Manchester science festival

So a slightly delayed post about my visit to MOSI to take part in the #MSF14

Once again Electricity North West were sponsors of the event so we took over one of their classrooms again. With the help of ambassadors from ENWL Sheila and myself set up our circuit boards and got ready to give visitors and whirlwind tour of the bright sparks kits.

 

It’s a really enjoyable day as many of the visitors love making little circuits and experiment with the kits. Its really nice to see parents and children learning together.

Anyway thanks to Electricty North West hiring a photographer and their press officer here are some brilliant pictures from the day. Permission was acquired for all pictures by the photographer.

 

As always a really enjoyable day and lots of happy faces, behind the concentration on some occasions.

Summer Term..UPDATED!!

Links and Pictures from the Summer term..

 

Well the summer term has been a very busy one.

 

So here are the schools I’ve visited so far with links to pictures where appropriate (hopefully more to be added). Please feel free to share any comments with me.

Oh and whilst you’re reading a shameless plug- there are still a couple of days left until the summer holidays and a couple more provisionally booked so if you want me to come to your school. Act fast.

 

1. The Bishop Harvey Goodwin school- My second day after the one before Easter. Pupils really enjoyed it after all the hype from their peers. Very friendly staff.
2. St Mark’s C of E School- 2 great days there. Staff were really welcoming and so nice.
3. Roose School- My second visit to Roose this time with Year 3. A great day and the pupils really enjoyed it. A little on their blog here: Roose Blog
4. Hensingham Primary school- Really nice school and very friendly staff.
5. Warwick Bridge School- Great school and the pupils really enjoyed the day. I did feel a little sorry for Yr 6 who had a revision day 😦
6. Richmond Hill school- A lovely school both building and pupils. The class worked really well and enjoyed the day.

Now then here’s the updated list. I’ve been so busy since I started this post that I just haven’t got round to updating it as frequently as I expected. Sadly no comments for individual schools however as always they’ve been fantastic and very welcoming!

1. Plumbland school.
2. Gosforth C of E.
3. St Patricks, Workington.
4. Holme St Cuthbert.
5. Belle Vue.
6. St Thomas’ Kendal.
7. Hensingham.
8. St James’ Barrow- had 4 days!
9. St Pius X.
10. South Walney.
11. Kirkby Stephen.
12. Goodly Dale.
13. Sacred Heart- had OfSTED in and possibly the most unhealthy staffroom in the whole of Cumbria.
14. and last but not least Ghyllside Primary school in Kendal which is next Tuesday.

Most of the above schools have had two days. None seem to have got round to uploading pictures from the day yet. I guess we can all understand that as the last 1/2 term in particular is a busy one for us all.

Anyway I hope all the schools have a well deserved summer break, I think Sacred Heart are now the most deserving.

See you next year- although Winter term could be a quiet one too, but I’ll keep people posted this time.

Jamie

 

 

Pictures from a Kendal school

Image

Below are some pictures showing pupils during the afternoon of a Bright Sparks session from a Kendal school.

 

Permission has been given for these to be used, however without mentioning the school directly.

 

A fantastic start to summer term

Well the summer term has gotten off to a great start!

Summer term started with me returning to The Bishop Harvey Goodwin School in Carlisle for their second Bright Sparks Workshop.

The pupils were really looking forward to their day after being told all about it by the other class.

 

I’ve also been to St Marks in Natland for the first time, I’ll be returning there on Friday for a day with Year 4.

Today I’ve been back to Roose primary school, this time with Year 3. The pupils love circuits, which was a great start for me. They really seemed to enjoy the day and certainly worked as hard as Year 6’s! Plenty of pictures were taken by the class teacher so hopefully I’ll be able to share them when they’re uploaded.

So far it’s been a great start to the summer term. The nice weather seriously helps of course. Long may it continue.

There are still a few days left in July for those schools that want to book a Bright Sparks Workshop.

 

STEM Cumbria are now on Facebook too so please given them a like. We also need to convince them to tweet to join all of the great primary schools that are on there.

 

 

 

 

Spring term roundup- Second half

So the second half of spring term has been just as busy as the first.

Amanda has been busy as always filling the last few spaces for the Summer term. There are now only a handful of days left to fill before the Summer holidays! They’ve never felt so close before.

Anyway here’s the list of fantastic schools I’ve visited this half term:

Stoneraise School

http://www.stoneraise.cumbria.sch.uk/classesjpage.htm Some great bits under class Oak and class Beech.

St James’ School, Millom

 

Grayrigg C of E School

http://www.grayrigg.cumbria.sch.uk/pages/news/6712

http://www.grayrigg.cumbria.sch.uk/news

High Heskett School

 

Yarlside School

 

Dent C of E school

No pictures however I have had some great feedback from the headteacher, which is always appreciated.

