Immersion, Excitement and Curiosity during British Science Week
The Junior Prep School pupils were fully immersed in the excitement of British Science Week, exploring the national theme of curiosity and answering the guiding question: “What is your question?” From Reception to Year 6, every pupil took part in hands on investigations, engaging demonstrations, and unforgettable scientific experiences that brought learning vividly to life.
Throughout the week, pupils were amazed by a series of spectacular demonstrations linked to the idea of investigating the world around us. These included:
- A Reuben’s Tube, where flames visibly danced to the beat of “Golden” from K-Pop Demon Hunters, showing sound waves made visible through fire.
- Density towers, revealing how liquids of different densities beautifully layer without mixing.
- A universal indicator ‘rainbow tube’, demonstrating the full pH spectrum in one colourful column.
- Sugar cube flames, showing how the metals make the flames change colour, like magic fireworks made from chemistry
- Static electricity wonders, including bending a stream of water, moving a drink can without touching it, and lifting salt and pepper using a charged balloon.
These sessions sparked awe and curiosity, encouraging pupils to ask questions, make observations, and explore scientific concepts in dynamic ways.
Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 enjoyed a special visit to the science labs, complete with an added treat: “waking up” some puffer fish, a highlight for our youngest scientists.
- Reception pupils used data loggers to measure the time taken for cars to travel down ramps, introducing them to collecting and analysing data. They also took some colourful chromatography activities back to their classrooms to continue with later in the week.
- Year 1 pupils got hands on with messy science, experimenting with Oobleck, a fascinating non Newtonian fluid that behaves as both a solid and a liquid.
- Year 2 linked their science investigations to their current topic, building cork pirate boats to test their buoyancy later in their topic.
- Year 3 explored acids and alkalis using red cabbage indicator and universal indicator paper, identifying a range of mystery liquids through colour changes.
- Year 4 took creativity and physics to a new level by designing graphite circuits, drawing conductive pathways with graphite pencils to successfully light LED bulbs.
- Year 5 had their first deep dive into microscopy, observing a living daphnia (water flea) under the visualiser microscope. They then used a flowchart sorting key to identify a variety of specimens, developing both observational and classification skills.
- Year 6 created their own colour keys using red cabbage infused agar. They then bored wells into their agar plates and added different liquids, observing the resulting chemical reactions through distinct colour changes.
From sugar cube flames to electric circuits, from microscopic life to dancing flames, the activities throughout British Science Week captured the imaginations of all our JPS pupils. The energy, enthusiasm, and endless questions from every year group showed just how powerful curiosity can be in driving learning forward.
