Classroom-In-A-Box

As it says on the tin : deliver and install your instant classroom.

From start to finish I think it took 45 minutes this afternoon to deliver and put in place our new (temporary) classroom.

MIlbourne Lodge pupils meet : Sir Tim Berners-Lee

Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Milbourne Lodge pupils

This afternoon a group of our older pupils travelled to Wellington College to hear Sir Tim Berners-Lee speak .  We arrived early (which gave us a chance to have a tour of the wonderful new library at Wellington ) and were seated right at the front of the huge marquee. 

Having talked about his own childhood and education, how lucky he was that his parents were both involved with - and therefore introduced him to - computers and how he Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were all born in the same year at just the right time for the explosion of modern computers and computing, he then went on to describe his work at CERN and the advent of the World Wide Web.

Sir Tim spoke of how much of his initial work on the World Wide Web was completed in his free time - and of how he used a NeXT computer to create the first web browser.

Having spoken for some thirty minutes he then invited questions from the floor : Khusrau Islam (L6a) asked why he hadn't 'patented' the World Wide Web .  Sir Tim explained that had he tried to persuade people to pay for using the World Wide Web he doubted if he would have been able to get them to adopt the system : and there probably would have been other people trying to come up with alternatives. Timmy Parker (L6b)  asked him what had inspired him -  to which Sir Tim replied that he had wanted to find a solution to the problem that although the computers he was working with at CERN were physically connected to each other, they didn't talk to each other.  This was his challenge to find a way that what each computer could do could be shared

He spoke too of the importance of young people learning to programme, and finally of the importance of remembering and promoting the principles of openness and universal access on which the Internet was built.


At the end of the lecture he even took the time to be photographed with, shake hands with and sign autographs for our group.   Our thanks to Wellington College for the invitation and to Sir Tim Berners-Lee for such an excellent and inspirational talk.

Leo Zunz, Nick Woollhead, Mr Stephen Ilett

Finally, it was great too to meet up with Leo Zunz and Nick Woollhead two Old Milbournians (both currently in the Lower Sixth at Wellington College) who came to chat with us following the lecture. 

Talking Heads....

During Centenary Day the pupils of 4B interviewed Old Milbournians about their memories of the school.

There were two key elements : I wanted pupils to listen carefully to the answers they were given and allow the interview to move forward in the direction these answers took them, and also to remember that they needed to remain in the background and allow the voices of their subjects to be heard.

Sounds easy, but it isn't.  However, as you will hear from these interviews, the pupils did a great job! 

Milbourne Lodge by Tim Hale

Charles Fowler was a pupil during the 1950s - he remembers French school exchanges that meant he was fluent by the age of 13. Did you know that the 1R classroom used to be Mr Hale's office ? Interviewed by George Medd he also explained how the newly leased sports field was cleared of stones and rubble by lines of willing small boys armed with buckets.

James Bell was also a pupil at the end of the 1950s.  He spoke to Aneirin Horvath and explained how Saturday School gave him the chance to learn carpentry and did you know that Amber House used to be Grey House?

Richard Kinnerling was here in 1959 and remembers deep snow, and Bonfire Night. One year in particular it was really memorable when one of the boxes of fireworks caught fire!   


Dominic Sleeman is both an Old Milbournian and currently the Form Master of 2S.  Interviewed by Edward Bricknell he discussed how the school has changed over the years : and which teacher he best remembers, and why.

Dylan Jones was Head Boy during the early 1980s and is now the Deputy Head at King's College Junior School in Wimbledon.  He fondly remembers his time at Milbourne Lodge. In particular he recalls 'Arthur' the barber in Claygate, and being sent for a haircut by Mr Hale.




James Sorentino spoke to JeMin Lim.  He doesn't think much has changed over the years.

Oliver O'Callaghan-Brown is both an Old Milbournian from the early 1980s and a current Milbourne parent.  He thoroughly enjoyed his years at Milbourne, and recalls being allowed to drive the tractor to cut the grass in the sports field.

Phil Bailey and Tim Hale both spoke of their time living at the school.  Phil remembers the excitement when one of their trees - the tallest tree in Surrey - was struck by lightning and Tim speaks of how he discovered a life-long love for drawing and painting during Art lessons.

Thomas Van der Stichele left Milbourne just two years ago.    He thoroughly enjoyed his time - and named Mr Crawford as his favourite teacher .

Finally, all credit must go to our interviewers, Aneirin Horvath, George Medd, Edward Bricknell, JeMin Lim and Hyunsu Jeong.  

