Almost 400 students from nine primary schools across the county had an explosive time when they visited Strode College on Wednesday February 4, to see the team from the University of Bristol’s ‘ChemLabS’ put on an exciting Chemistry demonstration sponsored by EDF Energy.
Most of the schools that attended on the day have link schools in Yueyang, China, and Strode, as the hub of the Somerset-Yueyang partnership, works closely with them, delivering regular Mandarin tuition and supporting collaborative activities with their Chinese partner schools.
Dr Alison Rivett of ‘ChemLabS’ said of the day: “The audience of enthusiastic primary school children at Strode were great today, they really enjoyed the experience – especially when there were loud bangs and flames! We were pleased to have the opportunity to deliver our ‘Gases In The Air’ Chemistry demonstration in an excellent theatre venue.”
Science is the main focus of the joint curriculum projects being undertaken between Somerset schools and their Chinese partners in 2015 and the presentation had the aim of contributing to this collaborative work, as well as developing an enhanced appreciation of science amongst local primary school pupils.
Tom Thayer, Inspire Education Programme Advisor at EDF Energy’s Hinkley Point C project, said: “The chemistry demo was a really great project to sponsor. We would especially like to thank Adrian Ash, HE & International Manager at Strode College, for facilitating the day and we look forward to working with Strode on many more projects to come!”
Strode College is also involved with EDF Energy’s Inspire Education Programme, which has run over 400 activities with 100 schools in Somerset – helping more students think about benefits of studying science, technology, engineering and maths subjects (STEM) at GCSE.
Photos by: Aran Jefferies, Latitude Photography / 07973 343 940 latitudephotography.co.uk/