Last week, the Junior School enjoyed an exciting STEM Week. An enormous thank you to the Friends for funding what has been a hugely successful and inspiring week!

On Wednesday 13^th March, the girls had an assembly in which we welcomed a speaker, Bernie, who is currently studying for her MSc in Neuroscience at University College London. It was great for the girls to hear how she chose her career and the route she took to get there.

Years 5 and 6 were lucky enough to listen to a presentation from Dr Ruth Angus, PHD COO of Luminance, who gave an inspirational talk to the girls about her PHD in Neuroscience and her career so far. They were also able to take part in a Mechatronics workshop, run by RICHEReducation where they learnt how to write the coding and build a circuit to make an LED turn on and off. Year 5 and 6 also took part in an engineering workshop where they had to design and build a shelter that all six of their team members could fit in.

Years 3 and 4 also took part in an engineering workshop. Their challenge was to design and build a chair, using only newspaper, that they could sit on. It was fantastic to see the girls developing their teamwork and communication skills as well as having the chance to develop their creativity. The girls in Years 3 and 4 were also able to take part in a Robotics workshop, where they learnt how to write the code for a robot, so that it could move forwards a set distance, turn left and right, move faster and slower, create squares and triangles, and alter the course before hitting an object in the robot’s way. The girls showed great perseverance to ensure that they de-bugged their code to make the robot do as they wished.

Years 1 and 2 took part in an engineering workshop where they had to build a 3D rocket that a member of their team could fit inside. It was a challenging task for some of our younger girls, but it was remarkable how resilient they were and how well they worked together as a team. Not only were Reception stranded on a desert island this STEM Week, but they also had to conjure up a plan to seek help! As luck would have it a STOMP Rocket workshop came to the rescue! The girls were engrossed in the prospect of becoming an Engineer to create their own rockets, some with fins and some with wheels! Using the force of air and adhering to the safety instructions, the girls took their rockets outside to put them to the test, estimating how high and how far they would travel!

Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 also took part in a Science workshop where they learnt about different chemical reactions. The workshop leader, Sian, demonstrated different experiments including dry ice and the expansion and shrinking of a marshmallow family using a vacuum! The girls then went to their classrooms where they were able to carry out experiments of their own. They thoroughly enjoyed making shapes out of polymorph, investigating the effect of temperature on firmo colour sheets, changing the properties of materials and investigating the effect of light on polymorph beads.

While all of these exciting workshops were taking place, there were also STEM lessons taking place in the classrooms. The girls were challenging themselves to solve practical problems to help Sir Harley Houndstooth III, who had been stranded on a desert island, to get back to civilization. These challenges included constructing a hut to provide him with shelter, building him a bridge to help him cross a crocodile infested river, creating a waterproof container so that he could send a message in a bottle, creating a coconut catapult to protect himself and finally creating a raft to help him escape the island.

It has been a fantastic week where the girls have exercised their skills in all four STEM subjects as well as creativity, collaboration, perseverance and resilience. It has also been inspirational for the girls to have two successful women come in and talk to them about their career paths and how the girls can also be successful in a STEM career.