Science Week was celebrated across Barney with various activities exploring the theme of ‘Curiosity – what’s your question?’.
The first event was a Headspace session where students were introduced to the importance of asking questions in science. Then, we had a panel of scientists to answer questions from the students.
The students were free to ask the panel whatever they wanted, and here are some of the questions they asked:
- ‘How do we know what happened in the Big Bang?’
- ‘Are we still evolving?’
- ‘What would happen if you mixed all the elements from the periodic table together?’
The final question of the session was ‘What is the best design for a paper aeroplane?’. All students were challenged to make a paper aeroplane. We chose what looked like the best ones and these students then had a ‘fly-off’ to see which was best. It was lots of fun to see paper aeroplanes flying all over big school and students enjoying science!
Across Science Week, students had the opportunity to explore each of the sciences in different lunchtime activities in Central Hall. These included trying to identify strange objects from the Biology department like a whale rib, elephant tooth, and dried Gharial head. They also looked at mealworms under the microscopes.
For Chemistry, students explored some rainbow science and the differences between oobleck and slime. Then Physics brought the wonders of balancing cans on a tilt and birds on your nose!
Tutor time was devoted to all things curious with different activities to explore. One of these used clothes pegs and a felt-tip pen to investigate what great teamwork looks like as groups of students had to copy of picture all working together holding a pen, without talking.
There were further curious activities with daily ‘Guess the picture’ in each department’s windows. There were also colouring competitions and plenty of curiosity in all the science lessons across the week. The events culminated in the House Science competition, at which this year’s annual house sunflower growing competition was kicked off.
House Science 2026
House Science brought the celebrations of Science Week to a close, where students from across all years from each house competed in a series of Biology, Chemistry, and Physics challenges . Each of these was designed to encourage curiosity and problem-solving skills.
Biology students explored the theme of curiosity by putting their senses to the test in six interactive activities. They used touch to identify hidden objects, taste to guess mystery foods, and smell to recognise different scents. This produced some amusing results, such as Vicks smelling of lady’s perfume!
Their observation skills were also challenged as they examined unusual biological specimens including a porpoise skull and a cocoa pod, while their creativity shone through in crafting detailed models of specialised cells.
Finally in Physics, the students had to estimate the mass that a life-size model of the Biology building if it was made from polystyrene. They were given spherical samples of polystyrene of different sizes and a variety of measuring tools, with marks rewarded both for good methodology and accurate predictions.
The event was a fantastic way to celebrate Science Week, encouraging curiosity, creativity, and collaboration. A huge congratulations to all the students who participated, and a big thank you to the staff who made it possible. Durham House came out as the victors, with Marwood and Dale tying for second. Science Week may be over, but the spirit of curiosity continues!
