Jonathan's Mobile Blog

Hannah's Spacecraft

2010-10-20T14:40:00.000+01:00

Buffalo drinking at a water hole

2010-08-09T09:59:00.000+01:00

Addo Elephant National Park

2010-08-09T09:47:00.000+01:00

Homestead Weather Forecast

2010-08-08T17:47:00.000+01:00

Life in Leather, the Tanneries of Morocco

2010-06-02T11:54:00.000+01:00

Overlooking Fez, Morocco

2010-06-02T11:50:00.000+01:00

Bus timetables

2010-06-01T19:20:00.001+01:00

Mid Atlas Mountains

2010-05-31T19:52:00.001+01:00

Car Trouble

2009-06-21T21:53:00.000+01:00

My beloved MX5 reluctantly settled for a ride home on the back of a
truck this evening complaining of cooling problems yet again. Fingers
crossed it's not another head gasket failure.

Trains and bikes

2009-06-05T07:02:00.000+01:00

Since my car died earlier this week, I've been using other forms of
transport. Today I'm using my trusty bike and train. An invigorating
start to the day if nothing else.

Self and Peer Assessment in PE

2009-02-09T20:02:00.001Z

There's something about apparatus in PE that always excites pupils.
Today was the last in a series of sessions where children were putting
together sequences of movements. They had to demonstrate their
balances, rolls and shapes. They lived up to the expectation and more
as they finished by critiquing each others performances against the
level criteria. They were masters of it, particularly in their
rationale behind each award. Fab!

2008-11-18T09:51:00.000Z

B.V.A5

2008-11-17T13:27:00.000Z

Rehearsals at the Royal Albert Hall

2008-11-16T11:13:00.001Z

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

Kings Road Primary School at BAFTA

2008-11-01T16:22:00.001Z

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

Bonfire Building at Lake Meadows, Billericay

2008-11-01T16:16:00.001Z

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

Comic Life for the iPhone

2008-10-31T14:38:00.000Z

Sent from Comic Touch on my iPhone

Climbing high

2008-10-17T20:56:00.000+01:00

Wickford Town Carnival 2008

2008-09-23T09:43:00.000+01:00

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

2008-09-14T11:15:00.001+01:00

Dabchicks Sailing Weekend

2008-09-06T17:25:00.001+01:00

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

Peace and tranquility

2008-08-31T20:39:00.001+01:00

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

2008-08-31T14:16:00.000+01:00

iPhone Inclinometer

2008-08-27T16:05:00.000+01:00

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

2008-08-24T19:13:00.000+01:00

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

2008-08-23T20:04:00.001+01:00

The seaside at Walton

2008-08-23T17:08:00.001+01:00

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

2008-08-23T00:17:00.001+01:00

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

2008-08-21T14:46:00.002+01:00

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

2008-08-09T06:37:00.000+01:00

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

Cowes Week Fireworks 2008

2008-08-08T21:53:00.001+01:00

Driving South live at Cowes, Shepards Wharf

2008-08-06T22:56:00.001+01:00

Essex Jamboree Closing Ceremony

2008-08-01T20:24:00.003+01:00

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

More pond dipping with Luke and Ben

2008-07-29T16:02:00.001+01:00

Scouts Pond Dipping at Fingringhoe

2008-07-29T15:58:00.002+01:00

Kings Road Primary School Choir

2008-07-22T23:46:00.000+01:00

Google Earth experiment

2008-07-16T14:53:00.001+01:00

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

2008-07-16T11:53:00.003+01:00

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

2008-07-01T11:38:00.001+01:00

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

2008-06-28T18:55:00.000+01:00

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

2008-06-20T20:35:00.000+01:00

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

2008-06-20T13:32:00.001+01:00

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?

2008-06-19T19:54:00.000+01:00

A bridge over troubled water?

