News STEM Week 2023 17.03.2023

Coinciding with the national British Science Week 2023 this week we celebrated STEM Week at Godolphin with a packed programme of activities and events to inspire a love of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

We kickstarted the week with a talk from the inspirational Peter Childs, Professorial Lead in Engineering Design and founding Head of the Imperial Dyson School, who spoke to Year 8 students about creative thinking and the importance of the women who have successfully pursued careers in engineering. Alongside the usual weekly meetings of the BioMed Society, Chemistry Club and Dissection Club, there was the return of the STEM Daily Maths Challenges in the Daily Dolphin for students to sink their teeth into. Throughout the week frantic footsteps could be heard up and down the corridors as Year 8 went on a periodic table treasure hunt. We witnessed first-hand the creative culinary skills of our students at the Year 10 periodic table cake competition, and we were delighted to see so many Year 7 and 8 students and their families take part in the STEM family house challenge.

And there was a zoological slant on STEM Week with a line-up of furry and not so furry friends. Drawing on the week’s theme of ‘connections’, we welcomed Kate and Beany the hearing dog who explained how deafness can be a very isolating disability and how a hearing dog – aside from the important practical benefits they offer – can also provide lots of love, companionship and emotional support to help deaf people reconnect with life.

On Thursday we welcomed a menagerie of incredible visitors from Animals UK organised by our Biology department. The girls were introduced to a little owl, a Burmese python, Incy-Wincy the tarantula, Amy the fennec fox, and a mesmerising, colour-changing chameleon! The wonderful creatures were all closely supervised by Laura, the fully trained and qualified animal handler whose priority is the animals’ welfare, and who supervised the students as they overcame their fear of spiders and snakes and took turns to hold and stroke their new friends.

All in all, it was an incredible week for inspiring the next generation of Godolphin scientists, engineers, zoologists and all of the other science, technology and maths-related professions.