Science Week here in the Prep School has been an undoubted triumph. As a mathematician, and thus almost a scientist, it has been a real delight to me to see the way the week’s events and activities have captured the imagination and enthusiasm of our children. A deep and abiding interest in the world around them is something I’m keen to see all our pupils develop, and an understanding of scientific method and ideas is going to be crucial for the children as they grow up in an increasingly technological society.It’s been a particular pleasure to welcome a number of senior school scientists into prep school classrooms over the course of the week, with Dr Gate talking on numbers in nature and scuba diving, Mrs Dell introducing Years 3 and 4 to psychology, Mrs Jakubowski speaking on volcanoes to Year 5, Mr Hicks explaining the inner workings of computers, Dr Otter and Mrs Duffy running a biology quiz and Mr Pluck’s chemistry experiments with Year 4 and 5. Being able to draw on expertise like this is a great strength of the close relationship between the prep and senior schools. We were also delighted to welcome one of our governors, Mr Charles, to talk to Year 5 on sound, and sixth formers Alice and Emily to lead electricity experiments.

We went to Selborne today to look at the Gilbert White Museum. A woman called Jenny showed us around before we went on a three hour walk across the countryside to collect woodland items. We all got very dirty! We finally went down the zig-zag path. It had about twenty zig-zags! It was tiring, but we made it and got back to the Museum safely. We got back to the field studies centre and looked through a bucket of dead leaves (leaf litter) with a magnifying glass to search for insects and then put them onto a big television screen to see them close up. We really enjoyed the day and learnt a lot about the woodland ecosystem