Congratulations Oliver Bryant (Y3) for coming 3rd out of 26 students in the International Gateway for Gifted Youth (IGGY) Juniors Critical Reading Masterclass.  IGGY Juniors is an intiative supported by The University of Warwick.  Oliver wrote about his experience below:

During the summer holidays, I did a critical reading masterclass on "The Sheep-Pig" by Dick King-Smith.  I did the course online with the Online Learning Partnership (OLP) and IGGY Juniors.  The course went on for four days and you can do it for as much or as little time as you want.  I took about 5-7 hours in total to finish the course.  The course was great fun.  I did quizzes, assignments and discussion groups.  There were also family activities.  One of them was when we had to write "The Sheep Pig" in 140 characters.  Mine was this:

Farmer Hogget wins Babe, a pig, who is adopted by Fly, a sheepdog.  As his foster mother, Fly teaches Babe sheepdog skills.  Babe wins a sheepdog trial and is very happy.

We got graded after we did our work.  I got two A- (Distinctions) and one B+ (Merit).  There are Tutors and Mentors to help you through the course.  The Tutors who marked my work are called Coral and Jen.  The Tutors and Mentors are very friendly and helpful.

I think my reading has improved and I have learned about personification, describing characters, and opening and closing lines.  I have been recommended "George's Secret Key to the Universe" by Lucy Hawking and Stephen Hawking as a good book to read.

I recommend this course to other people, especially bookworms.  I found the course a bit difficult but I learned things from it.

By Oliver Bryant

The Monster Raving Loony Party, represented by Fraser, Tom and Isaac out-witted the other political parties in our Mock Election Debate, held on Friday 7th May in the School Hall, to win the most votes. Congratulations to all those who prepared excellent speeches, searching questions and took part in the 'itslearning' online discussion in the 2 weeks leading up to the debate.