Science Week: Adapt and Thrive

Science Week subjects and activities this year ranged from a demonstration of hawks, reptiles and insects to a careers fair that included professionals from fields as diverse as AI, dentistry and Meteorology.

Adapt and Thrive, the theme for this year’s Harrodian Science week, was chosen as a response to the way things are in the world today. ‘We’re all conscious that the world is in the grip of extraordinary change, aren’t we?’, says Mr Jak Cooper, Head of Science. ‘We’re looking at ways that scientists are responding to that and providing the skills that the world needs now.’

The STEM Careers Fair certainly provided plenty of current examples of scientists working in thriving industries. Harrodian Senior students had the opportunity both to hear from and meet professionals working in established fields and growth industries including Artificial intelligence, Beauty and Well Being, Computer Science, Pharmaceuticals, Technology and Innovation Meteorology.  For the first time the STEM career advisers included Harrodian Alumni, among them were former Head Girl Sonya Luchanskaya (Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry student at Oxford University),  Gus Hall (studying Aerospace Engineering at Bath), Grace Potts (a Global Health and Human Science graduate from Durham) and Olivia Drayson (Physics graduate, Oxford, now working in research at the University of California).

Our younger scientists were also taking their first steps in the research field. In the Pre-Prep, children enjoyed participating in experiments and science sessions led by Head of Science Jak Cooper, with assistance from Sixth Former Science students. Making fire, examining plant cells under microscopes, and exploring the reflection of light using mirrors were just a few of the thrilling experiences they had.

Meanwhile Lower Prep pupils designed their own science experiments and designed posters explaining them, as part of a competition (winners below) and both our Pre-Prep and Prep Schools instigated a plastic-free snack day.

In the Upper Prep, our 11s finalists presented their science experiments in the marquee as part of the annual Science Fair. A  large TV screen displayed photos of all the other 11s projects that hadn't made the final selection. Questions posed in experiments created by Year 7 pupils included: What makes ice melt the quickest; what herbs grow the fastest; can a Newton's Cradle generate energy: and does caffeine improve our reaction time?

Science Week also provided Harrodians with a welcome opportunity to wonder at the beauty and majesty of the natural world. A superb show-and-tell provided pupils from the 10s to the 14s(Year 6- Year 10) with close up encounters with stick insects, a hedgehog and a tarantula, as well the chance to meet a vulture, a kestrel, an owl, a White-Tailed Sea Eagle and a Peregrine Falcon, the fastest bird in the world.

 A visit from Zoolab gave Pre-Prep pupils a similar experience, particularly when the children were given the chance to hold and touch snakes and other insects!

A mini series of STEM-related lectures was also organised as lunch time drop-ins, with priority given to A Level scientists. Two talks were given on the theme of AI : one delivered by the CEO at Greenhouse AI, Andrew Burgess, and the other by Chief Enterprise Technical Officer, Steve McCrystal, and Global Tech and Innovative Lead Ella Giraudeau at Unilever and the final one on Periodicity by University of Bristol lecturer Dr Rebekah Jeans.