Flicker, from a dragon fruit.
This term Form 1 are taking part in the 鈥業nquiring Science鈥 philosophy project which explores how children can best be prepared by education to think critically and protect themselves from false or inaccurate claims. The project is funded by Ron Zimmern and the PHG Foundation. It is based at Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge, as part of The Bridge Centre for Research Translation and Oracy Cambridge, the Hughes Hall Centre for Effective Spoken Communication.
Dr John Maclennan, from Cambridge University鈥檚 Department of Earth Sciences, gave an informative talk to Forms 4 and 5 pupils on the magmatic processes that influence the life cycles of volcanoes. Dr MacLennan enlightened the children with an overview of the general tectonic processes and the importance of plate movement and convection currents that resulted in different types of plate boundaries. The talk was part of our specifically designed Thursday afternoon Enrichment Programme and ties in with the geography work Form 5 study on volcanoes: plate boundaries,
Form 3 took part in a Maths Faculty Afternoon, as part of our Enrichment Programme. The aim was for the children to work collaboratively to design their own board game with the additional challenge of including algebraic expressions as part of the game.
As part of our Child-led learning programme, children in each year group from T2 to Form 2 choose their own topic for one term per year. This term Form 2K chose 'South America' and visited the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge to explore the subject further. The children took part in a multisensory handling session inspired by objects from the Amazon and discussed points such as how the ancient Maya expressed their identities, what objects they used to show their power and what archaeology can tell us about South American ancient civilisations.
The U11 Boys鈥 Colts鈥 VII team showed skill and commitment to finish in second place at the recent County Hockey Tournament held at the Perse Prep. As a result they will be travelling to Gresham's School in Norfolk for the Regional Finals on 6 March.
Form 4 took part in a STEM Faculty workshop as part of our Thursday afternoon enrichment programme and had the chance to create a walking 鈥楻obot Duck鈥 from a Mindsets Kit. They had a set time to assemble a pack of parts, or basic components, for the basic two-legged (bipedal) walker. Despite having all the basic components, including pre-cut plates, they did not have all the final answers and their creative involvement ranged from investigation of mechanical variables to a re-think of geometry.
The Choristers embarked on two festive tours with the 欧美自拍鈥檚 College Choir prior to Christmas, the first to Aix-en-Provence in France and the second to the Netherlands. During their trip to the Netherlands, the Choristers also enjoyed some time sightseeing in Rotterdam at the Maritime Museum, as well as a stadium tour of Feyenoord FC.
Form 1 gave heartfelt performances of songs, dances and poetry all based on the enchanting book, The Lost Words by Dr Robert Macfarlane. The children became 鈥榮hapeshifters鈥 and 鈥榝luttering goldfinches鈥 as they breathed life back into many forgotten words. Head of Drama, Mr Tim Clarke, explained, 鈥淭he children spoke, acted and moved powerfully with one voice and were poised and elegant. It was about children excelling at being children鈥︹
The children in Form 4 visited Stibbington Village near Peterborough and travelled back in time to the year 1896. Dressed in Victorian skirts and mop caps, or breeches and cloth caps, the young Victorians were given identities of children who actually went to Stibbington School during Queen Victoria鈥檚 era.