At the beginning of the year, working in conjunction with a small group of enthusiastic students and their parents, we came up with the idea of building a geodesic dome in the school playground.

What is it? Well, put simply, a geodesic dome is a dome that uses completely flat triangles (or indeed other polygons) to create a domed surface or structure that is almost curved.

What is it for? Well, what do you want it to be? We made the dome to learn about geodesics and structures. The project also involved Design & Technology, Mathematics, planning, team-working and manufacturing skills. Now that it is up, we’d love to hear about any bright ideas you might have and who knows, they might even happen! Please do let us know in the questionnaire we will be circulating.

We would like to thank Sharon Greenfield at IS & G Steel for providing the steel tubing.

Mr Nayar

“I really enjoyed the Dome project. It was great fun to make the mini domes and then see them transformed into the large dome in the playground. The project started with making a small dome out of kebab skewers and American hardgums. This prototype is displayed in the workshop. The final model showed the basic structure for the final dome and was constructed from straws and split paper clips. The real dome involved more than two months’ preparation – cutting, clamping, drilling, bending, spraying and, of course, carrying.

We managed to assemble the dome in one session after school. The funniest part was watching everyone in hard-hats, carrying giant poles in and out of the building. I remember watching five of the teachers trying to construct a linear pentagon and then, when they finally did it, finding it was all wrong and had to be started again. All in all, the project was an exciting and, at times, amusing experience. I hope that Mr Nayar can think of something else that can involve us wearing hard-hats again.”

Jessica Fox 8D