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Prep STEM Week round up

As I sit and reflect on this year’s Prep STEM Week, I am finding it incredibly hard to pick out specific highlights. The children in the Prep School have had an immensely busy programme of activities this week and have enjoyed many opportunities to take on new challenges, work collaboratively with a host of different children and learn something new and exciting from our visiting speakers.

Our week began with the arrival of astronauts, scientists, aliens and black holes to name a few, with a huge variety of outstanding space themed costumes to really get our week started. The children considered the growth of space exploration by completing footprint activities, building lunar landscapes and competing to be the first to locate the lunar landing sites. We linked up with other schools around the country to take part in Mars Hour whilst working in groups to create our own Martian villages. Our knowledge of space was enhanced further as we welcomed Professor Chris Newman into school to hear about his career in space law. We were all fascinated with the information he shared and came away feeling even more enthused about an already mesmerising topic.

Throughout the week, the Prep children have had the opportunity to take part in some coding activities and also an exciting robotics project. The Upper Prep children have thought about how to calculate the age of a shark and put this theory to the test by applying it to themselves and their peers. Mrs Leck and I were very impressed that Upper Prep 1 were able to complete a particularly challenging satellite design mathematics investigation to explore the different and most effective ways of packing the space equipment. Lower Prep were also very creative when presenting their understanding of the phases of the moon!

Pre-Prep children have been learning more about the growth of buildings and were amazed to see how quickly a skyscraper could be built, before trying to build their own structures. They have also explored animal growth and completed a special paper plane and rocket experiment. They have also thought about the importance of healthy eating and exercise so that they can grow into healthy, strong adults.

As part of our week, we thought about the growth of veganism and it was lovely to be able to welcome some of the children and staff from Oxbridge Primary School to join us for this session. We were treated to some fantastic vegan foods before exploring the history of veganism and completing some discussions surrounding our theme.

Our week has also been significantly enhanced by some inspirational speakers. In addition to Professor Newman, we were joined by Gemma Brotherton from Komatsu to learn more about the growth of their business and the development of their hybrid diggers. Lesley Wratten was our final visitor who was able to share how she built up her successful telecommunications business, Lemon, from very humble beginnings. She was also able to share some of the key considerations and personal skills and qualities needed to grow a thriving business, including the importance of a growth mindset.

We have concluded our week by considering the growth of technology. Having considered the huge advances in technology over the last 100 years, and viewing some predictions of how technology is predicted to develop in the future, the children have created their own technological products, thinking carefully about their purpose, materials and design.

It is hard to believe that this is simply a summary and not exhaustive of our week’s activities, however, I hope that this has provided an insight into what our children have been exploring this week. We have been very proud of the children’s efforts, resilience and their determination when faced with many new challenges. We hope that the children have enjoyed the week as much as the teachers and that they will remember STEM week 2022 with fond memories.

Mrs Kennedy