Growing great science minds
Science
The school has a large fully-equipped science lab and girls start specialist science lessons in Year 3 with our Head of Science.
In Year 6 the girls explore their own investigations and put together a Science Fair for the whole school and their parents. It’s the place for budding experimentalists to test their scientific ideas.
The school is also developing a wildlife area for environmental studies, and there is a garden which the Gardening Club grows produce in. The school has been awarded the prestigious Primary Science Quality Mark and is working towards the Eco-Schools Green Flag Award.
Year 6 science fair
Ever wondered what happens to smarties in vinegar? Or which word you can read quicker? Or which stain is the hardest to remove? These were some of the questions that were puzzling Year 6 last year and they displayed their experiments in a Science Fair for the rest of the school and parents to visit.
Science day
A highlight of the summer term both for girls in school and those at home on our guided home learning programme was the ingeniously designed Science Day. It was jammed packed with lots of challenges and activities.
Whole School Science Flower Challenge
The challenge set to the girls was to design a flower that takes 20 seconds to open when dropped in water. See the gallery of the girls’ work below:
Year 6 science project videos
Year 6 girls worked in small teams, chose an issue of particular interest and devised experiments to explore findings. They each created a video of their projects to share with the whole school – which were amazing and wide ranging.
- Which fruit is the easiest to extract DNA from in order to be able to see it with the naked eye. Is vodka or rubbing alcohol is better for precipitating DNA into a visible form.
- What is the most effective way to prevent your eyes getting irritated while cutting an onion?
- How the size of sailboat keel affects its speed and stability.
- How growing plants upside down affects them.
- Does Spirulina grow better in a store-bought or homemade medium?
- What amount of water and Alka Seltzer makes the film canister travel the highest.
- Does peppermint affect a person’s performance during an alphabetising activity?
- To find out the best vegan substitutes for eggs and milk when making cupcakes
- To find out which method of shooting in Netball is the most effective for girls learning to shoot.
- To find out which fruits ripen avocados the best.
- To find out if sunglasses cut out UV light.
- To build Santorio Santorio’s pulsilogium and find out if it can be used as an accurate measure of heart rate.
- To find out whether a person can run faster with trainers or barefoot
Parent expert talks
Girls from Year 2-6 were fortunate to have their Science Day enriched by parents and members of the scientific community who shared how science affects or is part of their jobs. Talks included about working for NHS Blood and Organ Transplant, as an engineer working for Tideway tunnelling, a talk about the brain by a neurodevelopmental psychologist, a postdoctoral scientist at the Centre for Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine and a medical research scientist working on understanding cancer and developing new therapies for it.
Wildlife photography
Paul Goldstein, the passionate and well-known British photographer talked to Year 6 about ‘Antic vs Ethics’ in Wildlife Photography. The quality of the girls’ questions in all the talks is both testament to the accessibility of these talks and the willingness of our girls to learn new things.
