Bedes Gifted and Talented Taster Day

Once again it was time for the annual gifted and talented taster day at Bedes. Our four eager Year 6 participants were champing at the bit as they waited in the office for their ride to arrive. Eventually we embarked, hoping for a day in which they would experience school in a very different way. The minibus was full of happy and expectant children, their chatter only diminishing as we entered the school grounds. Their expectations were well met. An English lesson in which the participants minds were enriched by the language of Shakespeare and in which they were able to act as witches and express both word and sound in order to create an atmosphere of discomfort. Then onto mathematics. The maths master had four cunning tasks with which to tease our luminaries. A favourite was the pattern sequencing problem. For the final fifteen minutes, boys were set against girls, the challenge was set: build the highest tower with fifteen pieces of spaghetti, sellotape, a piece of string and crucially, a marshmallow which had to adorn the pinnacle. After a sumptuous meal, the pupils took some well earned time playing in the school playground and on the football pitch. Science followed lunch. This involved harnessing the electrical properties of various fruits (lemon was the clear winner) when used with various metallic conductors. Plucky volunteers were also selected to hold methane bubbles whilst a chuckling teacher set them alight! The flames really were impressive! And so to the final lessons, a variety of languages, Japanese, Russian and Latin, were explored. Simple greetings, various interactive games and a game where everyday Latin words that are existent in our language were discussed and identified. As we journeyed back to our school, the minibus was quiet. Expectation replaced by silent contemplation, every child with contented minds, satisfied but now with a greater vision of what secondary life may be like.