Primary Science Fair

Our annual Primary Science Fair took place on March 14 and was attended by two hundred pupils from seventeen local schools. In addition, all members of our own Prep got to visit and enjoy the Sixth Form stands.

The theme this year was ‘Connections’ and the Lower Sixth scientists had worked incredibly hard to produce colourful, original and interactive stalls which they enjoyed demonstrating and explaining to the visiting children.

They saw how a sandwich progresses through our body; made bath bombs and giant bubbles; watched a volcano ‘erupt’ and raced cars powered by static electricity, Our visiting judge was Dr Jinx St Ledger, from Cambridge University’s Engineering Department, an OB who was visiting for the first time since she left Bancroft’s. Dr St Ledger was very impressed by all the stalls and said that she found it difficult to choose between the projects as the standard was so high. She awarded the first prize to Kiera M, Giaan M and Amelia S for their stall ‘From Gums to Bums’, which told the story of digestion. In addition, Dr St Ledger highly commended three stalls: ‘Chromism’ (Colour in Chemistry), ‘Static Electricity’ and ‘Magic Fire’. Second prize was awarded to the most popular stall as voted by the visitors. The runaway overall winner was ‘Super Science’ run by Aman B, Joshua C, Yathusan K and Yash V, which gained more than twice the number of votes than anyone else in the competition.

In addition, the visiting schools were treated to a carousel of activities in the three-science zones. They made their own rockets in physics, which were then launched on the school field with various degrees of success. They faced a series of challenges in biology as they explored the senses – could they name various smells and identify hidden objects by touch?

During a popular chemistry display, they experienced different chemical reactions, some of which were quite noisy –. Ms Swift, Science Lead at Staples Road School wrote, “What a wonderful afternoon we have just had at the Science Fair – our Y5s loved it! Thanks to you, the staff and pupils, for organising such an interesting and engaging event and for the warm and friendly welcome we received.”

We saw an equally enthusiastic response from St Antony’s Catholic Primary School said, “It was a great afternoon out for the children and it enriched the children’s learning and inspiration for Science. The feedback from the children was also very positive.”