2008-06-19T14:47:00.000+01:00

Eco Warriors lead the school in going 'green'

2008-06-18T15:55:00.000+01:00

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

2008-06-15T06:36:00.000+01:00

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

2008-06-13T21:19:00.000+01:00

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

2008-06-11T18:43:00.000+01:00

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

Sun is laughing

2008-06-10T13:41:00.000+01:00

Rock o mint

2008-06-09T13:34:00.000+01:00

Sherbet

2008-06-09T11:48:00.000+01:00

Chocolate eggs

2008-06-09T11:44:00.000+01:00

Dulux

2008-06-09T11:39:00.000+01:00

Paul Disley got a soakin' at Summer Fayre

2008-06-07T22:41:00.001+01:00

Chocolate box

2008-06-06T14:31:00.000+01:00

Chocolate box

2008-06-06T14:25:00.000+01:00

Caramel deluxe

2008-06-06T14:17:00.000+01:00

Adventure bar

2008-06-05T11:59:00.000+01:00

Steam Power

2008-05-09T14:13:00.000+01:00

We have been learning about how a steam engine works.

Fields of gold

2008-05-08T18:08:00.000+01:00

What a stunning scene.

Cracker Development Weekend in Brightlingsea

2008-05-04T14:50:00.000+01:00

A development weekend at Brightlingsea consisted of winching Cali up the mast so that she could complete the task of marking the spreader positions on the new #1 and #2 sails before we applied patches to the kevlar and carbon fabric. Whilst she was there, she also lubricated the blocks with MacLube.

Luckily it wasn't me up the mast, or my phone!

St George's Day Jousting Horse

2008-04-26T18:44:00.002+01:00

Almost complete. The boys turned up on a sunny Saturday afternoon to put the finishing touches to the horse. They loved spray painting - it was almost as if they'd done it before some place else.. !?

Read about the winning success of the St George's Day Jousting Competition.

ANZAC Day

2008-04-25T21:13:00.000+01:00

Besides making a plywood cut out of a jousting horse for St George's Day, we also made ANZAC biscuits. ANZAC day remembers those in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corp who fought in the 1st World War.

Bird box

2008-04-25T17:37:00.001+01:00

My nephew and I built a bird box last weekend. He wanted me to put it in my garden, so here it is. I'd quite like to refocus the webcam on the box to capture any comings and goings.

Jenga Challenge

2008-04-18T17:36:00.006+01:00

So what do you do when competing against the Headteacher in a Jenga Challenge? Win of course!

We have been trying to find a moment to play our staff match for a while now. The children looked on and became immersed in the atmosphere and tension that was present. The pupils were very supported of both players and it was a delight to see their involvement. It was another reality check for them to see that teachers and headteachers are just as competitive as the children are.

Check out the children's faces as they look on.

(Thank you to Alan who took the photographs.)

Forest Schools Outdoor Education

2008-04-18T07:02:00.003+01:00

More images and explanation of the activities can be found here.

Ready for Swimming?

2008-04-02T11:14:00.001+01:00

Cracker passes the Millennium Dome

2008-03-30T10:39:00.000+01:00

As Cracker passes the Millennium Dome a few members of the crew reflect on our involvement in designing what went on inside.

We didn't have long however as the Thames Barrier was fast approaching. Helming along the Thames requires a great deal of concentration as you avoid shallow waters around the inside bends and fast moving taxi boats which move swiftly up behind you like an Audi on a German Autobahn

Lock-out at St Katherines Dock

2008-03-30T09:11:00.000+01:00

Cracker leaves her Winter residence at St Katherines Dock for Brightlingsea, but not before going through the lock gates.

Me Ol' Bamboo

2008-03-28T21:07:00.001Z

This is a game that we haven't played in years. Each player has a bamboo pole and instructions are given for players to move one to the left or right. They leave their poles balanced where they are and move on to catch the next one. The command "stay" means to do a full turn on the spot. Anyone who fails to keep their pole from falling is out.

3D Towers

2008-03-28T20:37:00.001Z

A problem solving activity during our Scout evening.

We gave each group 20 garden canes and a pile of elastic bands. The challenge is to build a tower as tall as possible. It must be free standing.

Pupils not stumped by ICT at the Essex Cricket Ground

2008-03-25T17:45:00.000Z

This evening I accompanied 14 youngsters from Kings Road Primary School to an after-school ICT Learning Centre located at the Chelmsford Cricket Ground. It's an unusual place to find a computer lab, but in partnership with Essex Cricket Club and Essex Advisory Service, a learning centre has been established. Over 6 weeks, pupils have engaged in a variety of activities from making CDs, through to producing comic strips using Comic Life and digital video work.

Andy, who runs the centre has been impressed with the children's enthusiasm and commitment to the tasks.

Under the floorboards

2008-03-24T18:11:00.000Z

I've been having problems with the central heating so I ended up
crawling under the floorboards to check for leaks.

