18
www.stokegiffordjournal.co.uk
Schools
t: 01454 300 400
January 2020
F
riday 15th November 2019 is likely to stay in the memory of pupils at Little Stoke Primary School for quite some time - as the day they came within touching distance of a real-life space rocket! As part of a programme to promote science, engineering, technology and mathematics (STEM), the school had arranged a visit from Steve Bennett of UK based Starchaser Industries, who brought along his organisation’s latest project, the Nova 2 space rocket, standing a massive 12m (39ft) tall. The as-yet unlaunched Nova 2 is designed to be capable of carrying one person into space and is intended as a stepping stone to Starchaser’s objective of serving the space tourism industry with a reusable threeperson rocket ship. The visit had been arranged by the school’s science lead, Donna Southcott, with the purpose of introducing pupils to another form of STEM profession and
Steve Bennett of Starchaser Industries
showing them how Steve came to be involved in it. Donna explains: “We began the day with an assembly in which Steve talked to us about rocket launches in the past and showed us some successful and unsuccessful launches. He also talked to us about why he decided to become a rocket scientist. Steve showed us a video of himself when he was 7 years old and first started to make rockets in his own back garden. He also showed us a video of his latest rocket called ‘Skybolt 2‘, which launched from Northumberland in September 2017.
Year 5 pupils are keen to be photographed with the Nova 2 space rocket
To advertise in this magazine or on our websites, phone The Journal’s sales team on 01454 300 400