This section is a standing item in our newsletter, where we celebrate success in our region. Featured in this issue are:
West Monkton C of E Prmary School, Taunton, Somerset - Janet Ross (Master Teacher and Primary School Teacher)
Children at West Monkton Primary School have enjoyed learning about and using 3D printers. Here is a report from the pupils.
"Our Year 5/6 class at West Monkton Primary School has been very lucky this term- we have borrowed a 3D printer! We started by watching the printer at work- it was amazing how the slices of the model printed and how the inside of shapes were filled with a supporting honeycomb structure.
Next we were shown Google Sketchup. Our teacher showed us how to create shapes, then how to use the push/ pull tool to change the shapes. It was quite tricky and a bit frustrating at times, but we quickly got the hang of it. We made lots of different things from houses to sofas, to dinosaurs, to a fish holding a gun -(but we had to be careful that there were no over-hanging bits because the melted plastic string would just fall down to the base plate).
We then linked the computer to the printer with a USB cable and printed our designs. Watching our own designs growing in front of our eyes was awesome!
If you are thinking of using a 3D printer with your class, our advice would be just go for it- You will be as amazed with the results as us!"
Tom and Jack
Mounts Bay Academy, Penzance - Simon Elliott (CAS Master Teacher and CAS Hub Leader)
Report by CAS South West Outreach Support
At the end of April, I had a lovely visit to Mounts Bay Academy, Penzance, where I met with CAS Master Teacher Simon Elliott, who is also an
Apple Teacher, an
Apple Distinguished Educator and runs West Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly hub. The school is an outstanding school which has good sized cohorts in years 10 and 11.
As an
Apple Distinguished school, every student has an iPad (1100 students) and all staff also have an iPad and a MacBook Pro. Staff are on the Apple teacher training programme, demonstrating using Apple technology.
“The Apple Teacher is a free professional learning programme designed to support and celebrate educators using Apple products for teaching and learning. Educators, build skills on iPad and Mac that directly apply to activities with students, earn recognition for the new things learnt, and are rewarded for the great work they do every day”. -
https://www.apple.com/uk/education/apple-teacher/
A good question that one may ask here, is how does the school manage all of these iPad and appropriate student usage, including social media and breakage. Here Simon Elliott explains the journey from the first deployment six years ago, when management tools were few and far between, through to today’s MDM, VPP and DEP tools from Apple that allow the academy to manage what the children can use, see and when. There is more information in this
UKEdChat article.
At
key stage 4, students follow either the OCR GCSE Computer Science specification or the TLM INGOTS ITQ at Level 2. The academy is considering the new TLM/INGOTS level 2 course called “Open Systems and Advanced Manufacturing Technologies”. The latter being very topical, covering units such as Microsatellites. This is relevant to the students as very close by there is the
“Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station
”. Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station is the world's largest satellite earth receiving station, located on Goonhilly Downs near Helston on the Lizard peninsula. This allows for students to draw correlations with their
local environment and to have relevant school trips - http://www.goonhilly.org/
As a part of the visit I was able to observe a CREW session (student voice), pupils were in mixed groups representing each year group (7-11) and discussed topical issues affecting them at school and within their community. Some of the topics on the agenda were:
- Digital Detox – no use of Digital technology at lunchtimes
- Social Media – etiquette and how to manage issues that arise, such as malicious messages
This visit showed the positive effects of the Computing curriculum on our students, and it was lovely to see all the year 11s working through the “
Six A Day Challenges” as part of their GCSE revision. Well done Simon!
New CAS Master Teachers
Welcome to the new CAS Master teachers in our region.
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