STEM Week
19 March 2024
British Science Week is a National 10-day celebration of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) that takes place annually in March, running from Friday 8 March – Sunday 17 March this year. To mark British Science Week and to celebrate awareness of STEM, we hosted a number of events and activities last week for pupils in Reception to Year 8 at The Beacon.
Monday saw the visit of the Happy Puzzle Company who ran workshops for many of our boys, testing their mathematical problem-solving and teamwork skills. From balancing penguins on icebergs to reorganising road layouts, the boys had lots of fun applying their Maths outside the usual classroom space. Year 8 had a VEX IQ robotics day looking at building and coding a robot, and Year 6, who had the Egg Drop challenge morning completed various STEM tasks to earn the choice of materials.
Throughout the week, Year 8 boys led Maths trails for our younger mathematicians in Year 2. The older boys had spent part of the previous week planning a trail around the school grounds that encompassed questions on number, shape and measure to test the skills of their younger counterparts. Not only was there lots of Maths, it was wonderful to see these two different age groups mixing and working together.
On Wednesday, our Year 4 boys set off to Chesham for a trail of their own. Roman numerals, code-breaking, time-telling and pattern spotting led them from one end of Chesham to the other as they solved puzzles in our local community.
What better way to celebrate Maths than to pie a teacher in the face?! Thursday 14 March was National Pi Day – everyone’s favourite irrational number, celebrated on 3.14 each year. By memorising lots of digits of pi, the boys had the chance to pi(e) a teacher in the face. Mr Baker & Miss Elcomb turned out to be popular choices (victims) with some impressive skills from the boys. A special mention must go to David I (Year 6) who memorised an astonishing 251 digits of pi, securing top spot in the competition.
A special event filled the Spinney Theatre with families on Thursday evening eager to watch an informative talk from a member of the Oundle School and Imperial College London partnership for the second year running on ‘From the Moon to Mars’. Everyone learned a lot about rockets, the advancements in the field and even saw how rocket fuel works!
On Friday, we welcomed eight local schools to take part in The Jackie Gibson Maths Challenge. The competition, for Year 6 boys, had taken a holiday since the pandemic so we were really pleased to have it back. The balance of competitive Maths and fun was just right as the girls of Charlotte House battled to win the giant gnome trophy (referencing Jackie’s favourite song, the laughing gnome). The afternoon felt like a real celebration of Maths and a fitting finale to a fantastic STEM week.
