Racing Robots

Newport Juniors hosted another exciting Rushmoreable schools workshop this week based around the Lego Mindstorm robots that pupils had experienced during the BAE Systems roadshow. Working together Mrs Fieldgate and Mrs Giblen  from Wavell, set the challenge of pupils making and programming their own robots. Year 7 Wavell pupils acted as mentors throughout this day long workshop. Their advice and support was much appreciated by all the teams from the six schools attending. Pupils experienced the "highs and lows "of working with technology; some groups deciding to completely redesign  their robots having assessed their suitability for the challenges, others delighted in modifying their programmes to allow their robots to negotiate their way around the tricky courses.  Everyone had great fun working together and learning new programming skills with a variety of sensors. The day ended with a robot sports day- competition between the teams was fierce but friendly however the results are listed below:
Robot Flat Race Winners : Fernhill Primary
Square Dancing: Joint winners Hawley Primary/Newport Juniors
Zig Zag Challenge : Newport Juniors

Enjoy the videos and pictures! A big thank you to everyone who made the day a great success especially Wavell  School who kindly lent all the Lego Mindstorm  kits. These now might feature heavily on many Christmas lists including Mrs Fieldgate's!

She shoots, she scores!!!

Yesterday, children from years 5 and 6 took part in a hockey tournament at Aldershot and Farnham Hockey Club. Despite the cold weather the boys and girls ended up drawing 3 nail-biting matches and loosing one. A great save from Alex Williams and a tremendous goal from Joanna kept both parents (and Miss Cooke) in high spirits. A special well done to Kai Walters who was the only year 5 on the team. A fantastic effort from all the children. I am really looking forward to our next tournament! Once again a big thank you to all of the parents who provided transport and cheered all the children on.

Miss Cooke

Hunting for habitats!

This week, Year 4 have been learning about animals and their habitats. As part of our investigation, the children created 2 contrasting habitats for a woodlouse and observed which environment the woodlouse settled in.

The children had a great time finding the woodlice, creating different environments and observing the woodlouse's journey!

On our travels, we also made a surprising discovery as you can see in the picture!

Girls are spot on once again!

On Tuesday 8th November, the girls played the next round of the Hampshire Cup against Oakley in Basingstoke.
On a damp pitch and with only 7 players, the girls put on a fantastic performance filled with character and determination and moments of real quality. The hosts started well and were 2-0 up at half-time but we were not being outplayed and Joanna was a constant threat throughout. Mimi scored a great goal from all of 30 yards and Joanna bagged a well deserved brace to make the score at the end of normal time, 3-3!
Due to the light, both sides agreed to go straight to penalties and Billie did her bit in goal by scoring hers and making Oakley miss 2 of their penalties. Ellen and Mimi also both scored and it was left to Molly Smith to convert the winning penalty.
A special mentuion to the Yr6 girls who really took the Yr5's under their wing and all led from the front in their performances and well done to the Yr5's who didn't give up and gave their all once again!
Another superb result for the girls who have done themselves proud once again, making it a Newport double over Oakley and move intot he next round!

Squad:
Billie, Ellen. Mimi, Aleisha, Molly R, Molly S, Joanna

Year 3 Phonics in Action

Every week, year 3 take part in phonics lessons as part of our current curriculum. The purpose of these is to support the children in their understanding of the many different sounds in the english language. Here is a clip from Mrs Paul's phonics group to give you a taste of the different activities the children are involved in.

Newport sunk at CK

Newprt boys were sunk 5-0 on Friday night by a very experienced CK team.
The scoreline doesn't reflect how well they played as a team. Reece, our captain and most experienced player was injured just before half time and CK took the lead just after.
In the second half, the boys lost their defensive organisation and composure and conceded 2 quick goals. However Louie was on great form and stopped many more CK efforts.
Ryan was made captain and he inspired the others with some great tackles and blocks - including one in the face! With the team having conceded two more goals both teams were really tired. Kai and Josh both went agonisingly close to scoring which would have been just reward for their efforts.
Rupesh had a great debut after a tentative start and showed some great control and passes whilst Brook made some great blocks and interceptions when he came on in the second half.
The boys should feel proud of themselves, as they NEVER GAVE UP and were unlucky not to score.
Team: Louie, Reece, James, Brook, Josh , Jake, Ryan, Rupesh, Kai

Budget & Target Success at Building Challenge.

A group of year 6 pupils travelled to Westfields Junior school in Yateley to compete in a tough building challenge. Newport pupils, as shown by the pictures, proved to be excellent team players working quickly and carefully to plan their complex structure made from a wide range of different coloured bricks.

Only Meila and Liam, in their roles as project manager and site engineer were able to view the architect's model for only 30 seconds at a time! The rest of the team had the tough task of turning their plans to a model building. As with real life construction projects, tough penalties were imposed for extra trips to the architect's office and over/mis ordering the wrong bricks.

By using the skill of checking their balance sheets carefully throughout the task(just like we do with maths problems back in class), the team was complimented by the judge, Jane Sheridan of First Partnership, for having the lowest budget build however the team just missed out on a prize as it was a couple of bricks away from the architect's original.

Well done to Newport's brilliant builders: Liam, Meila, Mitchell, Leran, George and spokesman , Dominic.

BAE Systems/RAF Biomimicry Roadshow

Newport Junior pupils in Years 4-6 had a very special visitor who helped them learn more about biomimicry. Brains, a larger than average, robot was the guest star in the BAE systems/RAF engineering workshop. The "fact packed" fun show educated its audience of both pupils and staff in the fact that engineers use nature to help them develop new products that help us live in the modern world.
Most people are aware how incredibly strong spider web silk is however it can also reflect UV light. A fact that has been used to produce glass with a spider silk like material embedded into it that prevents birds crashing into the windows of tall sky scrapers.
Dolphins are able to detect a Tsunami before it can cause tremendous devastation , as witnessed on the coast of Japan earlier in the year. Engineers are researching how the dolphins do this and hope to copy it to provide an early warning device. Even the humble mussel has been found to produce a non toxic waterproof glue that has been copied by scientists and is safe to use in a whole variety of situations that need ecofriendly but effective sticky glue.
Year 6 pupils went on to participate in a creative nature workhop and a Lego mindstorms robot challenge. Guiding the little robots round a tricky track laid out on the floor required great team work and programming skills.
The afternoon ended all too soon but we hope Brains will soon come back to visit us again next year.

A delightful Diwali day (well...afternoon anyway!)

On Tuesday 1st November, Year 4 clebrated the Hindu festival of Diwali. This 5 day festival is the most famous in the Hindu calendar and is known as the festival of light. During Diwali Hindus also celebrate the new year on the 4th day.

In Year 4, to celebrate Diwali we made diya lanterns, designed rangoli patterns and created a raita dip.

A Visit from the Armed Forces

Before half term, as part of our learning about teeth, three dentists from the armed forces came t0 visit year three. They talked to us about the different teeth, how to brush them properly and what we could do to keep them healthy. The children were even given a pack which included a toothbrush, dentist mirror and disclosing tablets.... expect lots of pink/blue tongues at home.

The children all really enjoyed it and learned lots of different facts about teeth.