{"id":5090,"date":"2017-11-19T13:32:27","date_gmt":"2017-11-19T13:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ab\/peps\/?p=5090"},"modified":"2018-03-09T16:19:52","modified_gmt":"2018-03-09T16:19:52","slug":"november-diary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ab\/peps\/2017\/11\/19\/november-diary\/","title":{"rendered":"November Diary"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Renewables Engineering Islay \u2013 November Diary<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Mentor Visit<\/em><\/p>\n

We were all delighted to welcome Neil Chattle from Rolls-Royce to the school at the end of October. He spent time getting to know the team and having a tour of the school. He gave a presentation to the children in the afternoon and they had an opportunity to see some of the materials and parts that make up a Rolls-Royce jet engine.\u00a0 We were all amazed that the cooling mechanism allows the engine to operate above it\u2019s melting point and that it would be capable of preventing an ice cube melting in a hot oven!\u00a0 Clever engineering indeed!\u00a0 Neil introduced the children to the Bloodhound SSC.\u00a0 Working in teams, the children then built model Bloodhounds powered by balloons and had a great afternoon trying to refine them to make them go faster.\u00a0 Coincidentally, Neil\u2019s visit was the day before the first public test run of the Bloodhound in Newquay, Cornwall\u2026..so the whole school watched as the car made 210mph.\u00a0 We will follow Bloodhound\u2019s progress with interest.<\/p>\n

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Children as Leaders<\/em><\/p>\n

Following leadership training, P6\/7 children have been encouraged to set up clubs for younger pupils so we now have a KNEX Club and a Lego Club, in addition to the usual football, table tennis and dance clubs.\u00a0 Maureen MacDonald<\/strong>, Headteacher, encourages us to promote leadership at all levels within the school. The clubs have been really well attended and we used some of the funding to purchase new KNEX and Lego material for them. Dearbhla says that \u2018KNEX club is really fun because you make something new every time and I am learning new skills to make cubes that are really tricky<\/em>.\u2019 Donald, who runs the Lego Club said that \u201cWe are encouraging children to use their imagination and be creative with the Lego<\/em>.\u201d Charlie is promoting teamwork by asking children to build small components of bigger models.<\/p>\n

After-School Clubs<\/em><\/p>\n

We have started an after-school club for children from P4-7, supervised by Jo Clark<\/strong>.\u00a0 Again there has been lots of interest in this and we are lucky to have the support of two senior pupils from Islay High School \u2013 Young STEM Ambassadors \u2013 to help us.\u00a0 It\u2019s great to have these young women to be positive role models for girls in the primary school. They have been giving children open-ended problem solving tasks where children have had to work together to solve a problem. Last week they were engineering a carrier to transport a ping pong ball down a zip-wire.<\/p>\n

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Tomorrow\u2019s Engineers Week<\/em><\/p>\n

Throughout the school we are continuing to promote engineering and develop engineering habits of mind.\u00a0 As a school we engaged with Tomorrow\u2019s Engineers Week. Jo Clark<\/strong> and P6\/7 found out about sustainable engineering and the 6Rs \u2013 Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Refuse, Rethink and Repair \u2013 to appreciate that the environment needs to be considered alongside any engineering solution and that any design needs to be both efficient and sustainable in terms of the environment. Matthew Campbell says \u2018We had to\u00a0 rank the 6Rs in order \u2013 I thought that reuse was the best one because things can be used many times are best for the environment.<\/em>\u201d They were tasked with building a \u201cHelping Hand Grabber\u2019 which had to have a reach of 1m.\u00a0 In Kate Brown\u2019s<\/strong> P4\/5 class the children looked at different types of bridge design.\u00a0 They then worked in groups to build some fantastic bridges.\u00a0 Already Kate could see progress in her children from the initial bridges that were built on the baseline build.\u00a0 In P1\/2\/3 Maggie Harrison<\/strong> invited parents in to join their children doing an engineering challenge \u2013 design and build a chair for baby bear, who had cruelly had his chair ruined when Goldilocks visited.\u00a0 Alison Logan<\/strong> and all the children in the Nursery have been making the most of the new resources we have bought for them \u2013 Kids KNEX and stories like Rosie Revere, Engineer.\u00a0 This week we are starting our joint sessions – structured play for pre-5 children and P1 and P2 together.\u00a0 Maggie and Alison will be working together on this; once the children are settled into this new routine this will be an ideal opportunity to share practice in developing engineering skills.<\/p>\n

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Thinking about Energy<\/em><\/p>\n

Meanwhile the whole school are continuing to think about how we use energy in our school and in our lives.\u00a0 Our new Eco-monitors are being vigilant about switching off lights and George Dean<\/strong> from the Islay Energy Trust is going to get the school some energy meters. The Islay Energy Trust is a community-owned charity. Its aims are to develop and operate renewable energy projects for the benefit of the community, and to reduce the island\u2019s carbon footprint. George will be supporting us with this project, organizing site visits for children and putting us in contact with different renewables companies that are looking to operate locally. P4\/5 are busy organizing activities for Switch Off fortnight \u2013 more news to follow.\u00a0 In all the classes we have started looking at the effect that our energy use has on the planet and this will be our focus for the rest of this term. Maureen MacDonald<\/strong> and Maggie Harrison<\/strong> have met the Parent Council and are promoting the project more widely in the community.<\/p>\n

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  Renewables Engineering Islay \u2013 November Diary \u00a0 Mentor Visit We were all delighted to welcome Neil Chattle from Rolls-Royce to the school at the end of October. He spent time getting to know the team and having a tour of the school. He gave a presentation to the children in the afternoon and they … <\/p>\n

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