November 2013

Nov 2013
The Form 5 children spent an exciting day absorbed in the wonder of words, when acclaimed young poet, Mr Luke Wright, came to visit Senior House. Mr Wright, who has appeared regularly on Radio 4’s ‘Saturday Live’ and tours the globe with his refreshingly irreverent words, injected real life and excitement into the day, demonstrating that poetry is very much alive and kicking in Britain today. The poet’s readings were received with laughter and fascination in each of the three workshops that he gave and the children produced some fabulous alliterative, metaphorical or biographical
Nov 2013
BBC News Technology Correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones and his production team spent the morning at St John’s filming a computer programming lesson with a group of Form 4 children. The workshop was aired throughout the day on 8th October on BBC News to celebrate the manufacture of the millionth Raspberry Pi, an inexpensive pocket-sized stand-alone computer to which a screen, keyboard and mouse can be connected. Now 18 months old, the Raspberry Pi is the inspiration of Eben Upton and his colleagues at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory. They had become increasingly worried by
Nov 2013
The Eco Committee’s highly successful new allotment has given the children hands-on experience of the plant life-cycle and is helping to instil a love of gardening at an early age. Lettuces and carrots were harvested at the end of the summer term and potatoes and turnips have grown in abundance over the holidays, ready to be harvested at the start of the Michaelmas term. The Headmaster, Mr Kevin Jones, and other members of staff were the lucky recipients of samples of the allotment’s produce and the committee members were also able to take the vegetables home to share with their families
Nov 2013
Two recent STEM ‘Wonder’ Afternoons saw all the children in Form 2 working collaboratively on an engineering challenge to design and construct wind turbines to lift an object at the same time. The children worked in groups, modifying their turbines as they tested the efficiency of their designs. The session started with the children discussing the science behind wind power. They learned how windmills work, with the wind flowing over the aerofoil-shaped blades causing lift, like the effect of air flow across aircraft wings.  The studied how the design of the turbine and the shape of