On a cold and grey morning this week, 8E and 8S set off to carry out the first part of their Maths investigation at the Castle Gardens, Wallingford.

They were asked to find out whether there is a relationship between the size of a leaf and the circumference of its tree trunk. Students worked in groups of 4 or 5 to identify different trees and to take measurements that would help them to answer this question. In only half an hour most groups had managed to find 10 different types of trees and collect their data. There was just enough time to collect some different leaves before returning to school for a well earned cup of hot chocolate and a biscuit.

Now the hard work begins as students will be exploring the topics of circumference, area, units of measurements and scatter diagrams in order to see if there is a link between the size of leaf and the circumference of a tree trunk.