Year 5 - Parent competition 

What an amazing morning we’ve had. Today we welcomed our grown ups into the classroom to take part in an Engineering Challenge. Which team could build the tallest free standing tower, capable of supporting a tin of food for 60 seconds using only 2 sheets of sugar paper, 20 sheets of A4 paper, 10 art straws and a roll of masking tape?

Reception - WE ARE SCIENTISTS 🧑‍🔬 

We used our maths knowledge of capacity to test out some magical solutions! We filled three containers, the same size, with different amounts of vinegar and made predictions - good guesses, about what might happen to each. We placed the same amount of bicarbonate soda into each one and observed what happened. We had lots of fun seeing the magic 🧫 🫧 

Year 3 - We are Zoologists

After introducing the career - zoologist, we watched a video clip showing a typical day in the life of a large mammal zoologist. We found out about how they targeted the animals to help support them when they need medical attention. We then went on a scavenger hunt around school to uncover lots of fascinating facts about different animals.

Y4 - Cleaning our water with Mr Darren Hollins (Mechanical Engineer)

Today Y4 welcomed Mr Hollins into their classroom. He discussed his journey to becoming an Engineer and described the different engineering opportunities that would be available to the children in the future.

Mr Hollins described some of the small and large projects that he has worked on. The children were fascinated to hear that some of the pumps and pipes that Mr Hollins works with are big enough for him to stand in and drive a car through.

We couldn’t believe how many different things are found in our sewage:

* poo

* wetwipes

* tissue

* leaves

* stones

* sweetcorn!

* toys

* cotton buds

* nappies

* dead goldfih

Mr Hollins explained that sometimes he works in an office and sometimes he works on site. We loved looking at the protective clothing he wears on clean water sites and waste water sites.

We were amazed by how much effort it takes to clean our sewage. Did you know that each person produces about 162L of sewage a day. This is all cleaned at water treatment works and then is returned safely to the environment. No new water is ever made! And so it’s really important that we clean our water.

It takes 24 to 48hours for water to be cleaned at a water treatment plant.

Mr Hollins explained some of the difficulties that he has in cleaning sewage - wet wipes and fat. These materials cannot be broken down and cause huge and expensive blockages in the pumps. He said that we should never flush wipes down the toilet even if it says they are flushable on the packet.