Surface

It was nice that we didn't really have to get up for any particular time. The Gorse Fox was only in bed for an extra 30 minutes, but it was nice.

A message popped in while the Gorse Fox was reading the news. Urban-Cub was considering what device Ellie should use for her schoolwork. The school had set some work for the weekend that could/should be done on an "app" called SeeSaw. We looked at tablets, at laptops, and at all-in-one PCs. We considered Windows, MacOS, IOS, and Android. We had to pick something that would have some longevity. We had to pick something that was simple and portable, as Ellie spends as much time here as she does at home. This was a research challenge that suited the Gorse Fox.

In the end, we decided that a Microsoft Surface Go might be the best solution. The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox went in to Chichester to have a look at the options, now that they had been narrowed down. We wandered back and forth between John Lewis and Curry's... a decision was made and John Lewis provided the best solution.  Ellie is now the proud owner of a Microsoft Surface Go 2.

The Gorse Fox brought the new device home and over the next hour it was set up with an account for Ellie. He then took it round to Urban-Cub. On the way he chatted to Ali, who lives next-door. She is a teacher at a private school. She commented that the device we had bought for Ellie was the same as the device they were handing out to their Year 7 and Year 8 students. Clearly, there is some longevity in the choice we had made. He completed the stroll and explained it to Urban-Cub. Within a few minutes, we had it set up for "SeeSaw" (a teaching app) and we had responded to the first challenge that Ellie's teacher had set.

With schoolwork sorted, the Gorse Fox logged on to his "Scratch" account. We played the game that he had written for Ellie. She did really well and in the end Urban-Cub asked "What is this?". The Gorse Fox explained that it was a game he had written for Ellie. She seemed impressed. The Gorse Fox explained that the objective was to entertain her, challenge her, and get her interested in the underlying code.