Grow Your Own Sunflower Kit

2008-03-23T19:01:00.002Z

Inspired by the Enterprise Week at my school and our brilliant idea to sell Sunflower Growing Kits, here is Max putting the kits together for members of his family. They made great little Easter gifts.

Snowman

2008-03-23T18:58:00.002Z

I spent a happy hour or so helping build a snowman with my nephew, Max. It all became a bit desperate towards the end as the snow began to thaw. Quite a hard lesson for any youngster to understand really.

Winter

2008-03-23T11:48:00.002Z

A reminder that Winter is still here, despite nearing the end of March. Doesn't look like it will last very long however as it's starting to thaw already.

Learning Conferences

2008-03-13T16:49:00.003Z

Tonight I met with both parents and pupils to discuss the pupils' progress. I was delighted that many parents reported that their children had been talking more about the work they are doing at school and the learning taking place.

It struck me that our focus on writing learning reflections on the school blog site could be related to pupils sharing the school experience at home.

Could it be that the articles that have been written on the website helps to

focus children's understanding of what they have been learning, whether they have written the article or not.
remind them of the activities that they have been engaged in.
informs them about what their children are learning and therefore could be the basis of developing a conversation beyond the usual 'What did you do at school?' to 'Can you tell me what your creative story was about today?'

It's not at all clear at this stage that there is a link between the blogging work and pupils sharing work more readily at home, but it's something that several parents mentioned this evening.

Sugababes - Rave on ...!

2008-03-12T22:02:00.002Z

One word. Amazing.

Enterprise Week

2008-03-12T14:43:00.002Z

Today, pupils at Kings Road Primary School have an opportunity to buy the products that were produced during the excellent Enterprise Week. Here is The F Factor stall, with our sales team behind, selling Grow Your Own Sunflower kits, Easter Cards and Pom Pom's. Much of what was made is now 'sold-out', which should be good for our business model!

I'm looking forward to the evaluation session, looking at what worked well and what didn't work so well.

Joseph in London

2008-03-11T18:56:00.000Z

We've just arrived.... the show begins at 7pm!

District Scout Night Hike

2008-03-08T01:53:00.003Z

Team 4 from 3rd Billericay, Orion Troop before they set off on the District Night Hike. The scouts were issued with local maps and a route card, which they subsequently used to plot the route. The route took us from Runwell Scout HQ, to the village of Ramsden Heath, passing through Downham before heading back to the HQ at just after 11:00pm.

Being a clear night, we were able to use the stars to navigate for much of the hike, using the compass only to find footpaths which weren't easily identifiable.

Here are the results from the District Night Hike.

1st Team 4 (3rd Billericay) - 1150 points
2nd Team 1 (5th Billericay) - 1100 points
= Team 2 (2nd Wickford) - 1100 points
4th Team 10 (1st Ramsden) - 1000 points
5th Team 3 (3rd Billericay) - 950 points
6th Team 12 (1st Runwell) - 900 points
7th Team 7 (Columbus Explorers) - 850 points
= Team 5 (1st Wickford) - 850 points
9th Team 6 (4th Wickford) - 700 points
10th Team 9 (1st Runwell) - 650 points
= Team 8 (Columbus Explorers) - 650 points

Primary Framework, Guided Writing session

2008-03-03T13:32:00.001Z

The course today focussed teachers on developing Guided Writing opportunities as part of the Primary Framework. As we know, the Primary Framework builds on much of the work already done in the National Literacy Strategy, so we spent some of the day looking at some of the refinements.

The highlight was a presentation given by a Leading Teacher, Emma from Earls Colne, who demonstrated how Guided Writing was being run and developed in her own classroom. There were several aspects which I noted and will develop in my own classroom practice.

I was impressed to see how Emma had encouraged peer review and assessment of each others' work something which I do on a regular basis as an oral exercise. However, Emma had the pupils annotating and highlighting examples where pupils had met the success criteria. The children's books were 'alive' with comments and highlights, each one suggesting either success or areas for development / improvement.

We watched a clip from the Primary Framework of a class teacher sharing the Success Criteria on large sheets of paper around the room meaning that the children are able to access and refer to these throughout. In addition to these, there were also the indicators of success, like a checklist of things that needed to have been met to reach success.

