Year 6 prepare to attack the school!

Well not really, but they did build working medieval siege weapons last Saturday under Mr Baker’s excellent direction. We took slight liberties with the construction, using elastic bands to provide the propulsion rather than the wound rope of a Manganol or the heavy weight of a Trebuchet, but the basic principles were clear to see. Mr Baker had prepared a “Trebuchet” kit so the CDT room quickly echoed with the tapping of pin hammers as the frames and base were assembled. The throwing arm needed to be drilled, and with rubber bands in place the machine was ready to fire. Then they were challenged. How can you alter the range? How can you stop the throwing arm moving sideways on its spindle? How can you stop the elastic bands slipping down? We finished this aspect with a battle, firing corks at each other – girls v boys. Sorry girls, you lost, but they had concentrated in their improvement section on decorating with pink and fluffy fabric! Oh dear!

Then Mr Baker showed the group a larger scale model – it fired but tended to release late, so the shot rolled a long way but would not damage our imaginary castle. How can you make it release earlier? Can it become more accurate? Firing a Tennis Ball at Mr Maddock seemed to inspire them – I wonder why? Have a look at the video to see the battle or the improvement session – a great morning that challenged their physical building skills and their brains. Thank you Mr Baker!

Click here to see the photos

Video of the battle

Video to show how to improve the Manganol