B.V.A5

Rehearsals at the Royal Albert Hall

Our pupils are really excited to be performing at this fabulous venue.

Kings Road Primary School at BAFTA

Jonathan and Brook at BAFTA the night before the Be Very Afraid event.

Bonfire Building at Lake Meadows, Billericay

Scouts from 3rd Billericay enjoyed building the bonfire today in
preparation for the fireworks display this evening.

Comic Life for the iPhone

Sent from Comic Touch on my iPhone

Climbing high

Wickford Town Carnival 2008

There aren't many ocassions where the local community comes together,
so it was particularly enjoyable to watch the annual carnival parade
past the end of my road this weekend.

It seems bizarre that I get to meet people who live within 100m of
where I live, just once a year.

Qwizdom Learning Styles Questionnaire

Dabchicks Sailing Weekend

Wet and windy pretty much sums up the sailing season this year as well
as this weekend.

Peace and tranquility

As I contemplate going back to school tomorrow, it's quite nice to
reflect on the fun and friendship (both old and new) that I have
enjoyed during the summer holiday.

...and no, this isn't the plaice for fish humour.

Geocaching at Queens Park Country Park

iPhone Inclinometer

Check out this app! It uses the iPhone accelerometer to calculate the
angle of tilt. I thought the bubble level was cute, but this is fab.
My pupils will love playing with this... maybe I should rework my
numeracy planning for the first week back to cover angles?

Brightlingsea Pursuit Race - the GPS Trace

This afternoon, Cracker took part in a Pursuit Race organised by the Colne Yacht Club. Here is a simple GPS trace of the course using an iPhone 3G and GPS Tracker software by InstaMapper.

Beer o'clock

The seaside at Walton

Fantastic day for sitting on the beach or paddling in the sea. I
wonder how many people knew the coastguards were on strike today?

GPS Tracker by InstaMapper

I switch on GPS Tracker most of the time that I'm travelling these
days. I quite like the idea that locations and distances can be
tracked, perhaps for analysis later?

Homemade

My greenhouse contains an abundance of ripe tomatoes so this morning I used some to make tomato soup. I added home grown potatoes and basil.

After eating, I now know what tomato soup should taste like. Simply delicious.

A 'Cracker' morning

Waking up on the last day of Cowes Week, expecting rain only to be
greeted with blue skies and sunshine.

Cowes Week Fireworks 2008

Driving South live at Cowes, Shepards Wharf

Essex Jamboree Closing Ceremony

11,000 Scouts, Guides and Leaders at the end of an amazing week-long International camp.

More pond dipping with Luke and Ben

Scouts Pond Dipping at Fingringhoe

Kings Road Primary School Choir

Google Earth experiment

Brook has begun exploring the intricacies of Google Earth. He discovered that the London area has photographs of various sights in London and so he was keen to add a photograph to the map showing Kings Road Primary School. Here is the photograph he took. Watch this space!

Caribbean driftwood

Our inspiration for painting driftwood designs came from my visit to the Cayman Islands last year where I sat in a resort bar and looked up.



Can you spot the similarities?

Shelter building

Whilst reading the fabulous book, Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo, our pupils re-enacted and tried to imagine surviving on a deserted island. They determined they needed food, water and shelter, but what else would you want with you?

Cracker IMX 40 at Cowes

We returned to Shepards Wharf after completing the Round the Island Race in record time. The crew and boat came back in one piece, unlike so many other boats one of which sank, another capsized and the rest with broken masts and the like. We got off lightly with just (!) a torn spinnaker sail which didn't quite stand up to the 24knots of wind.

....and whilst we have tied up, had showers and had a few drinks to rest and recuperate, other boats are still finishing.

Backwoods Cooking and firelighting

Scouts at 3rd Billericay learnt how to light fires using nothing more than cotton wool and a flint and steel. Scouts prepared jacket potatoes, chicken drumsticks, sausages, fish, baked apples, and chocolate bananas for cooking on the fire. If you think that sounds delicious, it really was!

The outdoor classroom - Danbury Park

Year 3 pupils visit Danbury Park today and find themselves reinforcing their understanding of the Core Values of Kings Road Primary school. As one of the rangers commented with wide open arms, "This is your classroom" and he was exactly right.

The children came alive when they began building shelters, jumping across streams and collecting leaves and moss for their nature weaving frames.

A bridge too far?

A bridge over troubled water?

Eco Warriors lead the school in going 'green'

One of the newest clubs at Kings Road Primary School is the Eco-Warriors. This club is open to Year 2 children who are learning about energy saving, energy conservation and recycling.

Here, the pupils are planting their seedlings into the new raised beds - another new addition to the school.

Pupils are continually amazed at the extensive root system when they remove the seedlings from their pots. Pupils lack opportunities outside school to discover for themselves how plants grow, which is even more reason why Kings Road Primary School are working so hard ensure pupils have practical opportunities to learn about plants within the curriculum.

Early morning at Shepards Wharf marina, Cowes

Day 2 of the RORC IRC National Championships here in the Solent. After sleeping up on deck overnight, the 11 strong team woke to a sunny, blue sky morning. I wish I could wake up every morning in exactly the same way. So peaceful.

Pioneering project

One of the highlights of the scouting calendar is the construction of pioneering project. This year we made a climbing frame with tyres for clambering across. This could only be achieved with the pioneering skills developed over the past few weeks. A range of knots and lashings held the two A frames together.

Homegrown

Imagine the delight as I discover a fully fledged cauliflower growing
in my garden! A perfect end (?) to a long day.

Sun is laughing

Rock o mint

Sherbet

Chocolate eggs

Dulux

Paul Disley got a soakin' at Summer Fayre

Chocolate box

Chocolate box

Caramel deluxe

Adventure bar

Steam Power

We have been learning about how a steam engine works.

Fields of gold

What a stunning scene.