Strike day activities

Following the strikes last week, the government and teachers’ unions are in discussions about a final pay deal for this year and next. I do hope to bring positive news that prevents further industrial action in the weeks to come.

The photograph above shows a small group of year 9 students with our support staff on one of the strike days last week. Our students in school completed their online learning for 4 hours on a morning, and then during the final session of the day, we tried to stimulate them physically (by playing dodgeball) or mentally by playing a card game. The game I chose to introduce them to was ‘Pit’ a fast-paced card game for three to eight players, designed to simulate open bidding for commodities. The game first went on sale in 1904 and the inspiration was the Chicago Board of Trade (known as ‘The Pit’).

The trading process involves calling out the number of cards one wishes to trade until another player holds out an equal number of commodity cards. The two parties then exchange the cards face down. It was a great fun experience for all the students who absolutely loved the frantic activity of exchanging commodities that occurred. The winner was the first to collect a full set – and then hit the bell seen in the middle of the table.

The game taught strategic and quick thinking, a sharp memory, quick talking and was really great fun – so enjoyable in fact that some students stayed in school to play it well beyond the official end to the day. My thanks go to Ms Oyewobi and Mr Richardson in the LRB for supporting ‘games playing’ – we have a thriving community in school who enjoy games at breaktime, lunchtime and after school – hopefully the ‘Pit’ experience will attract some more players!