The ideal party playground

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

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

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

Scout Swimming Gala

The annual Billericay and Wickford Scout Swimming Gala took place this evening at Gloucester Park. Although our scouts did well, we weren't able to achieve enough points between the 6 scouts who participated in order to challenge the top teams. Maybe next year? Congratulations to Flo, Liam, Ben, Tom, Joseph and Ben who represented Orion Troop, 3rd Billericay. Peter Taylor, who was the Team Manager, did a fabulous job at organising the youngsters into their respective races.

Mechanical advantage - it's just physics

Scouts in Orion Troop learnt how to use levers and pulley systems to gain mechanical advantage. Although you never get something for nothing, some very little scouts were able to lift some of the heavier ones!

New blog entry using another mobile device

Hello world.

My Birthday Cake

Every year, it seems to be a tradition for an 'island' cake to be made for my birthday. I think it's something to do with my love of coconut which is the main component of the sea and land. It's stuck down with syrup which makes it properly yummy.

At Macworld 2008 BBC event, London

Here listening to Steve Jobs release new Apple products.

Programming with Lego Mindstorm

Here pupils are using control technology to gain a greater understanding of programming. They were set a range of tasks to complete from launching a liferaft to fetching a satellite. Looked like good fun to me with great learning outcomes.

Learner Voice @ BETT

Horse play!

Scouts on a hiking expedition came across some horses in a field which seemed to want to join us on our walk!

Tactile tools for learning

This lightbox is covered with sand and allows pupils to draw shapes, patterns and letters. It's very similar to my iPod Touch and Sketch app, except it doesn't email the pictures! Great for play in this particular primary school.

Jamboree Dining Shelter

We've recently benefitted from equipment used at the enormous 44,000 big Jamboree camp that took place at Hylands Park in Chelmsford earlier this year. Here, pupils at Stepping Stones have erected a dining shelter for use at their next expedition.

Polyethylene Oxide - "tubeless siphon"

Last Friday, during our science session, we played with a Polyethylene oxide solution which was dyed pink. This experiment is called the "tubeless siphon" and is an example of a non-Newtonian fluid, probably because it doesn't obey the usual rules. It is used it to illustrate the strength of the hydrogen bonds.

Here's how it works.

Simply pour the solution from one beaker to another. As soon as it begins to pour, put the pouring beaker into an upright position, as if to stop pouring. You'll notice that the viscous solution continues to pour or siphons into the other beaker. Clever, huh?

Watch the video! (shot from my mobile phone)

MacBook Pro gets hard disk upgrade

Upgrading the internal hard disk in my MacBook Pro seems to be a bi-annual task these days. The demand for fast, large data storage continues to grow at a rapid pace. I've upgraded to the Hitachi 250gb, 5200rpm disk, opting for faster disk rather than more space, that comes with the 300gb 4200rpm model. Will the available storage capacity be double that of today, in six months time?

Duke of Edinburgh induction morning

great presentation on good practice when working with children who have special needs.

Mixed aged teaching

Classes 4 and 5 are researching famous people using the Internet in preparation for writing a biography. This class of mixed aged children have been grouped by ability and it is a wonderful example of how children in the future will no longer be grouped simply because they share a birthday in the same school year. Thinking about it now, it sounds like complete madness that grouping children by age is indeed sensible or helpful for learners, whom we know, learn at different rates. It was wonderful to observe the success of this initiative, and see children brimming with confidence amongst their peers.

Train line is back in service for the first time in 12 years.

Max, who IS the most wonderful person in the world, helped me put my model railway back into service after 12 years of disuse. Everything was found exactly how it was left, and after some gentle encouragement, we managed to get some of the trains moving again. The whole track was built around the perimeter of the loft space in the family home, making it quite an experience for a little boy of 3 years.

Max had great fun playing with the toy cars which can be placed on a transporter, which took me back to how I had modelled this on my experience of using the French Motorail. One day, I might tell you the whole story of how our car ended up in a completely different place to us, the family, on holiday to the south of France.

Friend's Reconnected

Internet now restored after troubleshooting another broadband problem. I'm amazed that what is quite a simple process is made tricky by manufacturers. Most routes configuration could be automatic, and a wizard need only request username and password. Working with Windows is a tribulation in itself as you dismiss notification after notification warming you that life will end in 60 seconds unless you scan for viruses. If it's so vital, i'd rather it just got on and done it. No wonder i'm busier than ever helping people through the nightmare.

Millennium Wheel at night.

Stepping Stones are in London again. This time at the National Theatre to see War Horse.

3rd Billericay Scouts on the driving range

Scouts from Orion Troop developed their golf swings this evening at The Belvedere Golf Club this evening. We had the son of a former champion give instruction. However, what was more interesting was the way the scouts helped each other. Those who knew gave advice to novices. The smart ones exchanged advice for more golf balls, clearly they're not lacking in ingenuity either.

Lesley at Bedales School gives a talk on bees and beekeeping.

Stepping Stones pupils listen intently to Lesley. This is an example of where small schools utilise local expert knowledge from the community. Pupils have been studying evolution and adaptation. It's a wonderful model of learning.

One man MOT test rig

Has a clever gadget for testing the front wheel bearings and steering column.

iPod Touch and jailbreak

I've had my iPod Touch for just over a week and am completely taken by just how good the interface is. I think it's easy to completely miss how refined and usable it is, and how much engineering went in to making it really work. Thanks to ijailbreak mine now has a full suite of cool apps.