3 months ago Posted on 26th Jan 2025 by Jonathan Lloyd Enrichment Friday: Debate Tennis Wow! Our debaters can get quite competitive! Whilst keeping to all our agreed points of polite debating, including listening with respect, being open to others’ views and speaking when it is our turn, the children turned simple debates practised last week into a tennis match! We decided whether we agreed with a ‘Choice School’ model (a school where children can have freedom to do whatever subject they want all day) or disagreed. Then, in our partners, we gave an opening speech backing up our main reasons for or against, before continuing with the debate rally. There was one extra rule: every time you had finished speaking, you needed to swing the racquet, giving the opponent an indication it was their turn to speak: a serve after our opening speech, a forehand or backhand after individual points, and a ‘winner’ to end our argument! It was a lot of fun.
3 months ago Posted on 17th Jan 2025 by Jonathan Lloyd Enrichment Debate Should Teachers have to wear a Uniform? It is official. Teachers should have to wear a uniform! That is the opinion of Enrichment Debate group who voted with a score of 7 – 3 in favour. Reasons included ‘children do, so why shouldn’t they?’ and ‘They would look a lot smarter.’ The group enjoyed debating, first learning the skills and structure of debates and learning to phrase debating as a ‘respectful argument’, and ‘listening by learning’ amongst others. Reasons to choose debating included ‘getting to argue in a controlled way’ and ‘having fun’ when they were asked. It was an excellent first session for the group and children were brilliant at collaborating in mixed-age groups.
3 months ago Posted on 15th Jan 2025 by Jonathan Lloyd No PLANet B Eco Posters This week, in art, Years 5 and 6 have been creating posters to back up messages about climate change they have learnt in previous geography units. We looked at protest poster examples and discussed some important vocabulary involved. Then we built up the skill of collaging before trying our own posters. Some of their slogans and sketches were impressive and two year 6 girls even came up with a chant while they were working: Stop denying, The earth is dying, There is no PLANet B! One world? Two world? No… That’s not reality.
4 months ago Posted on 20th Dec 2024 by Jonathan Lloyd Enrichment Friday- Debate Team 20.12.2024 Enrichment Debate 20.12.2024 The debate team concluded their fine work this afternoon, debating in teams after deciding their position on the given topic. Everyone worked in teams to form an opening speech, read by a nominated spokesperson. We followed by showing respect, taking turns to listen and acknowledge each opposition statement. The children (aged Year 2 to Year 6) were very impressive with their cohesive arguments, showing responses to each other’s comments. We finished with a democratic vote.
5 months ago Posted on 29th Nov 2024 by Jonathan Lloyd Enrichment – Debating Should we blame previous generations for the climate crisis? That was the question the debating team considering in our groups this afternoon. After making sure we all knew what a debate was, and how it should be carried out, we watched Greta Thunberg’s climate crisis video and were split into two teams. One team saying it was right to blame past generations, the other saying it was not fair. We shared our own ideas and listened to others respectfully. We had wonderful collaboration shown by children of all ages helping each other to read, understand and speak to a listening audience. It was a great start to enrichment.
5 months ago Posted on 20th Nov 2024 by Jonathan Lloyd Science Investigation – solubility (20.11.2024) Science Website Post
7 months ago Posted on 10th Oct 2024 by Jonathan Lloyd Arthog Day Four Day Four at Arthog Today, all the groups ventured into the beautiful hills of the Barmouth area, capturing amazing sights, challenging ourselves with a long and tiring walk, and testing our bravery as we had a go at rock climbing. It has been a mixture of peaceful, breath-taking and exhilarating. Tonight, we are going to try Nightline- this involved attempting an obstacle course in the dark with a blindfold on!
7 months ago Posted on 09th Oct 2024 by Jonathan Lloyd Arthog Day Three Day Three at Arthog What an exhilarating day at Arthog! We have been having tremendous fun in the water. Miss Bingham’s and Mr Matthew’s groups were very lucky, and got to use the (nearly) brand new giant paddleboards that managed to fit the instructor, teacher and ten children on at once. Several members of staff called this the most exciting activity they have known at Arthog- teamwork, skill development and brilliant games at the end. Mr Lloyd’s group visited the gorge and, in a twist, went ‘down’ it rather than the usual ‘up’ which was exciting. We begun with a slide, trod along the stones, lay down in the water and built our collaboration skills as we supported each other. As we ended at the beach, there was a swim to finish off. Some were even brave enough to try out ‘the washing machine’ which involved holding onto a rock face as the waves swept in. The groups swapped over for the afternoon, and tonight we are heading out for Night Walk. KODAK Digital Still Camera
7 months ago Posted on 08th Oct 2024 by Jonathan Lloyd Day Two at Arthog Arthog Day Two Today, we had two fabulous activities. We spent the morning learning about the importance of looking after our environment. This involved visiting the beach at Barmouth, collecting pieces of plastic and removing them from a place where they could harm the water and its animals. There was a surprising amount collected in a short amount of time. We were proud of making this little difference. The afternoon was magnificent. We saw wonderful views at a nearby estuary, combined two three-person canoes to make six-person rafts, practised our paddling, and headed out as a team. We had the flow of the water with us, but paddling was still a challenge. We were even allowed to stand! Teams became competitive over which boat the instructor’s dog, Woody, stayed in as he hopped from canoe to canoe! We finished with a big treat as we were allowed a swim- what a memorable day! KODAK Digital Still Camera
7 months ago Posted on 07th Oct 2024 by Jonathan Lloyd Arthog Day One Day One at Arthog What an exciting start! The children from Class 9 and 10 have begun their Arthog adventure. After a smooth bus journey, we have taken part in team games. This involved challenges such as making a bridge sliding metal rods in wooden poles and helping each other cross as we go. We then tried steadying one another to re-arrange ourselves into height order on a narrow plank without falling off. Last of all, some real resilience was shown while helping one another climb up onto a high platform. At least three children who insisted they could not manage it overcame their fears and succeeded. Before dinner, we went to the beach to explore, and enjoyed the beautiful views in the sunny weather. Our evening activity was orienteering, which was very challenging and great fun. After a chapter of Percy Jackson, we went to bed ready for tomorrow’s canoeing and conservation activities.