Bracing a branch across 2 trees the students ‘lashed’ the branch using simple knots to secure it.

Then we decided how far back the shelter would go, and this then brought on a discussion about how long the leaning branches should be.

Leon (Year 11 aiming for GCSE Maths) and Gareth (Year 10) was challenged. We estimated the vertical height of the shelter and estimated how far back the leaning branches would be on the ground, and we asked him to apply Pythagoras Theory (a² + b² = c²).

With the use of a calculator (because we didn’t know the square root of 46,000cm² off the top of our heads), Leon and Gareth calculated the lengths of the leaning branches to be (approximately) 230cm long.

Leon and Gareth set off to find suitable branches, and one was sourced, cut (approximately) and put in place.

Perfect. We’ll update this shelter as we go, but the interest in the students’ applying Maths in a scientific way, in the woods was appealing!