Geography Field Trip To Algar Falls

On Friday 11 September, the Examination Class went on their first Geography Field Trip of the year.

Field work is an essential part of the IGCSE course, and so it was decided that the first Field Trip should be held during the first week of term. The destination was the Rio Algar, in Algar village, about 25 minutes from the School.

At the river, the Class worked in groups to measure the width and average depth of the river. This meant that everyone had to get into the river.....and there were screams of how cold the water was! Soon enough everyone was working away with ranging rods, tape measures and metre rules.

The next part of the exercise was to measure the surface speed of the water at each site. The students used oranges as their floats and timed their float over a distance of 10 metres. They took readings at the left bank, in the middle of the stream and at the right bank~and found the average speed, as this is more accurate. With this information they were able to calculate the discharge of the river, which is measured in cubic metres per second (cumecs).

Once the exercise had been carried out at two sites, we all made for the Restaurant Don Joan, where there were showers, and more importantly, a very inviting swimming pool and diving board!

There was a bit more work to do......drawing graphs of the cross sections of the river and checking of calculations and then lunch, followed by more fun in the pool.

Mrs Holmes, the geography teacher, was pleased with the attitude and application of the class. The Class thanked Mr Holmes, who had driven them to and from Algar in the School van. It was a perfect way to spend the first Friday of the new academic year!

Upper School Games at The Club Personal Fitness

To get the new school year games lessons off to an exciting start the pupils of Yrs 7, 8, & 9 were taken to The Club Personal Fitness, a private fitness facility situated a few minutes from the school.

Here they were put through their paces by Lynn Cowley, owner of the centre, who showed them how to use the gym equipment safely. She then took the pupils through a short program that taught them the main components of fitness - strength, stamina, and flexibility.

The final part of the session was a coached swimming session with Mrs Letchford in the centre's pool.

The afternoon was thoroughly enjoyed by all pupils and we will look forward to repeating this at various intervals throughout the year.

Back To School!

Today was the moment the summer ended for the pupils of Sierra Bernia School and a new term began!

Everyone seemed pleased to be back and start the serious business of work all over again! Several new pupils have joined the school for the start of this term and we all welcome them to the school.

Along side regular lessons this year we have a full programme of extra curricula activities. If you're feeling musical there are guitar and recorder classes; dance classes for the more energetic; along with table tennis and chess!

A parents newsletter will be out in the next week with news of all our programmes and activities.