"Children are a gift from the Lord, they are a reward
from him.” Psalms 127:3
“Not all of us can do great things but we can do
small things with great love.” Saint Teresa
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Science
Little Explorers and Science Ambassadors
This year we have appointed two science representatives in each class. In Nursery and Reception, they are called ‘Little Explorers’ and in KS1 and KS2 they are called ‘Science Ambassadors’. They all received a special science badge in our achievement assembly and will wear their badges with pride around school. They will carry out important roles, such as, helping get equipment our for their science lessons and will talk to Miss Heron about science at St Mary’s.
Curricular Enrichment Activities
Thursday 15th June 2023
Space Exploration with Jacobs
Some of Year 5 had a fantastic afternoon learning about Space with Jacobs at Lakes College. They took part in a workshop led by engineering specialists to teach them about learning and skills in STEAM careers linked the Space. They explained how the STEAM industry is rapidly growing and helped the children widen their perspective and career choices by bringing STEAM out of the classroom and into the real world. The pupils loved carrying out a chemical reaction experiment to help them launch a plane as well as making electric circuits and their own rockets!
Thursday 16th March 2023
STEM- Drew Steel, 'This is Me'
Year 5 & 6 were extremely lucky to head from Drew Steel, who works in a Military Liaison role at BAE Systems. Drew served in the RAF as an Air Electronics Officer for almost 30 years, he has flown on Nimrod MR2, Canberra and Chinock (as well a TF-51 Mustang!)
Drew was inspirational! He explained to us how he spent his entire working life in and around aeroplanes and told us all about the people that inspired him: Douglas Bader, Neil Armstrong and Mary Ellis. With passion, he illustrated to us how engineering has enabled him to live his dream and encouraged us to live our dream too!
He also demonstrated to us how areoplanes fly and used two balloons to show this. He explained, areoplane wings are shaped to make air move faster over the top of the wing. When air moves faster, the pressure of the air decreases so the pressure on the top of the wing is less than the pressure on the bottom of the wing. The difference in pressure creates a force on the wing up into the air.
British Science Week
10th- 19th March 2023
The whole school had a fantastic time celebrating British Science Week; the theme for this year was connections. In EYFS, the children explored the connection between animals and their habitats by being ‘Nature Detectives’. They had lots of fun exploring the school surroundings and they even made their very own bug hotels from recycled materials. They found out about the importance of recycling and how humans are responsible for helping to look after animal habitats by putting their rubbish in the bin.
In Year 1, the children looked at the connection between weights, forces and measure by making their very own bridges! They tested the strength of the bridges by adding weights to them. In Year 2, the children made their own cheese and discussed the connection between dairy farms and food produce and how ingredients are mixed together to make new foods.
Year 3 & 4 went back in time as Victorians. The Victorians were keen inventors and so the children were challenged to put their creativity and problem-solving skills to the test by designing something to make life at home easier. They came up with some fantastic ideas including a conveyor belt which folded all of your clothes and put them away for you!
Finally, Year 5 & 6 joined forces and worked in teams as specialist STEAM experts. They had to set up and run their own aircraft making company. This involved organising their team, coming up with a team name and logo and designing and producing the ‘Ultimate Paper– Flying Machine’ whist meeting their customer’s orders by making the most PROFIT. They also had to make their plane fly a whopping 5m. This challenge required the children to demonstrate fantastic teamwork, resilience and perseverance as well as using their problem-solving and organisational skills.
Tuesday 27th September 2022!
Feel the Force
Today Year 6 attended the REACT Foundation Annual Science & Engineering Show at Lakes College. The theme of the show was ‘Feel the Force’ and was presented by The London Science Museum.
St Joseph’s Year 6 Transition
Our Year 6 pupil’s heading to St Joseph’s Catholic High School in September thoroughly enjoyed attending a science afternoon. They loved working with Mr Anson and carried out a range of chemistry experiments. They did the flame test to detect and identify different ions and they mixed chemical substances to see what their colour reaction was.
Year 5 Earth and Space Day
Dawn Watson- Sellafield - Tuesday 7th June
Year 5 were extremely lucky to have a visit from Dawn Watson, a physicist from the local Sellafield site. She spoke about different aspects of space and Year 5 used their bodies to show how the Earth rotates and orbits the Sun, while the Moon orbits the Earth. This was quite difficult to show without getting dizzy, but they got there in the end. They created models of this rotation and orbiting, and used this to explain the apparent movement of the sun across the sky and the apparent change in the shape of the moon. Mrs Watson was extremely pleased and surprised with the level of knowledge and technical vocabulary that we were showing and using.
