Today at Burnham Grammar School we are having a special Collapsed Timetable Day. This sees every student in the school working across different subjects with the overall project theme of Battle of the Somme to Armistice Day.

Each subject will be focusing on how it relates to the overall topic, with pieces of work, from poetry to art displays, to music performances, coming together to be shown at the end of the day for all staff and students to enjoy and understand how everything has come together.

Our team of student reporters will be roving throughout the day finding out what is taking place in each department and how it relates to the theme of Battle of the Somme to Armistice Day.

We will be posting live throughout the day.

A word from Mrs Wrycraft:

Here in the BGS newsroom we’ve been working hard to bring together all the exciting activities going on in the ‘Road to Armistice’ collapsed timetable day.

With fourteen different activities going on, there’s a lot to do and the group has split into four teams to make sure all the different experiences are shown.

A team of 20 dedicated reporters have been roving the school, asking questions and taking film – keep your eyes on the website to see what’s going on.

The group is trying out agile project management techniques to ensure everyone keeps busy, and so far we’ve been really productive!

 

Science Project update:

Today in Science students are taking part in different practical work and codebreaking. One class had to crack clues to be able to create instructions to a practical which they would later be carrying out. The groups worked on a variety of different biological and chemical experiments linking to the years between 1916-1918.

 

 

Design and Technology:

In DT students have the opportunity to create an object that relates to the days theme ‘the years 1916 to 1917’. One group has decided to create a man covered in poppies that they will make.

 

Drama group projects:

Most of the years 7’s are taking part in a group drama activity relating to cowardice and Private Peaceful. The Year 7’s were provided with different ideas of how to present their piece which they will later preform to an audience. One year 7 told us that there end goal was to put on a good performance which showcases their hard work. The teacher heading that drama class- Mr Banin- told us that the main goal; is to give the students an opportunity to look at a topical issue in more depth than ever possible in an hour lesson and to experience working with new people in a new enjoyable experience.

 

Art work project:

Poppies are a renowned symbol of Remembrance Day (November 11th). But why is this? The answer is simple: Shortly after the battlefields of WW1 had been abandoned, people noticed that poppies were springing up on the soil, soil that was once ruined by the marching of soldiers. Ever since, they have been used a symbol of hope and regrowth, a sign that something beautiful can grow even after a tragedy such as war.

Charities like The Royal British Region produce poppies made from paper that people can buy and pin to their clothes, as a reminder of remembrance. All money from the sales of these poppies is donated to families of soldiers in war past and present. 

The concept of using poppies in remembrance was made famous by the poem Flanders Fields, written in 1915 by John McCrae.

The Yr. 10 Art students have been busying themselves creating works of art based on the theme of poppies and remembrance. Although they are free to use any material of their liking, they have a strict colour scheme, red, white and black, which coincides with the hues of a poppy. They are free to work in any style they choose, including drawing, painting, and woodwork, all featuring poppies in some way, be it silhouette or sculpture. 

One such example is a small group of Art students creating three dimensional poppies made from wire mesh and tissue paper.

Many of the products were designed in the vein of the Tower of London ceramic poppy display that was exhibited from July-November in 2014.

They stressed that their work was centred on remembrance rather than war, and that they wanted to create pieces of commemoration, as oppose to the gung-ho compositions that people may expect of a project born of war.

Hopping on the art train were the MFL department, producing drawings in the cartoony style of Jacques Tardi, which depict a story of WW1 soldiers in the trenches.

 

Computer Science project

The Computer Science students have created a website dedicated to the Collapsed Timetable Day - they will be taking over from uploading the live feeds from the subjects during the day.

Go to bgscollapsedtimetable.wordpress.com for text, pictures and videos from throughout the day!

 

Science department updates: 

In the physics department they were experimenting with different weights and creating parachutes and dropping them. In Chemistry the students are making natural dyes using vegetables and herbs one student said “It takes a lot of attention but the end product is very interesting.”

In Physics the students are making parachutes to protect eggs that they will be dropping. The students were sceptical of how reliable the investigation was but found ways to overcome these and in the end created a working parachute.

 

Design and Technology updates: 

The students are making things such as helmets, guns and men out of chicken wire. One student, Abhrioop, said “We are staying persistent and making sure we don’t give upon our task and Tedward Salt said that the activity is very creative and he is really enjoying it. The students are in groups of 9-10 and together need to finish a full product. This project is pushing the students but will enhance their time keeping and teamwork abilities.

 

British Aviation in WW1

One of our year seven students has been doing research into British Aviation in World War One. Marianne has been looking at the types of aircraft available, to how they would operate during combat and the importance of aviation in the war: 

WW1 aviation sparked major development in airborne warfare and still has an effect today. It all started on 13 August 1914, when Lieutenant H D Harvey-Kelly landed the first RFC aircraft to deploy in WW1 at Amiens in norther France. Back then the aircrafts were basic, commonly a biplane in which bombs were dropped by hand. Nor was it safe, as ground troops were not experts, for they just shot at things that flew, regardless of what side it was on.

In the early days of WW1 aviation, aircrafts were mainly used for reconnaissance.

This proved so effective that steps would need to be taken in order to prevent the enemy from gaining an advantage. The enemy would need to be shot down.

At first this consisted of shooting each other with their service revolvers, but as the airframes became stronger, and the technology became more advanced, it was soon possible to mount machine guns. The age of air to air combat had begun.

The improvements also meant crews could carry simple hand grenades in their pockets. Recognisable bombs and bomb racks added a strike component in airborne warfare. This development took a sinister turn when Germany started long range bombing attacks on London, using Zeppelins and Gotha bombers. War was now on the doorstep of family homes.

Control of the air also became paramount over the trenches.

 

Maths project: 

In maths they have been working on decoding telegrams/breaking and intercepting codes, which links in with WW1. Most of the students seemed to be enjoying it and were working in teams. We interviewed four students from one of the groups who seemed to be very interested in the work. They thought it was really important because people lost their lives in the war, and codebreaking helped save many. The interview was recorded and we also got some great pictures of the maths group in action.

 

Economics project work: 

Down in Economics the students have been studying how the countries changed since WW1 and the money matters behind it. They are dedicated and said they think their subject did the most interesting work today. There are a few different classes who have been working in economics.

 

English updates: 

In the English department today they have been studying poems by Wilfred Owen in the period during WW1. The classes moved around, using resources such as the computer rooms. Some of the classes also made posters related with WW1.

 

French projects: 

The year eights, they were designing comics in the style of Jacques Tardi who is a French Artist.

For French we asked some of the year eights what they thought of their task. This was their response:

Priya Matta said: “This was beneficial as it gives us different and interesting ways to learn about French combined with Art."

Kieron explained: "It helps towards learning in French because it gives information about important people in France."

“It is interesting and fun to combine French and Art in a good mix. Learning new vocabulary to use in new context” said Dallas. 

 

RS work: 

Throughout the day, we found out what the year nines and tens learnt about how a sand mandala links to 1914-1918.We also watched how to make a mandala from sand which was sweep away to show that nothing is permanent. In RS, the students of years 9 and 10 were researching about mandalas and Quakers. Half the class are designing a sand mandala, and the others are making stained glass windows.