Humanitree Parents Go Back to School
Ben Pickles

Humanitree parents were invited into school to participate in a variety of lessons. Our parents were able to step into the shoes of their children for the evening as they participated in four different lessons. Upon arrival each parent was given a timetable for the evening before being welcomed by Mr Gavin. Parents were then tasked with visiting a variety of classrooms and participating in the same educational activities as their children. 

In the mathematics classroom 6 parents assumed the role of red and blue frogs in order to complete a Hive 2 mathematical investigation involving algebra and sequences. Meanwhile, over in the science department, the parents were able to take part in experiments ranging from creating electrical circuits to inflating sheep lungs!
The evening was a great success and an incredible experience for both the parents and the teachers involved.

Thankfully no demerits were issued!

Teacher explaining the physiology of a skeleton to parents in an open evening.

 

Mike Grant the Head of PE shared that during the parent's first Sports Science lesson of the academic year, they were introduced to the functions of the skeleton along with naming as many bones as they possibly could (in English). 
Parents were then given different names of bones and were asked to stick them onto a partner to see if they could locate all bones correctly. Parents completed this task and the rest of the lesson with enthusiasm with great success. 
Well done to all involved! 

Computer Science dynamically explaining a coding concept to parents.

 

Whilst Bob James the Head of Computer Science added that in Computer Science parents learned about ‘bubble sorting’ and simulated the bubble sort process. This is a basic algorithm used for arranging a string of numbers or other data elements in the correct order. This works by examining a set of adjacent elements in the strong, from left to right, switching their position (order) until they are in the correct position. What took us 12 minutes to simulate, would take a computer a fraction of a microsecond. Well done Humanitree parents.

Parents listen to the teacher before a Design Technology activity

 

Over in the Design and Technology suite Jill Hewitt one of our Design Technology teachers gave parents the opportunity to experiment with our industry standard 3D computer aided design software, Shapr3D.  Parents were able to trial the features of the 3D design software that our students use to create ideas for the 3D projector, 3D printing and for graphic design.  As with our students there were the usual frustrations and teething problems when using new technology. This then made it all the more impressive when the parents were able to see the incredible Augmented Reality (A.R.) examples of student project work developed here in school.  Many parents said they wished they had access to this kind of software when they were a student.  It was a great evening to meet our parents and give them a taste of what we do here in Design and Technology at Humanitree. 

Finally at the end of the night parents demonstrated one of Humanitree's core values. Gratitude! A big thank you to all of the teaching staff for putting on a great show and all of the parents who came along!

Parents share their written grateful thoughts on a board at the end of parents evening.

Additional writing credits to:

Bob James

Jill Hewitt

Mike Grant