'Science Matters' Day with local schools

On 10th June 2015, our LVI girls were joined by 60 pupils from other schools (Abbeyfield, Hardenhuish, The John Bentley School and The Castle School) for 'Science Matters' Day. The keynote speaker was Dr Ben Goldacre; in the afternoon all the attendees then participated in Science Workshops in the Labs. 

Aims

The immediate beneficiaries of the day were the visiting pupils and the girls from St Mary's Calne, who benefited from the lectures by the visiting speakers and from the practical Science Workshops in the Labs.

Resources

The speakers - Dr Ben Goldacre, Dr Jennifer Warner from Public Health England and Professor John Holloway OBE, former Dean of Chemistry and Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leicester, addressed the pupils in the Theatre at St Mary's Calne.

The practical sessions took place in St Mary's Calne Science Labs where students used a technique called ELISA to identify Ebola infection in samples of model bodily fluid.

Both teaching and non-teaching staff were involved with the organisation of the day, which was offered free of charge to the pupils from the visiting schools. 

Pupil Involvement

The 60 Lower Sixth Form pupils (boys and girls) came from four local secondary schools. They were involved in the day, listening to the speakers and then taking part in the practical lab sessions in St Mary's Calne Science Labs.

Frequency

This is likely to be an annual event.