Sketching

The mock Exams are getting closer and closer and I find that I do not have the time to run around the streets and go wild, so I've switched to sketching. Although sketching is not a completely new thing for me, as I completed the IGSCE Art course, however the amount of detail I now go into is far more advance and every time my awareness of my strengths and weaknesses increases. I am learning to combine different types of media in order to gain a desired effect some photographs below will show you what I mean. Therefore you could say that I developed a few new skills in the process. I'm thinking of starting to paint... Well, we shall see...

Boxing

Looks like I've had enough of just lifting metal, such as lifting dumbbells and bars, this half-term I'll be focusing on boxing I do not know why this idea popped up into my head, but it is helping me gain a lot of upper body strength. The first week did not go as planned, both my knuckles were worn to the bone, even while wearing proper protection, now however my skin is hardening up and just ordinary boxing tape is good enough. The first step to boxing was learning the correct positioning, which turned out to be no problem as the stance is the same in hockey, but then came the punches: Jabs, Crosses, Uppercuts  and Hooks, I took these skills in relatively easily, in the first week or so. The past few weeks I've been building my agility and practicing combinations of hits. to continue to build up physical strength a use weights tied to my wrists (approximately weighing about 3 kg) and do exercises on pull-up bars, do different kinds of sit-ups and push-ups. Overall this half-term I have undertaken a new challenge and obtained new skills, as well as increased my awareness of my strengths and weaknesses.

Summer Fair

On the 15th of June we, the Year 12 group, headed out to help the primary school in preparing for their annual Summer Fair, this was generally in the form of activities, which we were supposed to think of and prepare for in advance. The activity which me and Stefan planned and initiated was skittles - fairly similar to bowling, however using a handball and plastic bottles filled with water, instead of the regular bowling ball and pins. The bit of creativity that happened to go into the planning were the plastic bottles as we painted them white with a few red stripes to look similar to their bowling brethren. One could say that we undertook a new challenge and developed new skills in the process.
The day passed by pretty quickly and we had quite a few little customers wanting to play our game, during the process we learned how to co-operate with the smaller kids, we also had a small competition between ourselves to see how many tickets we could collect, we managed to collect over 200 tickets. Throughout the day we increased our awareness of our strengths and weaknesses and sadly this will be the only time we can provide such a service for the summer fair.  

Istra

From the 4th to the 8th of June our class had ventured into the great outdoors to a field trip in Istra, the main objective of which was completing the Group 4 coursework. The place we went to was a small hotel "Visotka" situated in the middle of a forest next to a reservoir. For most of the day we worked on the coursework from our Physics, Chemistry, Biology or ESS courses, however after dinner we participated in activities planned by the teachers to increase our awareness of strengths and weaknesses. An example of one of these activities was boat building, which involved a group of people attempting to construct a boat propelled using baking soda (Sodium Bicarbonate) and Citric Acid (C6H8O7). Our construction looked like the USS Enterprise from Star Trek, I am not a fan of Star Trek and had no intention of doing so, but for some reason this is exactly what we constructed. The construction worked and the pressure inside the main tank was sufficient to give a push to the boat, however the gas came out before we had a chance to get the boat running, but we got disqualified because we gave the boat a push. On the last day we held a barbecue and played hide and seek using flashlights in the dark when it was pouring rain, it was pretty amazing if you ask me. I managed to finish all the experiments, as well as complete a few CAS objectives: I undertook new challenges, planned and initiated activities, worked collaboratively with others and developed new skills.

Football Club

Football club for this year has finished, sadly the tournament finished with the green team at last place, although I took first place among the goalkeepers with over 60 clean sheets. Throughout the tournament I have shown perseverance and commitment in my actions, these few months have taught me new skills and had me undertake new challenges. Due to some students leaving we have decided to finish the season and play games, non- competition. The Dynamos have won the cup, which is mainly because of their passing skills. The second place was taken by the Maestros(blues), where I played before being transffered into the Galacticos(greens). The Maestros had the top scorer in their team however due to their goalkeeper leaving they could not hold the first place. The greens had some unexperienced players, which other teams did not have, however we managed to increase the awareness of strengths and weaknesses of the new players and although many changes have taken place we still played as a team. After all the most important thing is to learn from our mistakes and hope that we will do better next year. We were only about 10-20 points behind the winners. 

Weather Club

So the weather club continues to function even without the presence of the Year 13s, who finished their exams and got to go on their summer holiday. Now we take readings more often and some new equipment was brought in during the course of the term, such as the electronic thermometer, which measures the minimum, maximum and actual temperatures. So far this term nobody has missed a single day of readings, making the graph drawn through the year more accurate. This activity helped me plan and initiating activities, working collaboratively with each other, perseverance and commitment in my action (due to taking readings throughout the year) and engaging with issues of global importance.  

Year 6 Visit

A few weeks back some Year 6 students came along to our school, to look around and to get used to the new building and people. I was one of the volunteers escorting them around the school, showing where their lessons will be held and just giving basic directions around the place. This new experience enabled me to undertake new challenges. 

Hockey Graduation

The end of the hockey season has come and I graduated a few weeks back, through this year I learned to work collaboratively with others, as well as develop new skills. At the end of this year I achieved a ranking of "1st adult's rank", which is just under "candidate in master of sports". I was taken into two teams at the end of this season, both the 1996 team and the Junior team (1995 - 1991), meaning next year I need to practice at least 5 hours a day, I'm up for the challenge. I believe through this season I have more than shown perseverance and commitment in my activities, undertook new challenges and increasing awareness of my strengths and weaknesses. Over the years hockey has turned into a drug for me, I can't imagine my life without it and surely after I finish my studies will move on to play in a professional league.