Centenary Day - May 26th

It was a glorious day on Saturday.  We could not have asked for more beautiful weather as we gathered to celebrate our Centenary Day.


The Headmaster, Mr Stephen Ilett, and our local MP, Mr Dominic Raab, formally welcomed everyone and planted our centenary tree (a beautiful acer) on the back lawn.

 

The Hall was entirely full of archive material, which Mrs Bawden has meticulously gathered together over the past twelve months, framed and put on display to provide a chronological history of the school .

Whole school photographs, report cards, school caps, awards, presentations, letters, formal documents,sporting achievements, school magazines.....


For those who didn't manage to attend the opening of the exhibition on Saturday, it is still all on  view and you are more than welcome to visit during the coming weeks.  Please just inform the School Office in advance if you would like to do so .

Our email address is office@milbournelodge.co.uk

Centenary Day was always going to provide a unique opportunity for parents, staff and pupils past and present to meet.

It was also wonderful to meet Old Milbournians who had been pupils even before Norman Hale became involved with the school.  It was  hugely appreciated that both Mr Tim Hale and Mr Philip Bailey joined us : representing the Hale family.

There is far too much archive material for me to do it justice in a few short lines : it needs to be viewed to appreciate the rich history of the school.

We've also recently discovered that a current pupil is a direct descendant of the Frewen family who built our school building as their family home during the 1870s.

During the 1990s Norman Hale was interviewed for a short video called 'Reach Higher', with footage of the school as it was then.  Total runtime is 27 mins. 

We played this footage on Saturday.  Quite a few people have since asked for a DVD copy of this production. They are now available at a cost of £5 each.  

 Please email sybil.cary@milbournelodge.co.uk if you would like to order a copy, and allow up to 14 days for delivery if we are posting it to you.  

Further photographs of the day can be found on our Flickr channel.  Click here to access it www.flickr.com/photos/mlcreative

Finally the ever-popular digital photography competition ran throughout the day.

Pupils were invited to loosely interpret the themes ' 100 ' and 'Memories are Made of This'

The 1st Prize entries are shown here. The winning photographers were JeMin Lim and George Medd.

Memories are made of this....

100

RHS Presentation to our young gardeners...

The sun shone on Friday, and at lunchtime the whole school gathered in the warmth to work together on our Centenary Potager Garden and await the arrival of the Royal Horticultural Society representatives who were due to present Mrs Bawden with our plaque. This marks the fact that we have achieved all five benchmarks in the 'Campaign for Gardening in Schools' scheme.

A feat achieved by only a handful of schools to date, as was pointed out.

Having walked through the garden and looked carefully and closely at everything which has been planted in the beds this term, the presentation was made. When Mrs Bawden asked pupils to put up their hands if they had helped to plant and tend the garden over the months, every single hand was raised!

We also received heaps of praise for what was described 'as some of the best evidence to date to support a submission for the Level 5 benchmark' and an envelope of vouchers which can be spent to further enhance our garden.  The presentation formalities were completed by Eileen Willetts and Suzanne Love from the RHS, with Mrs Bawden and our Headmaster, Mr Ilett accepting the awards accompanied by a small group of pupils representing all those who  have worked so hard to achieve this project. 


When Mrs Bawden launched the scheme, at the start of this academic year, it was her intention to create a permanent outdoor learning area that can be used as a classroom and enjoyed by every year group. This she has achieved within a remarkably short space of time. The garden will form a lasting tribute to our centenary year.

Our congratulations to all our young gardeners : and their 'Head Gardener' Mrs Bawden!

Make IT Happy 2012 - Competition Entry completed...

Thanks in no small part to a few extremely enthusiastic and talented pupils who have continued to work on our Make IT Healthy 2012 submission during the first week of the Easter School Holidays  (no names : but thank you Casper for the film and animation work ...Rafid too for your work in Google Sketchup)

Our first ever cloud publication has been achieved, as you will see from the flip-book version below.

Thanks to Yudu Publishing for their undying support.

Here is a flip-book version of our submission - which includes embedded videos.



Click to launch the full edition in a new window.


It's now time to take a break for the Easter Holidays : but we'll all be back before the end of the month with a host of new projects for the Summer Term of our centenary year.

Don't forget our Centenary Family Day on Saturday May 26th (1 to 4:00 pm)

Finally, a very Happy Easter from all of us at Milbourne Lodge School.  

Final week of preparations for Make IT Healthy 2012

It's the last week of term, and pupils are working continuously to pull together all the various projects we have undertaken to form our submission to Make IT Healthy- this year's topic for the competition. 

