Upton Junior School in Broadstairs, UK, celebrated British Science Week with hands-on learning activities such as panning for gold, making chocolate bars, and building Lego vehicles. The pupils explored STEM subjects, including augmented reality and coding, and participated in an engineering day at St Lawrence College. They also attended science assemblies by professional science company Fizz Pop and visited The Charles Dickens School’s science labs. The event reinforced the school’s commitment to teaching STEM subjects and developing children’s skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The British Science Week is coordinated by the British Science Association and funded by UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), celebrating connections within the STEM fields.
Upton Junior School: Inspiring Young Minds in Science
Upton Junior School in Broadstairs has been making science exciting and engaging for its pupils. As part of the annual nationwide British Science Week, Year 5 pupils have been exploring science in a variety of fun and interactive ways.
Augmented Reality and Chemistry Through Cooking
The pupils used a QR code to explore augmented reality and were amazed as a coloured image came to life before their eyes. They also filtered water from the River Stour and evaporated it to obtain salt, before panning for gold. In addition, the pupils learnt to code and used their skills to help a robot mouse navigate a path. They also got to make their own chocolate bars and explored chemistry through cooking. Using Lego and motors, the pupils created vehicles and evaluated them by testing if their models could scale a ramp.
Engineering Day and Science Assemblies
The pupils also enjoyed an engineering day at St Lawrence College in Ramsgate where they participated in a range of activities, including firing air rockets, creating egg parachutes, building spaghetti towers, and launching water rockets. They also attended a chemical magic show.
Professional science company ‘Fizz Pop’ conducted separate assemblies for both Upton’s upper and lower schools, where the pupils were thrilled to witness amazing chemical reactions, including separating sodium and hydrogen and creating ‘elephant toothpaste’. They even got to see Deputy Head Dave Walker’s hands set on fire (safely, of course).
Science at Upton Junior School
The Head of Year 5 and 6, Athanasia Papa-Adams, praised the hands-on experiences of the children at East Kent College and St Lawrence College, saying that the children came away with great knowledge of filtering, evaporating, coding, heating, cooling, and the use of motors. Upton pupils also visited The Charles Dickens School science labs where they learnt about magnetism and electromagnets.
Head of School, Darci Arthur, expressed her pride in the science program at Upton Junior School, which reinforces children’s learning and helps to develop their skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
It is clear that Upton Junior School is making science accessible and exciting for its pupils. The school is building links with local communities, professional science companies, and educational institutions to offer a broad and engaging science program. Upton Junior School is truly inspiring young minds to explore the wonderful world of science.
Celebrating Science: British Science Week 2023
British Science Week is a 10-day event that celebrates science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM). The event’s theme for this year is Connections, and it will be held from March 10-19. The British Science Association coordinates the event, which is funded by UK Research & Innovation (UKRI).
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