British Science Week 2020 Report
Bishop Thomas Grant celebrated British Science Week from Monday 9th – Friday 13th March.
The theme for this year’s British Science Week was ‘Our Diverse Planet’, encouraging young people to celebrate the incredible diversity we see across the world. From global warming to biodiversity, from space exploration to the human genome and from air pollution to ecosystems.
Monday 9th March began with students making robot hands, experimenting with ‘fire writing’ and exploring how to construct models of different animal species using origami. Dr Ragoobir hosted a popular lunchtime practical activity, in which students made perfume. A33 was quickly filled with the wonderful aromas as students mixed together their chosen chemicals with some very impressive products being made! At the end of the school day, the department hosted the annual science careers event, whereby fifty A-Level and GCSE students spoke to scientists from a wide range of fields (including medicine, engineering, and air quality consultancy) and were able to build up a picture of what it is like to work in that field.
On Tuesday 10th March, Miss Evans ran the annual Key Stage Three inter-house competition. Form representatives from each house designed paper aeroplanes, with Mark house being crowned the ultimate winners as their aeroplane both travelled the furthest and stayed in the air for the longest time. At the end of the school day, Mr Downton ran a session on soldering. Soldering is a process in which items are joined together by melting a metal and putting a filler metal (solder) in the joint. Soldering has numerous applications. It is used in plumbing, jewellery making, electronics and general industry. During the session, students discussed the function of electronic component resistors and light emitting diodes. These components were then carefully soldered on to copper track circuit boards. All students were successful in their venture and were able to proudly take away their soldered boards.
On Wednesday 11th March, we were very fortunate to have a visit from ex-student Luke Dunstan. Luke, who was interviewed in a previous edition of this newsletter, completed his GCSE examinations last year, and is currently studying a Game Keeping and Wildlife Management course at Plumpton College. Luke bought with him his highly trained dog who performed a number of impressive tricks to the delight of our students! Students were very interested to hear about Luke’s course and even had a chance to cuddle his dog.
On Thursday 12th March, Year 12 students attended a thought-provoking lecture by Dr Marilyn Robertson. Marilyn is an immunologist, with over 30 years’ experience in the field of academia and industry. More recently, she has managed major programmes in the field of regenerative and precision medicine. Marilyn travelled down from Scotland and both students and staff are very grateful for her giving up her time. Mr Holliday also ran a lunchtime practical activity, in which students produced unique origami pieces. Well done to all students who attended!
On Friday 13th March, two exciting events occurred over the course of lunchtime. Mrs Fairhead ran a practical event for selected hard-working Year nine students, in which students combined different scents with shea/cocoa/almond butter and avocado/almond oil to produce their own pot of hand-cream. In a different classroom, Year 13 science students participated in the annual Domino Challenge. The competition involved three teams (representing A-Level Chemistry, Biology and Physics) designing a domino trail to last the longest time. All students enjoyed the challenge but ultimately Chemistry came out as the winners to dethrone the perennial champions, Physics! Congratulations to all students who took part!
Science week for all Bishop Thomas Grant students was thoroughly enjoyable and most certainly a week to remember. The department look forward to celebrating Science Week in 2021!
Miss Mckeon would like to thank all students and staff who were involved in Science Week 2020. A special thank you also to our science technicians, Mrs Smith and Mr Thomas, who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that the week was a big success.