Make IT Happy 2012 is the 6th annual  UK-wide technology challenge for schools organised by the Parliamentary Internet, Communications and Technology Forum (PICTFOR), in partnership with e-skills UK, the Sector Skills Council for Business and Information Technology.

As a school we have focused on looking at healthy minds and healthy bodies : including projects concerning eating well, sleeping well, becoming involved in sport and dealing with bullying.  It's been a huge undertaking - but we couldn't have hoped for more enthusiasm and interest.

Well done to the pupils in our 3rd, 4th and L6th forms who have been the co-ordinators of these projects (the entries are from the age group 9 to 11 Years). 

Just this week left to assemble and then submit all our work.   

Healthy Living - Fruit Smoothies...

On Monday pupils participated in a 'Smoothie Making' day - to promote healthy living and eating.

This is our focus this term as we prepare our submission to the Make IT Healthy 2012 competition.

We hired the bicycle from Elmbridge Borough Council and set it up in the school grounds.


Garsons of Esher supplied us with the fruit - juicy strawberries, blueberries and bananas - and throughout the day pupils worked in small groups to prepare their own recipes for healthy drinks.

No sugar - just a drizzle of honey for those with a sweet tooth!

Pupils piled their fruit high in the blender and then pedalled in turn to transform their mix into a frothy smooth and delicious drink. It was wonderful to see how much everyone enjoyed their Smoothies.

The aim of the day was also to raise funds for the Red House charity - the Woodlarks Campsite in Surrey.  Drinks were sold at 50 pence each and a substantial amount of money was raised during the day with pupils and staff alike queueing to make their donation and choose their fruit.

Although Monday started out  grey and misty within a couple of hours the sun had broken through the clouds and we were treated to blue skies throughout the afternoon.

Pupils in 4a filmed and photographed the event and are now working to edit their footage using the iMac in the ICT suite.  

A resounding success and a huge thank you to everyone , especially Elmbridge Borough Council and Garsons of Esher for their support of this event. You can view footage of the day here - on Vimeo

Smoothie Bike - Monday March 12th

 

Form 1.... Talk Healthy Living

Before half-term,  Form 1 pupils each wrote a letter during their ICT lessons, to someone they thought wise within their immediate family and asked them for some 'top tips' about living a long and healthy life.  Again, this is part of our central theme of 'Make IT Healthy' for this spring term.

Recently we began to compile and edit these replies into a series of short scripts, which each pupil typed and learnt (!) before recording a short piece to camera in the garden today.

A lot of fun - as you will see.  How wonderfully and utterly natural everyone was in front of the camera.  Well done Form 1 - and enjoy.

You can see the results on our Vimeo Channel www.vimeo.com/channels/mlcreative

2012 Olympic Park - 4B take the tour....

Form 4B were treated to a tour of the 2012 Olympic Park at Stratford in East London this week.

For me one of the most interesting snippets of information I learned from our - very well briefed - tour guide is that tickets to the 'Park Only' will shortly going on sale : which I am led to understand means that even if you haven't got tickets to individual events during the Olympic and Paralympic Games this Summer you will still have the chance to attend and watch the events unfold on giant screens set up around the Olympic Park.

It's all very much a work-in-progress  right now and doesn't look very  cosmetically  'pretty' : however all the main structures (Stadium, Velodrome, Aquatic Centre, Basketball arena etc) are complete and the outline of where everything else will slot into place is clearly visible.

There's also the viewing tower : a mighty steel structure with a snaking staircase (some 452 steps I think) and a lift to the double height viewing galleries at the top. The stucture - The Orbit - was being 'unwrapped' yesterday.  It looks.... well.... different against the skyline!

In some ways it's wonderful to see the project now as a construction site : knowing that in a very short space of time the butterfly will emerge from its chrysalis.

There's a huge international media centre, and the athletes' village looks as if it's nearly ready.

The stadium itself will  be entirely surrounded by water, and the wildflower meadows should shortly become a thing of beauty.

Pupils who took the tour yesterday and also have tickets for events this summer are looking forward to be able to see the difference between what they saw this week and what they will see this summer. 

As well as the outline of the BMX area, we could see work on the hockey area and got a brief glimpse into the Stadium itself.  Apparently one thing yet to be announced is exactly where on the site the Olympic Flame will live for the duration of the games. 

Pupils got a chance to tour the entire Park, and took numerous photographs which will now be used to complete their project work on the topic.  We learnt more yesterday about the history of the site, and how our competitors have fared in recent Summer Olympic Games : and what we hope them to achieve this summer.