Stanwix School

Click to access Newsletter-21st-March.pdf

Hopefully with more pictures to follow

Broughton Moor School

 

Montreal Primary School– The normal class teacher was absent so pictures below…

Montreal primary school, Cleator moor

Beetham School

 

Heron Hill School

 

The Bishop Harvey Goodwin School.

 

Some of these schools already have dedicated posts within the blog, however, a massive thanks to all the schools that have welcomed me this last half term.

 

Where appropriate I have attached links to pictures hosted on the schools own website. As always I will try to add new links to pictures that pop up in future.

Sadly however, some schools are better at showing off the great work their pupils do than others.

 

 

Montreal primary school, Cleator moor

A beautiful drive up the west coast today to Cleator moor.

 

A pretty good start to the day. Sadly the normal class teacher was off on paternity leave, congratulations to him. However the supply teacher was really welcoming, as were the other staff, ensuring everything still ran smoothly.

Just after break time, when all the fun stuff comes out, we had a visit from some reports from the Whitehaven news. (I’ll include a link to the story when it’s published.)
Link to pictures http://cumberlandnews.newsprints.co.uk/search/bykw/b/f/0/1

However given half a chance I asked if I could grab some pictures. The answer- yes of course except for one child. So I grabbed my camera and took a few snaps of pupils working away.

Thanks to the teachers at Stanwix I’ve decided to now ask for photo permission as routine as many schools already have blanket permission for their use.

 

Hopefully this will result in more pictures like those attached.

Montreal pupils hard at work testing conductors and insulators. Part of the bright sparks workshop.

Montreal pupils making a set of traffic lights.

Pupils making a parallel circuit

Pupil testing copper wire to see if it’s a conductor or an insulator.

Helping each other when testing materials. Always good to see.

Making a note of which materials are conductors and which aren’t.

Montreal pupils busily testing conductors and insulators.

Montreal pupils participating in the bright sparks role play

Stanwix school and what happens after Bright Sparks

So this week has been a slightly busier one due to it being Science and Engineering week.

So alongside a day at Broughton moor primary school I’ve also spent 2 days at Stanwix school in Carlisle.

It’s a really good school and as with my previous visit I was made to feel very welcome by the staff. It’s also the place where I did my first delivery when I took over the workshop last year, so it was lovely to go back.

Due to me being there for 2 separate days I also got to have a sneaky look at what they did after the Bright Sparks workshop. I say sneaky look but the class teacher was all too willing to show off the pupils creations! It was really good to see as normally I just go in, do my bit and leave.

I pinched some pictures of their models. All of which used, and further developed, the skills learnt in their session on Monday.

Model wind turbines

A model powerstation

I think this one is a model nuclear power station

A model coal power station

 At the end of the day all of these where connected to a small town (some bulbs in parallel) using model pylons. A really inventive activity to follow on from the workshop.

As always the pupils really seemed to enjoy the day and I’m pretty sure the teachers did too.

It’s good to see teachers enjoying themselves and I’ve got to say it makes me enjoy the day more too..

There may well be more pics to follow as teachers took plenty today!

Hopefully I’ll be back to see everyone next year.

Dent C Of E Primary School

Well after an early start and interesting drive over to Dent C of E school a great day was had by all.

I got slight confused by all the Yorkshire dales signs yet the CA postcode. Still a very lovely area that I’ll have to visit for pleasure sometime soon.

Anyway to the school and how we got on.

Well I personally had a great day. The pupils really seem to enjoy their Science and didn’t need too much coaxing to start using scientific language. They came up with some brilliant, fantastic, explanations during the day and I found myself using more secondary than primary school Science.

All of pupils got on great with the circuit boards (no breakages either)  and were desperate to use the extension boards and complete some challenges.

The class teacher also made sure all key words from the day were written on a separate whiteboard that pupils could refer to through-out the day. Again a great idea when we want them to use scientific terminology as much as possible.

Great scientific vocabulary used by pupils at Dent C of E school

 

Quick snap at lunch time.

Stoneraise primary school, Carlisle

Video

Thanks to Stoneraise school for welcoming me to deliver Brightsparks workshop, and taking plenty of pictures.

Here are the links…

 

 

Both videos are linked from their website which can be found here

http://www.stoneraise.cumbria.sch.uk/

Grayrigg Bright Sparks

Well the first delivery of March saw me heading off to Grayrigg C of E school.

A lovely little school on the outskirts of Kendal.

The pupils really seemed to enjoy their day especially as I think it was a surprise for all but 2 pupils, who came in screaming “You’re Jamie. You know our mum.”

Every pupil seemed to enjoy the day and I think I could even remember all of their names by the end of the day.

The head teacher, Mrs Cooper, was very welcoming and took plenty of pictures. A sample of which can be seen here.

A massive thanks to Mrs Cooper for being so welcoming and uploading the pictures in what must be record time!

Hopefully see you all again soon.