What’s New? Entertaining School News Stories

School news doesn’t get more interesting than these stories; a testament to the hard work that teachers around the country are putting in to make pupils’ educational experience much more than a string of lessons (or algebraic equations!)

MERCHISTON CASTLE SCHOOL, EDINBURGH

Merchiston Castle School is on the MONOPOLY board!

This term Merchiston Castle School was delighted to announce that is one of the three educational squares represented on the new Edinburgh MONOPOLY board.

MONOPOLY, Edinburgh Edition, has been popular for 20 years and the newest edition of Scotland’s capital city was recently released.

With many educational institutions in Edinburgh, there was a variety of options to choose from, but we are very pleased to be represented alongside Edinburgh University and George Watson’s College. Other premium squares on the board include: Edinburgh Castle, the Scottish Parliament and Murrayfield.

Benjamin Thompson, Custom Games Manager at Winning Moves UK, commented:

‘The game features the great and the good of Edinburgh and is a love letter to Scotland’s capital city. We have been wonderfully spoilt for choice putting this board together.’

Mr MONOPOLY visited Merchiston in November and took part in Primary 6’s maths lesson, which was based around the board game. One of their more enjoyable lessons of the term no doubt!

PAPPLEWICK, BERKSHIRE

Theodore Gaidai in a pirate hat

The younger pupils at Papplewick were entertained on Monday, 12^th November when Laura James, author of children’s book Captain Pug, came to the school to talk to them about her books.

Laura was sure of the boys’ attention right from the beginning when she gave them a selection of cowboy and pirate hats, sheriff badges and bandanas to wear – all of which feature in her stories of Pug.

After Laura had introduced the boys to two of her characters, Pug and Fabio, she read excerpts from her books. Probably the best part of the morning for the boys was when she asked them to think of creating their own characters for a mystery book.

Headmaster Tom Bunbury said:

‘The results were certainly different – we had a hamster called Whizz who was in danger of being eaten by Archie the elephant but was saved by Bruno the detective!’

ST SWITHUN’S, WINCHESTER

Izzy and Stuart in the famous Lego Masters build room

Fourteen-year-old Izzy Barr, a student at St Swithun’s School in Winchester, is currently taking part in season two of Channel 4’s Lego Masters competition. The television programme offers Lego enthusiasts the chance to demonstrate their creativity and building skills in a bid to become the Lego Masters Champion.

Izzy wrote a letter to the show’s producers after watching season one, and was invited to an audition with her father and build-partner Stuart. After impressing the judges with a series of constructions, they were selected to become one of the eight teams competing in the new season.

A Lego enthusiast since the age of seven, Izzy says:

‘Building with Lego is my way of relaxing, and is also my main creative outlet. I like to tell stories with my builds, and I can let my imagination run wild. Even when my father and I are competing against the clock and the other teams on the show, I still find it all so much fun’.

Each episode of the show presents teams with a set challenge where they have time to plan their build, followed by an unplanned task that is a complete surprise. The losing pair are eliminated from the competition.

Izzy and Stuart performed well in the first three episodes, and her boarding house at St Swithun’s is hosting viewing parties with Lego man-shaped cakes and jelly for each episode. Headmistress Jane Gandee said ‘It’s really great to see the boarding community come together to support Izzy during Lego Masters, and we are all very proud of her achievements. We are looking forward to seeing how far she can go in the competition’.

For any budding lego legends, Lego Masters is on Channel 4 on Tuesdays at 8.00pm.

CRANLEIGH PREP SCHOOL, SURREY

Craleigh Prep celebrated Roald Dahl’s birthday

Craneligh’s Lower School decided to hold a Birthday Party for Roald Dahl’s 102^nd Birthday, which he would have celebrated earlier on this term, on their Book Night. Mrs Schutte, Mrs Diacono and 30 excited children joined together after school for fun, fancy dress and festivities.

They discussed a range of facts about Roald Dahl that they didn’t already know, such as: Dahl wrote in a little shed at the bottom of his garden; during World War II he was a fighter pilot; he wrote for about four hours each day; he never learned how to type and he generally based his characters on people he’d met in real life.

The children played games, danced, dressed up and drew amazing BFGs.  They also had a yummy birthday tea, with jam sandwiches, crisps and cake.  The evening rounded off with Mrs Schutte, Head of English, reading the first chapter of The Giraffe and the Pelly and me, a fabulous book about a boy who meets a troup of animals who work as window cleaners.

Finally, the children sang a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday that, we’re sure, Roald Dahl would have really enjoyed!

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