On 14 and 15 March, Year 4 students from Cherry Hinton C of E Primary School, Teversham Primary School and the Cambridgeshire Home Educating Families (CHEF) visited Anglian Water at their education centre to learn about conservation, sewage treatment and water recycling.
Ellie Henderson, Community Education Manager at Anglian Water, said
“It’s great to give young people the opportunity to understand where our work fits in within the wider world, as well as the value of water. Sewage is not a subject to turn your nose up at!“
Hands-on activities that included making sewage soup from water and everyday household waste and identifying and investigating common micro-organisms found in untreated water, encouraged the students to think about water pollution and what we can do to reduce it. They came away enthused and pledged to conserve water more at school and at home.
The students were also given the opportunity to go on a site tour and learn more about what Anglian Water do and how the equipment works. They were then quizzed on what they saw and learnt, giving their answers using interactive keypads.
Sarah Burton and Michelle Wootton, from home-educating parents from CHEF said
“Events like these with Cambridge LaunchPad provide an exciting and engaging opportunity for our students to learn about STEM together – we appreciate how inclusive it is. There were a great range of hands-on activities and the tour and presentations were all really interesting.“
The students that showed off their enthusiasm, teamwork and creativity were selected to attend a prize trip that will take place in July, alongside Year 4–6 students from other schools that are taking part in Cambridge LaunchPad. This programme, which is managed by Form the Future CIC, aims to excite, educate, enthuse young people with STEM, and show how science and engineering can affect their everyday lives.
Year 4 students at Teversham Primary School, said
“We loved everything about today – especially looking at germs and other micro-organisms on the microscope. We want to do Cambridge LaunchPad next year – we’ve learnt loads!“
Anna Aldred, STEM Outreach and Cambridge LaunchPad Project Manager from Form the Future CIC, said
“From the fantastic feedback that the students and teachers gave me, it is safe to say that each day was a great success! Every student was fully engaged all day and gave some truly novel contributions. The interactive activities allowed each student to let their curiosity, delight and individuality shine through, and I’m confident that they will continue to look at the planet in a different way.”
Please contact Anna at aaldred@formthefuture.org.uk if you would like to find out more about our STEM outreach programmes and get involved with Cambridge LaunchPad next academic year.
