IT HAS ARRIVED:  YEAR 5'S PUBLICATION, THE ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM

In the Autumn term,  our Year 5 children in Seahorses and Sharks  embarked on a project exploring mechanisms and clockwork spanning ancient times to the present time.  Beginning with a visit to our local Compton Verney's Mechanical Museum exhibition, the children read literature linked to clockwork and then went on to learn about the mysterious Antikythera mechanism.

The Antikythera mechanism was discovered in a ship wreck in 1901, just off the coast of the Greek Island Antikythera (hence the name).  For many years there was much confusion about the purpose of the instrument, which just looked like one lump of cogs when it was first found.  However, as technology advanced, scientists were eventually able to x-ray it, discovering that it could be used to track the movement of the sun, moon and planets, amongst other things.

The children were mesmerised by this idea and decided to write stories about what happen if the mechanism burst back into life.  How would it sound?  What would you see?  What would it do?

Their language was enriched by drama, dance and art activities, all linked to the movement and sound of mechanisms.  They even played with clockwork toys in class.

Their writing was so superb that Compton Verney commissioned them to write a book.  They took up the challenge and have now their published book has arrived, several copies going to the homes of our talented Year 5 authors.

FIND OUT MORE HERE: The Antikythera Mechanism - 2D

More than 21 centuries ago, a mechanism of fabulous ingenuity was created in Greece, a device capable of indicating exactly how the sky would look for decades to come -- the position of the moon and sun, lunar phases and even eclipses.