Last term, all students in Year 7 took part in the ‘Step into the NHS’ competition.

The ‘Step into the NHS’ competition, empowers students to explore the diverse career opportunities within the NHS. Through this competition, young minds are encouraged to envision themselves as integral parts of the healthcare system, fostering a sense of purpose and inspiration for their future endeavours.

For the competition, students were asked to research a variety of careers within the NHS, pick a job which appeals to them and then create a job description and a job advert to promote their chosen career in a creative and original way.

The judges of the competition will select ten regional winners who will each win a £25 Amazon voucher. These regional winners will then have the opportunity to pitch their work virtually to a panel of judges, who will crown the national winner who will win a £50 Amazon voucher.

The best entries have been picked from each class to submit to the judges of the competition. Here are a few of our chosen entries; pathologist poser, paediatrician wooden jigsaw, dentist claw machine, accountant Ferris wheel and a paramedic wearable ambulance. We will find out later in the year if we have any regional or national winners. Wait for our update!

Good luck, everyone!

 

Mrs Harrison

Science Department

Year 8 students have been learning about the digestive system and the importance of the maintaining a balanced diet. The students have learned about deficiency diseases including anaemia, scurvy and rickets. Producing nutritious foods that can compliment a balanced diet is becoming increasingly difficult as the global population continues to grow.  Lab grown foods are a possible solution to meet these increasing demands and for the first time, a European Space Agency (ESA) project is assessing the viability of growing so-called lab-grown food in the low gravity and higher radiation in orbit.

Steak, mashed potatoes and deserts for astronauts could soon be grown from individual cells in space if experiments launched into orbit recently is successful.

Mr Knee

Science Department

The Science Club has had a fantastic few weeks, and it’s been wonderful to see a rise in new members joining us — a real sign of growing enthusiasm for science across the school.

Students have been getting hands-on with some fun and fizzy experiments, including making their own slime and bath bombs. The creativity and curiosity they’ve brought to each session has been amazing to see.

But the real buzz at the moment? Our upcoming Egg-o-nauts competition! Inspired by recent news stories celebrating women in space and the cutting-edge design of space capsules, students are now hard at work designing their own protective pods for a very precious passenger — a raw egg! The challenge? To create a capsule that can survive a drop from a height without cracking its cargo.

The designs so far have been incredibly inventive, with students bringing in a brilliant range of materials and ideas. From cushioning systems to aerodynamic shapes, the thought and science behind each one has been genuinely impressive. It’s particularly fantastic to see so many girls getting stuck in, showing brilliant flair for engineering and problem-solving — a true celebration of women in STEM!

The big test day will take place soon and we can’t wait to see whose egg survives the fall. Watch this space for photos and winners!

Well done to all our budding scientists. Keep reaching for the stars!

Mrs R Cahill

Science Department

This past term, our Year 9 students took a deep dive into the fascinating world of ‘ecosystems’ and experienced first-hand how energy and substances move through food chains.

Students explored the relationships between producers (like plants and algae) and consumers (such as small fish and large predators) in a hands-on, interactive activity. Rather than just reading from a textbook, students became the food web! Each student took on the role of an organism, ranging from tiny phytoplankton all the way to the mighty shark and moved around the classroom to ‘feed’ on their prey.

But this wasn’t just a game of tag. The twist? Pesticides.

To simulate bioaccumulation, small tokens representing pesticides were passed along as students ‘ate’ one another in the food chain. At first, only a few producers carried pesticides but as the simulation continued, something powerful happened; those toxins built up. By the time the shark had finished its ‘meal’, it had collected all the pesticide tokens.

This demonstration showed students how toxins in an ecosystem, like mercury or pesticides accumulate more and more at each level of the food chain, especially in top predators. This real-world phenomenon, known as bioaccumulation, is a crucial concept in understanding environmental science and the impact of human activity on wildlife and our planet.

By actively participating in this simulation, students gained a deeper, more memorable understanding of how ecosystems work and why environmental responsibility is so important.

Mr Dean

Science Department

Chemical Cookery: Year 9 Take Science into the Kitchen.

Who says science can’t be delicious? Year 9 students recently stepped outside their usual curriculum to dive into the fascinating world of molecular gastronomy, where chemistry and cooking collide! Their challenge? To create a dish that looked like a classic plate of spaghetti and meatballs, but with a surprising twist. Instead of pasta and meat, students made white chocolate spaghetti and raspberry ‘meatballs’ using cutting-edge techniques and a dash of chemical magic!

Using ingredients like sodium alginate, calcium lactate and agar agar, students explored how science can transform textures and states of matter. The experience introduced them to spherification, a process that turns liquids into delicate, jelly-like spheres, and gelification, which allowed them to turn white chocolate into noodle-like strands.

The kitchen turned into a laboratory as students experimented with different methods to perfect their dishes. Some struggled with getting the right consistency for their raspberry spheres, while others found the spaghetti strands to be trickier than expected. However, through teamwork and problem-solving, they all managed to plate up a unique and tasty creation!

“It was so cool to see how science could change food in such unexpected ways,” said one Year 9 student. “I never thought I’d be making spaghetti out of chocolate, but now I kind of want to try making other weird food experiments at home!”

The Chemical Cookery session was a brilliant opportunity for students to develop their practical skills, creativity and understanding of food science. It’s safe to say that the world of cooking will never look the same again for these young scientists!

Who knows, maybe we have some future molecular gastronomists in our midst? Next time, we might just see exploding desserts or edible foams on the menu!  Watch this space!

Mr Dean

Science Department