Something that stuck in my mind from the course today is the shift from teachers controlling the learning to enabling learners to drive it forward for themselves. High quality teaching is now about providing the pupils with 'pathways' through their learning.

Scouts get a good soaking

2008-02-29T22:11:00.001Z

Later, one of the appliances was driven outside to the yard and several hose pipes were unreeled to give the Scouts an opportunity to squirt some water. Their challenge was to squirt water to move a traffic cone about 10 metres with the water from the hose alone. We used the smaller of the hoses to begin with before moving onto the larger hoses which required adults to help the boys hold the hose steady, such was the power of the water running through them. It was a chilly evening, so we tried to discourage the boys from getting too wet, with the promise of taking them back during the Summer to squirt more water on a warmer day.

Fire & Rescue appliances

2008-02-29T22:10:00.001Z

Scouts from 3rd Billericay Orion Troop visited Billericay Fire Station as part of the Community Challenge award. They gained an insight into the organisation of the Fire and Rescue service, how the various stations supported each other and how they also serve Stansted Airport in the event of an emergency. The Scouts were shown around the two appliances that are stationed at the un-manned Fire Station.

Forest Schools

2008-02-29T11:46:00.004Z

This is a programme to encourage schools to take their children outdoors, no matter what the weather. The presentation today talked about how children in Foundation benefited from outdoor experiences, looking at fallen leaves, acorns, jumping over logs, following a 'night-line', firelighting and generally getting very muddy.

There are often so few opportunities to get outside in the curriculum, that this initiative was about developing the curriculum around outdoor adventure at a very early age. I thought it gave children the experiences they wouldn't ordinarily receive at home, and for the older children, especially, give them real-life experience for writing reports, developing oral literacy too.

The main issues for enabling this to happen will be identifying a local woodland that can be used and how to transport the pupils to the site. The school who presented this session used parents to drive the pupils to the woodland which isn't necessarily possible for all schools. A colleague suggested borrowing a minibus from the local secondary school as an alternative solution.

Escape to Castle Condor

2008-02-29T11:35:00.002Z

To be honest, I found this presentation more difficult to follow, perhaps because I wasn't clear about the connection between the activity and it's influence on children's mathematical awareness. The programme was designed to support pupils with common errors that they made in the SATs mathematics test.

The stimulus of this work was the Castle Condor set of resources, which has been developed by the Essex SAIS Team. Pupils wrote playscripts and made storyboards for their stories and then performed them using a Digiblue camera to record the footage. I enjoyed hearing how the detective work was wide-ranging, from deciphering clues to taking finger prints.

Was the connection between this activity and mathematics about developing children's awareness of problem solving and investigative skills? If you read this and know more than me, please do comment below as I'd love to be enlightened!

Podcasting at Greenstead Junior School

2008-02-29T11:21:00.005Z

Greenstead Junior School have been podcasting using an iPod Video device with a plug in microphone. The microphone makes use of the iPod's Dock connector and therefore makes recording children's voices and sounds very easy.

The teachers reported that pupils weren't at all familiar with hearing their own voices played back and quickly developed their ability to speak more concisely without the teacher giving input. Pupils also improved the quality of what was spoken after several practices and wanting their recording to be absolutely perfect without coughs, sneezes and whatever else!

A portable speaker system was also purchased to facilitate the playback of the iPod recordings.

It was suggested the whole kit cost around £200.

There were lots of opportunity to share the recordings with a wider audience using the Podcast function of sending it to iTunes and having the podcast feed available from there.

I really like the idea of using a portable device to record the sound rather than record straight into the computer. Portability is really important, especially when you consider learning taking place everywhere, including outdoors. I'd also like to find devices which are a bit cheaper than the iPod's and as in any school, accessibility to these devices is crucial for success if pupils make decisions about their usage rather than planned in the curriculum by the teacher.

Cha Cha Slide some more

2008-02-26T00:08:00.004Z

It's not just the kids who have been learning a thing or two about how to dance. I've had a tremendously positive experience teaching it - an area of the curriculum I've not felt particularly confident leading before.

So why the shift? There could be a number of reasons,

1. I'm more prepared to take risks than ever before. Who says that when you teach you have to be right all of the time?

2. I didn't assume a leading role, instead sharing the lead with pupils who wanted to model some dance routines. I facilitated the session rather than controlled.

