I am so looking forward to another week working for the Service Children’s Education team, this time in Germany.

Three days of “demo lessons” and then a training day with staff from the three schools: Lister school in Herford, Sir John Mogg School,  Detmold, and Weser School, in Hameln.

Today, at Lister school we started with a huge group of 60+ year 3 and 4 children in the hall. I really enjoy the challenge of a large group and seeing that they respond incredibly well to the idea of discussion and sharing ideas in such a huge setting.

Well done to J. who came up and delighted us with her answers as if she was the real owner of the location we visited.

One of my favourite locations to take children is still what I call the spiral escalator plant in Myst III:Exile. It looms, creaking, above us. I often ask the children what they think lurks at the top of this remarkable organic helter skelter. We spiralled (in control) with the Year 1 and 2 children today.

I LOVE spirals.

There is something magical and simple about what is actually a complex shape, either in the 2D or 3D form. What confuses me is why we call them “spiral staircases” when spiral staircases often rise, cork screw like, within a cylinder, whereas a 2D spiral gradually increases in size and spreads its footprint.

Should it really be called a helix staircase?

How about 3D spirals:

So many spirals in nature too… Try visiting Spiral Pictures for some amazing images. Or, the Spiral Galaxies site.

Thank you to head teacher Alex Thorp, Jon Gill, and their colleagues and pupils for a fun day!

I also thoroughly enjoyed meetings Jon’s son Alex, who is serving an apprenticeship with British Forces Radio, (BFBS) Good luck to him and all the best for his Friday evening slot broadcasting to a teenage audience. Visit Alex’s page HERE.

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