BETT Asia

A group of Yr9 students accompanied me to the BETT Show, to explore the very latest in educational technologies. As well as playing around with robots, VR and 3D printers, we had two lessons in the Great British Classroom. One using data logging equipment to conduct an experiment into induced current, and the other programming a game using a Raspberry Pi computer. The students were buzzing with excitement, being in this professional high-tech environment, and have asked to return next year. They know there will be more cool tools to see, because they are aware of how fast technology moves forward.

eBook Authoring

One of our favourite apps, which is used across virtually the whole school, is Book Creator. This week, students were making media-rich books on subjects of their choice.

A wide variety of themes were represented, from travel guides, cook books, tutorial, explanations and short stories. Many books included sound effects, narration and video clips, with most incorporating their own photos and illustrations.

High Tech Nursery

These tiny people really have a good grip on technology. Using iPads to scan a QR code which takes them to a video of their teacher. In this activity they listened to teacher sounding out the letters of the word. They then had to find the cards to match what they heard - either words or pictures. 

ICT IGCSE Pacticals

I am so proud of my ICT students who sat their practical exams this week. Five hours of testing saw them manipulating databases, building presentations, writing formulas & functions, and creating web pages. 

Well done everyone - it looked like you did great. 

Music Technology

I've always loved to see technology being used as a tool for making music. No matter how 'musical' you think you are, or aren't, technology is one of the methods that can enable anyone to create and experience making music. 

Year 7 have been using USB keyboards connected to MacBooks to record their own compositions. Although I haven't heard the results yet, they all seemed to be totally absorbed in the music making process, and Mr Paul was very pleased with what they have achieved so far. 

Yr8 Animate

A whole day of animation, where teams battled it out to make the best advertisement using their skills in Stop-Motion animation. To get it right, teams had to consider the story, lighting, frame rates, props, characterisation, editing, sound effects, music, titles and much much more. 

This team chose to make a box of Lego come to life. 

Game Building

Intense concentration, advanced problem solving and tough personal challenges - that's what's going on in this Yr8 class. 

They're busy designing, coding and creating their own computer games using the Scratch programming platform. I had a go with several of them, and even though they were 'work in progress' they were still very playable.