From 14 - 18 March we celebrated British Science Week with a selection of activities and talks.

British Science Week is a ten-day celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths, but this year we had double excitement as we were also able to celebrate Mars Day on 14 March.

Below is an overview of the activities which our students got involved with.

Science Escape room

Students were challenged to race against the clock to solve a series of puzzles and reveal a code to allow them to escape from the lab!

There was a buzz of excitement, anticipation, and trepidation in the air as students competed to achieve the winning escape time!

Congratulations to Evie and Alice, Year 11, who achieved a record-breaking time of 22 minutes 55 seconds! Special mention also goes to Kashuf, Year 10, who achieved an impressive solo time of 26 minutes 21 seconds.

Mars Day

On Monday 14^th March, students were invited to attend two talks organised in celebration of Mars day.

Technology in Space

Susan Buckle (Space Careers Lead, UK Space Agency, former Astronaut Flight Education Programme Manager for Tim Peake’s Principia mission) and a panel of UK STEM Ambassadors working in the space industry, led a talk to discuss how they participate in space missions, their journeys from studying to becoming a member of a thriving UK space industry and their contribution to national and international space exploration.

Students thoroughly enjoyed the talk and said “I found the Technology in Space talk informative and especially useful to anyone looking at a career in space technology or astronomy. I particularly enjoyed hearing from the man who studied the surface of Mars, as well Sara’s iconic rocket shaped water bottle.”

“It was interesting to find out about all the different careers available within the space industry and the different paths to get there. The speakers were really engaging, and a particular highlight was the very cool rocket water bottle. Overall, it was a very enjoyable panel.”

Read more about Susan here: Meet A Rocket Woman: Susan Buckle, Astronaut Flight Education Programme Manager, UK Space Agency - Rocket Women (rocket-women.com)

‘Engineering in Space’

John Chinner (Principal Electrical Engineer and Faculty Leader, Airbus Defence and Space Engineering Academy) and a panel of UK STEM Ambassadors working in the space industry, spoke about their journeys from studying engineering to becoming a member of a thriving UK space industry.

“I found the talk, though over Zoom, a very engaging and enriching experience, especially with the presentation of the innovative idea of a cheap 1kg nanosatellite that students can send up into space and collect their own data with. My key takeaway from it is that you can achieve whatever goal you have, whether that be a dream job or something else, if you just have enough passion.”

How can we know anything at all about the origin of life?

Nick Lane - Professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry, UCL

Nick Lane is an evolutionary biochemist and writer in the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London.

Students were invited to attend a live streamed lecture, in which Professor Lane was exploring the hypothesis that energetics played a critical role in the evolution of life on Earth. It was fascinating to hear him talk about the interplay between Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Geology in the development of life on Earth and how he, and his team of researchers, have gone about trying to recreate the conditions that were seen on Earth in the early evolutionary stages of the development of life.

Chemistry bake sale

On Friday 18 March, Year 9 were challenged to make a cake representing atomic structure. An impressive £78 was raised for Comic Relief. Well done and thank you to all those involved