Last week, Crescent School took part in British Science Week, a national celebration of Science run by the British Science Association. Crescent School was delighted to welcome parents into school to share their experiences of working in ‘science’ careers. Pupils across the school from Year 1 up to Year 6 found out just how important science is to society today. Hearing directly from those working in medical fields, through research, engineering and on to design and production, inspired them all while developing their understanding of science connections to our world today.
We started the week with a special assembly and were delighted to welcome Mr Poulton and Dr Rossouw, who spoke to the children about their work. As a Mechanical Engineer, Mr Poulton spoke about how his love of taking things apart and putting them back together helps him to solve problems in his work while, Biochemist, Dr Rossouw explained how chemical elements are the building blocks of the world and how she uses chemistry to keep water clean.
We are immensely grateful to all the parents who volunteered to talk to the children over the week. It was incredible to see the children’s enthusiasm and engagement with their speakers and we hope you weren’t all too overwhelmed by all their fantastic questions.
Our speakers included:
Class 6W welcomed:
Mr Sheppard - Chemical Engineer
Mr Sheppard is responsible for designing processes which turn raw materials into useful products. Pupils avidly listened when he spoke about his job of working on dangerous oil refineries across the world and designing new ways to split water into green hydrogen using an electrolyser.
Mr Capper - Supply Chain, Demand and Supply Balancing Director
Pupils were intrigued by the design and engineering process at Jaguar Land Rover. They learnt about design, supply, engineering and production and some amazing facts - that every 45 seconds a car is manufactured!
Mrs Banks – Biomedical Scientist
The pupils learnt about haematology including all the different components of blood, how scabs are formed in the important process of coagulation and how magic blood is used in transfusions. It was a brilliant insight into blood and how it is our body’s life force! There was great excitement at lots of free gifts from Sysmex too!
Class 5F welcomed:
Mrs Remi-Omosowon - Architect and Mr Matthews - Architectural Technician
They provided an insight into which materials in construction are low, medium or high on the carbon indicator. The pupils learnt about both traditional and alternative materials.
They shared the software they have developed for schools to use.
Mr Elshazly BDS. MOSRCS.FDSRCS.MSc - Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon
Pupils first learnt about the history of surgery in barber shops and why the barber poles we see today are red and white! They found out that it can take 11 to 13 years after your medical degree to train to be a specialised surgeon like Mr Elshazly. They were full of amazement at the head and neck operations that were carried out and the different challenges that surgeons faced. It was fascinating for them to realise that our mouths are not unique and many variants are perfectly normal. They enjoyed handling prosthetics, models of teeth and eyes which have all been donated to Crescent School.
Dr Mercer – Design Researcher
Dr Mercer delivered the valuable message that products are made to be used by people and therefore the design has to be useful for people to be able to interact with them – the user centred design process. Dr Mercer has worked on all sorts of famous products including BBC iPlayer and radio. His talk related well to DT in school and how we need to think of the customer.
Class 4C welcomed:
Mrs Poulton – Specialist Paediatric Gastroenterology Dietician Birmingham Children’s Hospital
Pupils were taken on an amazing journey of the digestive system and how children with illness are assessed, diagnosed and treated for dietary and nutritional problems.
Dr Kazem – Avionic Systems Engineering
Dr Kazem demonstrated to pupils how you build systems for a space craft and the pupils were challenged to think of the pros and cons of automation and artificial intelligence. The children loved learning about heuristics, defining and reviewing rules in a game which involved everyone being able to access sweets!
Class 3S welcomed:
Mr Hosegood – Mechanical Engineer
The pupils learnt about the safety, structure and materials that are used to engineer car seats to match the needs of customers. Mrs Johnson and Mrs Calder were able to try out 16 point moveable car seats.
Mrs Khunti – Clinical Optometrist
The pupils learnt how the eye works and how we see, what happens when you have your eyes checked and different solutions to help sight problems. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed being able to do eye tests and handle some of the technical equipment. They learnt interesting facts:
- More than 80% of the information that we use to learn comes through our eyes.
- During the day your eyes use as much energy as your legs would need to walk 80 kilometres – about the same as walking for 16 hours without resting
Class 2W welcomed:
Dr Poskett – Obstretics and Gynaecology
A great insight into the different stages of development of a baby inside the mother’s tummy. Fascinating information and the pupils did not stop asking questions. Linked beautifully to their topic of human life cycles.
Mr Burgstaller - Engineer Electric Cars
An insight into how an electric car works and the electronics involved. Simple explanation of electronics. Class 2W were so excited to have the opportunity to build electric circuits.
Class 2E welcomed:
Mrs Akinola-Amadi MBE – Chartered Engineer – Designer and Innovator
Pupils were amazed to discover just how important engineers are to construction when Mrs Akinola-Amadi spoke to them about her work innovating, designing and problem solving for buildings. They were impressed by the amazing hotel she talked about and loved the cartoon where Yewande was the super hero!
Class 1S welcomed:
Mr Thompson – General Manger UK Mane
The pupils enjoyed tasting different flavours and learnt that flavour perception comes from all our different senses and not just our taste buds.
Dr Idu – GP
Pupils were interested to find out all the different aspects to the role of a GP.
Mr Woolley - Landscape Architect
Shared with the pupils his role and how through the art and practice of designing outdoor environments, beautiful and useable gardens, parks, rooftop and private gardens are created.
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