Year 6 Doosan Dream Big Workshop
Friday 20th May 2022
Year 6 thoroughly enjoyed the workshop with Bill from Doosan and gained a lot of knowledge about jobs they previously weren’t aware of. It was really interesting to hear their ambitions for the future. They were inspired by thinking about the skills they need for different job roles and considered different career choices- particularly thinking of what it means to work in the Science and Engineering sectors. The workshop was wonderfully interactive and engaging and Year 6 had a great time competing against each other to build the highest structure! It was a brilliant afternoon!
STEAM Education Forces Workshop- Year 2, 3 & 5
18th May 2022
We had a brilliant day making our own tornadoes in water (whirlpools) using a magnet and a circuit with a motor. We were amazed! We also made our own cars with a propeller; the cars received their energy from elastic bands when they were turned in a clockwise motion. Some of us got a little competitive and tested whose car travelled the furthest.
Cumbria Wildlife Trust- Get Cumbria Buzzing!
1st May- 8th May 2022
We took part in Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s campaign by contributing in their ‘Big Plant’ event. They provided 100 community groups in the North and West of Cumbria with 15,000 wildflowers to plant in the week of the 1st- 8th May. By supporting the campaign, we aim to increase pollinators in our local area; there are over 5,000 insects in the UK that play an essential role in pollinating our garden flowers, trees, shrubs and crops. Without them, most plants would not be able to produce seeds. All year groups had a great time planting the flowers and enjoyed getting very muddy!
Year 5 and 6 Circuit Workshop
Monday 25th April 2022
Year 5 and 6 thoroughly enjoyed their visit from Sellafield who hosted a ‘Circuit Workshop’. The children worked in teams to predict what would happen, problem solve and even had a go at building and connecting circuits to create motion, light and sound. Impressively, the children used a range of scientific language in their discussions such as: circuits, sources, amplify, charge, conduct and current. They were also able to link their activities to coding by using their computing skills. It was a fantastic afternoon enjoyed by all!
Willow Sculptures- Workington Nature Reserve
Monday 14th and Friday 18th March 2022
Year 2 and 3 pupils thoroughly enjoyed working with willow artist Phil Bradley to create two willow sculptures in our local nature reserve! Year 2 worked together to create a ‘wigloo’ (an igloo made from willow) and Year 3 created a ‘twigwam’ (a wigwam made from willow). The children loved getting their hands dirty and learnt lots about willow.
British Science Week
Monday 14th- Friday 18th March 2022
The whole school had a fantastic time celebrating British Science Week. We dressed up as scientists and carried out lots of STEM based activities which required us to: observe, problem solve, become designers and collaborate with our peers. We really enjoyed the STEM Engineering fairy tale stories! It was also fascinating learning about a range of famous scientists including Charles Macintosh, Mary Anning, Spencer Silver, Arthur Fry and Michael Faraday. During the week, Year 2 and 3 were also lucky enough to join willow artist Phil Bradley at our local Nature Reserve to create a ‘wigloo’ and ‘twigwam’ sculpture.
February 2022
Year 1- Living Eggs
In year 1, we really enjoyed our Living Eggs topic. We received ten special eggs in an incubator. We watched them hatch and develop over the next ten days. We observed how they changed over time and we weighed them using weighing scales to measure their growth.
Year 4 Water Workshop
3rd February 2022
Year 4 took part in a Water Awareness Session which was led by Sarah George from United Utilities. The children discussed why water was so important and what we use water for. They looked at different ways in which they could help save water and came up with some great ideas! They took part in different activities to show how much water is used in their homes. They then decided on a challenge that they would like to set themselves to help save water. The children had a wonderful morning and learnt so much about Water Awareness!
Wednesday 8th December 2021
Year 3- Chocolate Factory Visit
In year 3, we visited The Chocolate Factory in Hawkshead. We learnt how chocolate is made and had a go at melting our own chocolate. It was so much fun!
Pet Encounter Visit EYFS and Year 1
Thursday 25th November 2021
Today Nursery and Year 1 had a special visit from the Pet Encounter animals and we learned lots of interesting facts about how to look after them all.
Year 4 Reservoir Visit
Tuesday 21st October 2021
In Year 4 we visited Harrington Reservoir with Workington Nature Partnership. On our visit we learned all about how the habitat has changed and what Workington Nature Partnership do in order to protect the wildlife there. We also made bug houses which was lots of fun!
World Habitat Day
Monday 1st October 2021
In Nursery, Reception and KS1 we celebrated World Habitat Day which is marked on the first Monday of October every year. The theme this year was 'Accelerating urban action for a carbon-free world'. The theme recognises that everyone has the basic human right to adequate shelter, and reminded us at St Mary’s of our shared responsibility to protect our future. We enjoyed discussing what we can do at school and at home to protect our planet.
In Nursery we painted pictures of the planet and talked about how we can look after it.
In year 2 we discussed ways we can reduced our carbon footprint and they produced our own footprints to explain what we are going to do to support our world.