Senior Department Notices and Reminders

Year 6 Open Classrooms

Following the success of the Year 3 and 4 Open Classrooms last half term, we would like to welcome parents of Year 6 children into school. This will be a relaxed event, held between 0815 and 855 on  Tuesday 7th March. During this time parents will have a chance to have a brief, informal chat with Year 6 Form Teachers and Co-Curricular teachers.

On the day, please arrive at the Main Entrance and join your child’s Form Teacher in the Great Hall where you can have a catch up over a cup of coffee and a croissant before making you way down to the North Courtyard where you will have the chance to visit the Art Room, Music Department and our newly refurbished DT workshop. Your child’s Drama and PE teachers will also be in the courtyard for you to chat to.

Mrs Wright and Miss Macpherson will also be available in the Great Hall for a conversation with you about your child’s co-curricular progress and pastoral care should you wish.

Back to School Essentials

Just a reminder of some essential items that will help your child get the most out of their school day:

• Fully stocked pencil case with pens; pencils; erasers; and a pencil sharpener
• Maths equipment: ruler; protractor; pair of compasses; and a scientific calculator for Years 7 and Top Form
• Simple water bottle (no need for expensive bottles that can be misplaced or lost)

With increased responsibilities and movement around the school, it’s quite common for children to misplace their belongings. So, please remember to name all items helps return any lost property to their owners.

News from the Senior Department

LEGOLAND – INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING

The pupils have been working since September on this competition, it is called the First Lego League Engineering competition run by the Institute of Engineering.

There were 4 parts to the competition.

They had to design, build and code a robot that would complete a series of challenges. The robot had to run by itself and used sensors and motors to be able to lift, pull, push, follow a line etc. This was the Robot games and we had to 2.30 minutes to complete as many tasks as possible against another team. There were 12 teams in total and the standard of the entries were extremely high, with a lot of older secondary school pupils taking part. The current UK champions happened to be one of the other teams in our heat!

They also had to design a project that was based around the idea of energy production, storage or efficiency. The pupils came up with the brilliant idea of a mobile phone case that produced energy just through the normal movement of a person throughout their day. So the case would have a solar panel, a dynamo and a piezo transducer, which created energy through vibrations. They 3D modelled and printed a prototype and presented their idea to a panel of judges who asked them questions about their project.

The third aspect of the competition was a discussion on their robot design, how they coded the robot, what issues they faced and how they overcame those problems.

The fourth part of the competition was about the ‘core values’ of the competition, which included teamwork, inclusion, innovation, discovery and impact.

The team did amazingly and we are really proud of how they presented themselves and their ideas to the judges. We didn’t win any trophies, but we don’t yet know where exactly we placed as we need to hear back from all the judging panels etc. This was the first time Beechwood have managed to enter the competition in person, the 2 previous years were ruined by covid!

We won 2 out of 3 of our robot games. Which is pretty good. And hopefully I’ll have the full results soon.

The team was run by myself and Mr Buddie. And we wouldn’t have made it down without Mr Griffiths driving skills!

Mr Fox

Well done Jack Wilkins

Over the half-term holiday, Jack was chosen to represent Hertfordshire Golf in their County Academy Breaking 80 Squad. This squad supports the County Under 14’s and Development Squads.

The goal of the Breaking 80 Squad is to:

•       Achieve handicap index lower than 12
•       Stroke Average lower than 85
•       Play more than 20 competitive rounds of golf
•       Average more than 30% of rounds on away golf courses

The boys’ county academy Breaking 80 squad will be delivered under the guidance of Lead Coach Laurence Allen (Verulam) and his team of Mark Laskey (Brocket Hall) & Freddie Russell (Essendon CC). The programme will be delivered in 6 x 3‑hour sessions throughout the year.

What a brilliant opportunity, we all wish you the very best of luck Jack!

From the Senior Department Library

The Blackthorn Branch by Elen Caldecott

Long listed for this year’s Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing, Caldecott’s latest novel is full of atmosphere and Welsh mythology.  

Cassie’s older brother Byron has fallen in with the wrong crowd – it’s soon clear these boys are wild, reckless and not human at all. They are tylwyth teg – Fair Folk, who tempt humans down into the dark places of the world. And Byron is tempted. When he goes missing, Cassie and her cousin, Siân, follow his trail to an old abandoned railway tunnel which goes down and down into Annwn, the underworld. Here they find that the tylwyth teg are restless and angry. Their leader, Gwenhidw, wants to protect Annwn from the damage humans are doing to the world. Byron is part of her plan. But Cassie won’t let her big brother be part of anyone’s plan, so it’s up to her to rescue him before it’s too late.