ALL the children at St Giles on the Heath Primary School had great fun during British Science Week 2022.

Following a successful grant application to the British Science Association, the school used their £700 funding to involve the whole school and the wider community in a range of science activities over the week.

Reception class worked with the foundation stage unit, Red Robins, finding out about ‘growth’. They planted seeds in picture frames and in see-through gloves and will compare the growth of different plants over the coming weeks. They also made a huge printed beanstalk and have been watching tadpoles grow and incubating bantam eggs.

Class 1 immersed themselves in the time of the dinosaurs and investigated how to create stable dinosaur skeletons, rescued a dinosaur who was stuck in a steep-sided pit by adding stones to the water it was floating in, made dinosaur fossil imprints and discovered how much room a Diplodocus would have taken up on the playground. 

Class 2 investigated slime — the children loved experimenting with different amounts of bicarbonate of soda to see how stretchy they could make their slime — the winning batch stretched for over four metres!

Class 3 have been thinking about ways to try to reduce global warming and investigated different washing detergents and whether they really do work on a ‘cold wash’ cycle. They found that even the less expensive detergents did work with cold water.

In addition to this, the whole school were involved in redesigning the garden so that it can become a more mindful and inclusive space.

They also involved all school families in designing a poster to nominate who they thought should be named ‘St Giles Science Ambassador for Children 2022’. The winner, receiving the most votes, was Steve Backshall.

Nicola Taylor, science lead at St Giles on the Heath Primary School added: “The school, and Red Robins nursery, have had a very informative and exciting week — we can’t wait for Science week next year!”