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T R I P S A N D S P O R T S
Science Summer School
Fawzan Siddiqui, 5S and Aria Bapna, 5N
On Thursday 4 July, selected pupils, from the U4 to the L6,
led by Mr Choy and Mr Prole, attended the eighth St Paul’s
Way Trust Science Summer School hosted by the school’s
Patron, Professor Brian Cox OBE. The event places science
at the heart of the curriculum, and aims to inspire young
people to become the next generation of Britain’s scientists.
Whilst there, we received a taste of the opportunities for
exciting and innovative careers in STEAM subjects (science,
technology, engineering, arts and maths) through a series of
seminars, discussions and hands-on experiments that were all
unequivocally thrilling. We also followed a very different
routine for a school day compared to that at Bancroft’s.
In a fresh, interactive environment, we learnt a lot from
all the cordial and knowledgeable staff and pupils which
provided a truly educational experience.
A personal highlight of the trip was the talk given by
Andrew Smyth; those who watch
The Great British Bake Off
might
recognise him as one of 2016’s finalists. His being one of my
favourite contestants, on
Bake Off
wasn’t the only reason I enjoyed
his talk. He combined the daunting topic of aerospace engineering
with baking to make something he called ‘bakineering’. By relating
the complicated concepts of engineering to an everyday activity he
made it easier to understand. A few of us in the audience, myself
included, were slightly apprehensive about ‘bakineering’ at first. But
when we learnt about the mechanics of the rotating jet engine
cake he made for PrinceWilliam we were all stunned at just how
much engineering was involved in baking.
Sabina Talbot, L4W
Sports Day
Sports day 2019 was an overall fantastic and very exciting day. In the end,
West House won, which I think no one was expecting.
The day was very rainy so we had to go inside but I think that people enjoyed it
more because we were all closer to the events and we felt more involved.The day
started quite tense because the long-distance races were first, and many people were
nervous.Throughout the day there was an excited energy going around as we watched
everyone ace their events. At the same time as the main track events there were also
many field events happening.The day finished with the relays; this was the best bit of
the day. Everyone had to participate in a relay, so lots of pupils had to face their fears
and do it for their House.There was no one who did not try their absolute best, so all
of the Houses did an amazing job.
My favourite event to watch was hurdles because some of the people racing were so
good at it, but there were a few people who fell over because they had never done it
before.There was a person in my year group who was pushing each hurdle over, and
was far behind everyone else yet he continued the race, which showed dedication and
was very entertaining for everyone else. I participated in shot putt, javelin and relay, in
which I fell over! Once again, I will say how much of a fun and exciting day it was, and I
can’t wait for next year
By the time we got to comparing the merits of using thermo
protection tiles and using Baked Alaska to protect a space shuttle
during re-entry we had all become firm believers in that baking
and engineering do have a lot in common. If you think about it, a
Baked Alaska dessert keeps ice-cream cold by harnessing the same
physical principle as a thermal protection tile on a space shuttle.
By engineering pockets of air in a material (like in a meringue), the
material acts as an insulator to protect against high temperatures.
A great day on which to finish the school year!