As part of Oundle School’s outreach programme with local Schools, just before the Easter break, on 27 March, a group of Year 3 and 4 pupils from Polebrook Primary School near Oundle visited Oundle School’s Science facility, SciTec, for an afternoon of science experiments. Oundle was a pioneer in the teaching of science in the nineteenth century and has always been keen to spread the message about science to younger children to fire their imagination for the future.
The pupils completed scientific investigations using fruit batteries looking for the best combinations of metals and fruits to provide power for a clock module. They analysed and evaluated their results and presented their findings using word and excel. Afterwards they were able to keep the clock modules and continue their investigations at school/home.
Head of Science at Oundle School, Paul Clark said, "Getting students to study science at university is increasingly difficult and this is something that needs to be redressed. I am confident that enthusing them when they are young is one way of doing this. I feel that the SciTec facility is a wonderful resource and I am delighted for the opportunity to share it with local primary schools. At Oundle there a strong desire to promote the importance of Science and Scientific Method. We feel that these outreach activities with local primary schools, apart from being great fun, reflect this commitment."
Polebrook teacher, Nigel Middleton commented, “At Polebrook we are very keen to encourage learning in as wide a range of contexts as possible. This was an opportunity for our pupils to develop their scientific enquiry skills in an environment they were not familiar with and to engage with teaching staff and other adults they had not met before. The children all enjoyed visiting the SciTec facility.”
Polebrook pupil, Hatty commented, “It was really good fun and I’ve never made a clock out of fruit before. I didn’t think it would work but it did!”
Any school interested in a visit please contact: Head of Science, Paul Clark : PCC@oundleschool.org.uk