A lovely year with the year 7s...

As we near the end of this academic year, I thought it would be nice to upload some of our favourite pictures from the last year.

I would like to tell you all boys how proud we are of you-you have all come so far in a short amount of time and we will miss having you as out year group (don't worry-you still have Maths with us everyday!)
Have a lovely summer and know we will be thinking of you and looking forward to September.

Well done Jaiden D, Liam, Jaiden P, Ethan, Dean, Taylor and Ryan-we have made a great team!

Iceland 2017 - Day 3

 

 

Iceland Residential 2017 - Day 3

 

 

Overnight the weather changed, the clouds had come in and brought the rain with them. This is apparently proper Icelandic weather but we were optimistic for clearer skies as the day wore on.

 

After a hearty breakfast and packing our bags we were off to our first stop of the day, the Keird Volcano. Kerid was once a cone volcano that erupted and emptied its magma reserve causing the roof of the chamber to subside. We were able to walk around the rim of the volcano as well as walk around the lake water inside the volcano's chamber.

 

 

 

Next on our adventure was Geysir, the first named geyser in the world, which is a spouting hot spring. It rarely erupts nowadays but its neighbour 'Strokkur' erupts every 10 - 15 minutes to a height of 30M. This stop is the first in the trio of natural wonders of the Golden Circle all of which we will visit today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a break undercover for our lunch went to the second of the natural wonders of Iceland's Golden Circle, Gullfoss Waterfalls. These double falls drop over 30M before the plunge into a gorge which is almost a mile long. Watching the power and beauty of the falls you can see why they are one of Iceland's most photographed and visited sites.

 

 

We stopped of at Efstidalur Dairy Farm to sample some "homemade" Icelandic Ice Cream and then went on to Thingvellir. This is the third stop on the Golden Circle and the home of Iceland's first Parliament established in 930AD. The site straddles the mid-Atlantic Ridge, it's rift valley forming where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates pull apart at a rate of up to 3cm per year. We literally stood in two continents!

 

 

After checking in to our nights accommodation in Reykjavik we once again met up with Mr Patchell. He and his family had kindly invited our group to dinner at their house. After a long day exploring we were all looking forward to a good meal.

Not wanting us to miss out on new experiences Mr Patchell had purchased us bus tickets to travel to his house.

We were warmly greeted by his wife and sons and feasted on Burgers, Icelandic Sausages and Chips followed by a generous helping of Ice Cream.

Our evening was finished off nicely when Mr Patchell sons invited us to join them for their story time. Mr Patchell's eldest son read us a story in Icelandic, which we were very impressed by, and in turn our pupils read his sons a story.

 

 

We would all like to thank Mr Patchell, his wife and sons, for their generous hospitality. We all had a lovely time.

After we returned it was time to turn in for the night as we have an early start tomorrow.

 

Day 4 - Whale watching and home>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Iceland 2017 - Day 2

 

 

Iceland Residential 2017 - Day 2

 

 

The group were up bright and early today and we met our driver and tour guide, Karl, who would be with us for the remainder of our trip.

 

For our first stop of the day we visited the small "greenhouse" town of Hverageroi which is dotted with lupin valleys and hot steam vents. It is here that pupils started their Art homework taking photographs in different perspectives.

 

 

From here we drove across the Southern Lowlands to Seljalandfoss, a 60M drop waterfall. This was a former sea cliff which is now inland due to volcanic activity. We were able to walk behind the falls to see the spectacular power of the water up close. We were very happy to have packed our waterproofs at this point!

 

 

After we stopped off for lunch we moved over to Eylafyallajokull flood plains. These plains were covered in thick ash after the volcano erupted in 2010. It has only recently cleared but has added nutrients to the soil which make it excellent farming land now. Below you can see the pupils reading the information board on the aftermath of the eruption....we were thankful for English translations!

 

 

 

 



 

From here we went to Skogafoss, one of Iceland's most impressive waterfalls, a 60M high curtain of thundering water. You could walk right up to the base of the falls. You can just about make out one of the pupils catching waterfall raindrops.

 

 

 

After a quick turnaround we went to Solheimajokull, "the sun house glacier", which has been slowly retreating since 1900. It was truly a wonder to see this amazing piece of Iceland, even more so as our guide said it could be completely gone within our lifetime.

 

 

After a very tiring, but thoroughly enjoyable day, we stayed at Vatnsholt Farm. We had spectacular views of the volcanoes and flood plains.......and a play park, which the pupils made the most of in the late evening sunshine.

 

 

Day 3 will take us to Iceland Geysir and Kerid Volcano........

 

 

 

Iceland 2017 - Day 1

 

 

Iceland Residential 2017 - Day 1

 

Our first day started bright and early with a 09:00 departure from Polygon to London Heathrow for our Icelandair flight to Keflavik Airport, Iceland.

 

 

We were very lucky when we landed as the weather was 15 degrees and clear blue skies, we were assured this was not typical Icelandic weather!!

After we met our driver for the day we set off to the Geothermal Power Plant and Steam vents. This is one of the plants that generates electricity for Iceland.

We needed to stick to the walkways as the ground reached temperatures in excess of 70 degrees.

 

 

Our next stop was the world famous Blue Lagoon. The lagoon is naturally heated to 38 degrees, like having a lovely hot bath, with a steam room and facial skin care bar pool side.

 

 

After we checked in to our accommodation Mr Patchell met us and took us on an evening walk around the sights of Reykjavik. With 24 hour daylight we didn't have a problem seeing what Iceland's capital had to offer.

Mr Patchell showed us the Parliament Building, Reykjavik Prison, the main shopping centre in the High St (where they use old bikes as road barriers) and Hallgrímskirkja, Iceland's largest church.

 

 

After a long first day it was time for bed. Day 2 should bring us face to face with some of Iceland largest waterfalls.

 

 

 



KS4 Work Experience

 

 

Work Experience - Tew Bros.

 

 

Tew Bros, a local independent building company, gave one of our KS4 pupils the opportunity to spend the week with them as part of their delivery team.

 

After a successful interview our Year 11 pupil Brogan worked with their deliveries driver Lee for the week.

 

 

They had to travel to various local building sites dropping off supplies such as bricks, cement machines, generators, timber and scaffolding.

 

Below you can see Brogan helping out to erect a mobile scaffold tower at one of their sites.

 

Thank you to Tew Bros for this opportunity, Brogan very much enjoyed his week with you.

 

 

 

 



Crest Nicholson - Work Experience

 

Crest Nicholson - Work Experience

 

 

Last week the school continued their working relationship with Crest Nicholson. We were offered placements for 4 of our pupils to attend a work experience week at their main site at Centenary Quay, Wooston.

 

 

4 KS4 pupils attended for the week and were able to carry out sessions in Carpentry, Bricklaying, Plumbing and Painting and Decorating.

 

This opportunity has proved to be an excellent addition to our Careers programme at The Polygon School and we thank Crest Nicholson and their instructor Barry for their time and efforts.