TECHNOLOGY was the theme at Staverton Primary last week as pupils tried their hands at activities, events and challenges using design and technology skills in a fun way.

They designed and made hats, solved the problem posed in The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch, aimed to create the fastest marble run, cooked cakes and designed recyclable or reusable packaging for them, made kites and paper planes and built suitable habitats for minibeasts of their own invention and used construction kits.

More than 200 children enjoyed the week, when they split into groups with others from their school team, oak, ash, beech or elm, and visited other classrooms for the activities. Older pupils took on some special challenges set by Wessex Setpoint, especially enjoying the challenge of dropping eggs without breaking them.

On Friday they put their work on show with an exhibition in the hall, when they also sold teas and the cakes they had made in support of the Dorothy House Tea@3 appeal for children with cancer and used the hats they had made to collect money for the Macmillan Trust, raising £117.16 for the charities. A school disco on Thursday night organised by the school council added to the excitement.