Since the end of the Easter holidays, I have been helping out with the RVA Robotics team.

In February (before my time), they won a regional competition in Nairobi, and were invited to compete at an international competition in Morocco, against nearly 70 teams from around the world.

The team of seven (mostly Year 7s and 8s, with two Year 11s) faced many of the same sort of problems which were faced by the space robotics projects I was involved with at ESA : configuration control of software, the need for extensive testing, having to work together as a team, documenting the configuration of the robot, training each other up to act as back-ups in case of unavailability on the day of competition. I was able to share some of my experiences and some videos of robots *slightly* more complicated that the Lego one they were developing.

The competition was this weekend (I was not in Morocco – these photos came from other teachers/parents who were supporting them). Here they are doing one of three presentations that were part of the competition.

Here they are being evaluated after one of the robotics runs:

And I just heard they got a Core Values award.

This award celebrates a team that displays extraordinary enthusiasm and spirit, knows they can accomplish more together than they could as individuals, and shows each other and other teams respect at all times. Well done “Volts and Bolts”!!

This term also marks the rugby season. Since Lesley and I are both fans of rugby, it is great to be able to watch some matches. The school fields teams of both boys and girls, in the Under-15, Under-17 and Under-19 age groups. The quality of the play, especially by the U19 boys, is impressive. And since I teach several of the players, it is great to see them in another context than the classroom.

Last weekend Lesley was helping out with the Titchie field day – she was supervising the frisbee throwing competition, which brought out the competitiveness of some of the children. Many parents were also on campus over the weekend, which the children appreciated. The Sunday service was organised by the primary school pupils, and featured a musical with a cast of thousands (or so it seemed).

On Friday I led chapel, using powers of 10 to try and demonstrate how enormous the universe is, and by implication, how great God must be to create and sustain it. I had 28 volunteer students in a line holding up powers of 10 from 0 (1 meter from the flagpole) through 6 (== 1000km, the distance from RVA to Mombasa and back), 16 (== 1 light year) and 21 (the diameter of our galaxy, the Milky Way) through to 27 (the estimated diameter of the universe). Unfortunately I forgot to ask someone to take a photo of them arranged across the courtyard.

This weekend we had Caring Community, our set of seven Year 7 & 8s, who come to our house two or three times a term. This was the last meeting of the year – we played dominos, made pizzas, played pass-the-parcel, watched Wallace and Gromit, and toasted marshmallows. It was the best evening yet, and we will miss them.

Alongside all of this, I am working through the remainder of the Algebra curriculum : rational functions (don’t ask, but it is *real* algebra), conic sections, sequences and series and probability and statistics. Quite a lot still to cover, and only 7 weeks to go (the last week of term is an exam week).

Two weeks to half term (or mid-term as they call it here). Lesley and I are going to split forces : I am going with four other colleagues on a four-day hike up Mount Kenya, and Lesley is going for a couple of nights to a nature reserve with friends. Probably my next post will be after I get back….