All in all a very interesting and informative day.  Once all the transport links are in place Public Transport will definitely be the way to and from the venue!

As ever you will find further digital photographs of the day on our Vimeo Channel just click on the image below to follow the link to  www.vimeo.com/channels/mlcreative

 

A little bit of toast.....

One Monday afternoon, the girls in Form 2  created a series of phrases related to living a healthy lifestyle - each letter cut from slices of toast (wholemeal of course!)

Having chosen the most poweful phrases, we then put them in order and created this short animation.

Just click on this image which will take you to our Vimeo channel link https://vimeo.com/35974260

Olympic Park , Stratford, London 2012

Go to work on an egg....

Remember that campaign? 

Yes - I know.  It ages me.... Anyway, as part of our submission to the Make IT Healthy competition in 2012, pupils in Form 4a have been learning how to use Photoshop. 

Recently, they have focused on taking their own image and turning it into an 'Egghead'. 

Lots of work with layers, and Opacity, Desaturation and Colour Balance ( OK - Color Balance as they say in Photoshop). 

It's a slow process, as to get a really good effect you need to work on these layers over and over again - tweaking and re-doing until you get the desired final effect.  Meanwhile, Form 3 continue to work on Fruit Faces : results here soon. 

PS : whatever happened to the 'Lion Mark' ?

Make IT Happy 2012 Milbourne Lodge

All during this term pupils are working on a submission to the Make IT Happy 2012 competition. 

Focusing on healthy living the projects investigate healthy eating, sleep, exercise, sport and emotional well being.

Good Luck Juho!

U6 Milbourne Lodge

We said a fond farewell to Juho from the U6 on Friday, as he's returning to Korea shortly with his family.

Ashness Bridge by Juho

The boys in U6 feasted on hot chocolate and slices of cake - organised by Mrs Bawden.

The icing on the cake showed one of Juho's paintings of  Ashness Bridge -  a traditional stone-built bridge on the single-track road leading from the Borrowdale road in the Lake District.

The view down to the lake from the bridge is famous - in fact it is said that it has appeared on more calendars than many other places in the Lake District.

Good luck Juho - and keep in touch with us all at Milbourne Lodge.
 
Here are a few examples of Juho's Art work.

Oranges by Juho

Food glorious food...

Wow! 2012 has arrived with a flurry of activity for every class at Milbourne Lodge. 

During their Art lessons pupils are continuing to plan the next stage of the Centenary Garden  - they will take part in a series of willow workshops shortly after half-term to create items for  their Sculpture Garden. Pupils have already spent the first few weeks of term planning these sculptures and designs on paper.  They are really enthusiastic and excited about the prospect of a two day  workshop - which will involve all the classes in the main school.  

Max Roberts

Rocco Frame

We're still awaiting the arrival of the remaining Coca Cola bottles so that we may continue to build the eco greenhouse - using a total of 2012 empty bottles. 


Meanwhile, during ICT lessons we have been focusing on healthy living : it's all part of our forthcoming submission to the UK wide  Make IT Healthy competition.

Angelina Kim

We've investigated food groups, and the 'Eat Well Plate ' and pupils in Forms 1R and 1S used some basic Photoshop tools  (and some Googly Eyes) to create 'friendly' fruit and vegetables. 

Zubin Khan

I was really  impressed by their interest in many different types of fruits and vegetables.








Forms 2K and 2S looked closely at food labelling and the 'traffic light system' as well as creating anamorphic images using basic healthy foods as their theme.  

Morgan McLucas created a table to show the breakdown of  1L of Milk, and Leo Mills analysed the labelling on a Yoghurt pot. 




Form 3 also focused on the five main food groups - creating a series of 'Bingo Cards' using these food groups. 

Sleep Diary by Aneirin

Hyunsu Jeong

4a and 4b carefully noted their own sleep patterns, by keeping a 'Sleep Diary' for a full week. They created the diaries as tables in Word.  They then took the raw data and in Excel put together some simple formulae and graphs to show their combined hours of sleep throughout the week. They noted average hours slept as well as working out maximum and minimum totals.  


Finally, they brought all their work together  as a series of  Powerpoint presentationa focusing on how awesome and important sleep is. 




More to follow... So much work has been created  that there simply isn't room to showcase all the projects at once.  I know many pupils are looking forward to seeing their own work online - so will post another blog update for the half-term break tomorrow (Friday)

Welcome to 2012

Ahead of the new school term just a warm welcome to 2012 and the exciting projects that await the pupils this spring term of our Centenary Year at Milbourne Lodge School.

Further blog posts will follow once term commences.