Receptions - Parent STEM competition 🥇

What. A. Morning! A big thank you to those who could join us this morning. All children took part in a fantastic construction challenge using ONLY paper and tape. The tallest constructions were a whopping 65cm tall and both held a tin of rice pudding for a whole minute.  
Well done Reception, a fantastic Hugo Team effort 👏🏻🥇💯✅

Year 6 - Royal Stoke University Hospital Stroke Unit Workshop

Year 5 - We are Forensic Scientists

We arrived at school this morning to find a crime had been committed overnight and our classroom was secured as a crime scene.

We very quickly had to develop the skills of Forensic Scientists to uncover who stole the chemicals from the science cupboard - was it Miss Owen, Mrs Cooke or Mr Williams?

We ran chromatography from the note left at the scene and compared it to the pen taken from each suspect. We were able to rule out Miss Owen.

We the studied fingerprints found at the scene and concluded that the culprit was Mr Williams.

To finish our session we took our fingerprints and discovered if we were a loop, a whorl or an arch. We were fascinated to learn that even non-identical twins have different fingerprints.

Year 5 - Workshop from the Royal Stoke Hospital Stroke Unit

We had the best afternoon learning from Dr Phil and the team from the Royal Stoke Stroke Unit.

Our afternoon began with a talk from Dr Phil, where he taught us about the brain. Our brains are responsible for our memory, thought processing and controlling and co-ordinating everything that our body does. Our brain is made off 86 Billion brain cells! Unlike other parts of our body the brain can't store energy and so needs a constant blood flow to survive. If the blood flow to the brain is stopped, it cannot function and the body suffers from a stroke.

We then really enjoyed taking part in a circus of hands-on activities.

How the brain is affected by stroke 

Following a stroke some people suffer from visual neglect, this can make people eat food from only half their plate or shave only half their face because they are unaware of the other side. Therapy and rehabilitation can help retrain the brain to recognise the neglected side and people normally recover fully over time.

The children were taught how to recognise if someone had suffered a stroke using the FAST acronym.

Imaging

To diagnose a stroke, a patient will have an MRI scan. This scanner takes images of the brain using a magnet that is more powerful than the Earth's magnet! You cannot go into an MRI scanner wearing anything that is made of metal.

The children were fascinated by the MRI scans that they were shown. They were able to identify the blood clot on the various brains - the white area.

Other images are displayed in colour. We were intrigued to learn that the red parts of the image showed brain tissue that had died and could not be saved. The green areas showed tissue that could be saved, following a stroke, if the team acted quickly.

A clot can either be treated using medication known as, clot busters or by removing the clot with a catheter.

Occupational Health

This team help people recover physically from a stroke. We had an incredible time:

* Getting dressed using one arm

* Playing pool-noodle and balloon chair tennis - this helps to strengthen muscles, improve co-ordination and reaction times as well as promoting mental wellbeing

* Walking-aid obstacle race

Neuro orthopaedics

This team treats the various musculoskeletal dysfunctions caused by a stroke. The children were amazed to watch the NeuroTrac machine in action, as it stimulated the nerves in the arm causing them to move. This will improve the patients movement and strength.

Nursing Team

Following a stroke some patients struggle to swallow food. The team of nurses showed us how a feeding tube would be inserted into a patients stomach. This gave the children a great opportunity to revise their knowledge of the digestive system.

Year 5 - We are Zoologists

After introducing the career - zoologist, Year 5 watched a video clip showing a typical day in the life of a large mammal zoologist. We then went on a scavenger hunt around school to uncover lots of fascinating facts about different animals.