Igniting Young Minds

Reading Blue Coat takes immense pride in offering our students opportunities to engage in meaningful service to the local and wider community.  Under the umbrella of The Aldworth Partnership, our primary aims are to serve, fundraise, and donate.  We emphasise that these activities should be mutually beneficial, allowing our students to gain real value from their philanthropic work.  Through these experiences, students can develop an awareness of the world beyond school and a strong sense of service.

Our partnership collaborates with several local primary schools to provide greater academic opportunities for their pupils. A key aspect of this work involves inviting groups of pupils to visit Reading Blue Coat to participate in a variety of activities organised by our staff and using our specialist facilities.

Hands-On Science with Mrs. Clamp’s Squirrels Group The first event of the year saw Mrs Clamp hosting an engaging science lesson for her Squirrels group.  These young scientists explored a variety of activities designed to make science both fun and educational.  This successful session was followed by several more at the end of last term.

Highwood School’s Ice Cream and Mystery Adventure Pupils from Highwood School had an exciting day making ice cream with liquid nitrogen and solving a fictional murder mystery to find out who killed the headmaster!  The day was packed with demonstrations and hands-on lab experiences, giving pupils a practical understanding of scientific concepts.

Thrilling Demonstrations at Rotherfield Peppard Primary School Our dedicated science outreach team, including Mr Jerstice, Dr Santos, Mrs Rancombe and Mrs Kent, visited Rotherfield Peppard Primary School to deliver an interactive science lesson.  The highlight of the day was the thrilling outdoor demonstrations of a thermite reaction and an elephant’s toothpaste experiment, which left students in awe of the dramatic chemical reactions.

Engaging Sessions with Sonning Primary School Our outreach continued with Sonning Primary School, where pupils participated in sessions both at their school and at Reading Blue Coat.  The day kicked off with a whole school assembly, discussing “Eureka” moments and exploring the particle model with liquid nitrogen.  Year 5 and 6 students got creative, making table tennis paddles in DT and discovering the energy stored in food.  Our Geology Department guided them in making Earth models, while coding sessions in IT introduced them to the exciting world of computer science.  The exploration of metal reactivity, including creating potato batteries, demonstrated electrochemical reactions in a fun and educational way.

We hope these sessions help foster a love for science and design technology, encouraging curiosity through practical, hands-on activities.  Our Blue Coat staff were thrilled to share their passion for technical and scientific subjects with these young learners and look forward to many more exciting outreach events in the future!

With thanks to Paul Hodges, Head of DT and Director of the Aldworth Partnership and Michael Jerstice, Head of Integrated Sciences, and his science team.