| Year 5
On Tuesday 7th November, Year 5 ventured down to the South Downs planetarium in Chichester. The children AND Mr Purvis were oozing with excitement! The day opened with a brief introduction to the visit and, following this, we were escorted into the dome and welcomed by super luxurious airline seats for the 90 minute presentation on EVERYTHING about space. We were shown various views of the night sky, the moon, all the planets, an impressive simulation of Tim Peake's rocket docking at the International Space Station and a Grand Designs-esque blue-print cross-section view of the space station itself. The children were bursting with a whole raft of thought-provoking questions at this point. It was all the more interesting as the Planetarium is situated in the grounds of Tim Peake’s old school! After lunch everyone had the opportunity to explore the many fascinating information displays in the centre as well as finding out more about meteors and holding meteorites that are half a billion years older than the oldest Earth rocks. The children were already incredibly enthusiastic about space as we started our new science topic on Earth and Space last week, but we now have 40 Year 5 students inspired to further their learning about the wonders of our solar system and beyond! We will be harnessing this enthusiasm as we focus on some aspects of today's experiences in science lessons for the rest of term.