3. Having the benefit of watching model dance lessons and assimilating this understanding into a style or approach that sits comfortably with me and the children.

4. I used familiar songs:

- Macarena (Los Del Rio)
- Cha Cha Slide (Casper)
- Reach (for the stars) (S Club 7)
- Saturday Night (Whigfield)
- Candyman (Christina Aguilera)

Here are two groups of girls in my class who are performing their dance to the rest of the class.

A Common Whipping

2008-02-23T19:13:00.002Z

At Scouts this evening, we were showing the fine art of whipping and splicing a length of rope. Here is Luke proudly showing off his Common Whipping.

Orion Scout Troop Website

2008-02-21T23:46:00.004Z

I've just been revamping the home page of the Orion Online website. I've managed to find a way of taking a specific content label in a Blogger.com blog and produce an RSS feed.

Hanningfield Reservoir beauty

2008-02-09T16:20:00.001Z

It's been a beautiful day today, blue sky and sunshine. I've not been to Hanningfield Reservoir for ages, so I went for a walk in the conservation area. This picture was taken looking out from a bird observation point at the waters edge. Both the wildlife and landscape looked so inviting in the warm, wintery sunshine.

Pancakes: just read the instructions

2008-02-08T23:55:00.000Z

Here is young Tom, a scout who has successfully made pancake batter and tossed his pancake without it landing on the floor or roof beams.

Although this was a fun activity, we were training the boys in the art of reading instructions. Few followed them which left them making several mistakes, or should I say created several 'learning opportunities. It is a life skill, but in this day and age, is the printed text just not stimulating and interesting enough to read? What if the instructions were a podcast or a video tutorial? Would more have had greater success and neding less adult input?

Truth is, as long as it was food and somewhere close to edible, the scouts simply stopped caring about how they got there!

Junk mail ticketing

2008-02-08T00:59:00.001Z

I never ever imagined writing or even giving the time to a piece of
junk mail, but this one caught my eye. It's quite a novel idea but left me wondering if Royal Mail postmen are having to put these through letter boxes the right way round? Turn it the other way and the effect has all but disappeared.

Shared Reading

2008-02-07T13:34:00.000Z

There was a brilliant moment today when children in my class chose to pair up and share the enjoyment of reading with each other. This was totally unprompted by me as I was slow in discovering what they were doing. I took a sneaky picture of them working quietly, reading to each other and retelling the story.

Road Safety Talk

2008-02-06T11:15:00.000Z

Pupils were given a Road Safety talk by someone from Essex County Council. They brought along a model car and ramp which showed the effect of not wearing a seat belt after a collision at just 10mph. When the presenter asked the children how many of them don't wear a seat belt regularly, about 5 hands went up. That's about 20% of the class. It was staggered by the statistic when it is so well known how seat belts save lives. Incredible.

Pupils were clearly fascinated by the model. They all wanted to have a go which would have made the demonstration perhaps a bit more hands-on and bring about greater opportunity to remember some of what had been mentioned during the presentation.

Xserve power

2008-02-03T11:49:00.000Z

I'm simply staggered at just how beautifully engineered Apple computers are and I haven't even switched it on yet!

This powerhouse features 2 Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors and 4GB of memory, together with over 1 terabyte of storage space. Although this isn't my server, it is interesting to reflect back on my first WWW server, a Macintosh IIcx featuring a 16 MHz processor and 20MB of memory. Before I adopted Minnie the Minx, she was someone's work machine. Imagine having all that power today!

The ideal party playground

2008-02-02T17:15:00.000Z

Max chose the Hungry Horse ball park as the venue for his birthday
party. 17 of his friends came along too. The fun wasn't just for the
children as adults had a go too...

Sedan Chairs

2008-02-01T22:53:00.000Z

Scouts had quite (!) a lot of fun racing up and down the hall in Sedan Chairs having learnt how to tie a square lashing. Later, we gave them a bowl of water to carry on their laps which made the event all the more exciting. This is how learning something telatibely uninteresting can be made both fun and engaging.

Scouts learning how to tie a square lashing

2008-02-01T22:45:00.000Z

Colin Burrough, Scout Leader of 3rd Billericay, Orion Troop, shows the scouts how to tie a square lashing. This is training for completing the pioneer badge which we later used in a rather fun activity, Sedan Chairs. See above!

Happy Birthday Max

2008-01-27T16:32:00.000Z