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Astronomy Activity
This year we were able to
offer astronomy as a Tuesday
afternoon activity and it was
well supported by a group of
very keen budding astronomers.
The first lesson every astronomer in
England learns is that it is nearly ALWAYS
cloudy when you want to observe the
stars and planets and it is always freezing;
unfortunately, we had more than our fair
share of cloudy Tuesday evenings but we
did manage to begin mapping the sky
and learned where Orion, Ursa Major
(The Plough Major or The Big Dipper)
and Casiopeia are to be found. The boys
also made their own study of the Planets,
produced several displays for the notice
boards and began keeping their own scrap
books, which will, one hopes, inspire our
young astronomers to develop further their
interest in observing the heavens.
CMP
Chess
During the 2015-2016 academic
year chess enjoyed a certain
revival at Summer Fields
Many boys played regularly during Tuesday
Activities and junior boys were especially
encouraged to participate both then
and in competitions – held variously at
school, local, county and national level.
June saw our school competition for the
Chess Championship Cup. In the Lent Term
we had matches against local schools:
Cherwell, Christ Church Cathedral School
and MCS. In April we sent qualifying teams
to both the Megafinal XXII Oxfordshire
and the U13 National Schools Chess
Championships final in Grantham. Two
boys,
Luke Eadie
and
Eric Huang
, qualified
for the Regional Southern Gigafinal in
mid-July. Prospects are bright for another
lively year of chess playing in 2016-17,
whether for recreation or as participation
in competitive events.
CILM
Savage Chess Cup:
L.W. Eadie
Bee
Keeping
A new activity has been added this year
to the broad range that already exists:
under the expert guidance of Miss Rachelle
Winn, our school secretary, boys have
been able to learn about bee-keeping and
have donned all the necessary protective
gear in order to tend the hives that are
located in ‘Ray’s Field’ (next door to the
Old Farm). We look forward to the first
harvest of honey in due course.
Video
Production
Unit
Summer Fields’ very own
band of cameraman – the
Video Production Unit
(VPU) – has been making
tremendous progress in their
second year of operation.
The unit began life recording video with
their HD cameras and fluid-head tripods
before performing a lengthy edit in the
weeks after to produce videos of school
events and activities. However, this year
they started working in the present
tense and happily broadcast live video
footage to all the world. School plays
were sampled live as far away as Hong
Kong; multi-camera live cricket was
enjoyed by Fathers at many an office
desk, and even
Cric-Info
HQ. The SF
Twitter feed and newsletter gave regular
updates about upcoming events and
this should continue to be the case for
the future.With a boy on each camera,
more on the live mix software and
radio communications all about, this
exciting process not only enables more
participation in school events but also
provides a terrific and highly educational
experience for all involved. It is hoped
that future expansion will be possible
with increased resources.
MWIJ
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