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and the environ-ment. James Canning was one of 8 lucky students chosen to represent THS and his account of the day was pub-lished on the Ri website James concluded “Despite the challenging future that the speakers presented I felt that our generation would be able to find a solution from the spirit of teamwork that was presented…. I think it was the best school trip I have ever had.”

In October, Year 9 students visited the LYSC Royal Institution on two occasions:

Lottie Small and Kate O’Brien competed as finalists in the ‘L’Oréal Young Scientist of the Year Competition’ accompanied by Mrs Evamy. The girls were rewarded for their 150 word

entries exploring the science of Teal and Magenta, with places in a new workshop; they learnt about ‘Colour Chemistry and Dyes’ from Dylon’s David Toms and then, partnered with students from other schools, carried out an assessed experiment to test the pH at which a purple dye changed to yellow. Finally the pairs present-ed their work to a panel of expert judges and all partici-pants were given Ri/L’Oréal goodie bags to take home.

Twenty four Year 9 students accompanied by Mr Flello and Ms Adkins enjoyed in-vestigating a fictional crime scene scenario in a Foren-sics Workshop at the LYSC. They identified the correct suspect after evaluating the crime scene and DNA sam-ples using restriction digests and gel electrophoresis.

On July 4th, a party of Year 12

students enjoyed the latest cutting edge research on

show at The Royal Society’s Summer Science Exhibition at Carlton House Terrace, London. THS is a member of the prestigious Royal Society Associate Schools and Colleges scheme.

London Calling

The Royal Institution Unconference delivers: Florence Roberts and Roger Vanburgh from Year 12 were amongst 8 students selected by the Royal

Institution (Ri) to meet Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, in Westminster at the end of the summer term. The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills is committed to inspiring a future generation that is passionate about and skilled in science, technology, engineering and maths, so that the UK remains a world leader in research and technology.

During the Ri’s 2012 Unconference for Young People, organised by the L’Oréal Young Scientist Centre (LYSC), Florence and Roger had given presentations in the plenary session to a packed Faraday Theatre. They relayed outcomes from their student group discussions about ‘science and the economy’ and ‘higher education funding’ to experts from industry and academia.

Florence reflected on the experience of delivering the conference report to Rt Hon Dr Cable “We presented our ideas for further ways of getting students interested in science; ways to expand the Unconference to allow more students to take part; how science is portrayed in the media and making the alternative options for 18 year olds better known, with a better reputation, e.g. apprenticeships. It was amazing to think our ideas were being listened to by someone with influence, someone who could make them reality.” Roger agreed “The whole visit made all of us feel that people in power did care about what young people such as ourselves thought."

The Ri’s 3rd Unconference held in November 2013

tackled ‘Future Technologies and their ethical implications’ as its theme. Keynote talks from top professionals set the students thinking for the day; Prof Tim Wheeler on food security and the environment, Dr Susan Wallace on personal data and security, Dr Adam Rutherford on Bioscience and Sir David King on climate

Issue 10 December 2013

This newsletter is published to communicate and celebrate the many Science, Technology, Engineering and

Mathematics activities and achievements at The Thomas Hardye School.

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Encouraging Ingenious Engineers Arkwright student wins top award: Josh Curry has scooped a top award with his ‘Joshbot’ project. Josh is one of two Arkwright Scholars in Year 13. He was invited to attend the Arkwright Scholarship Trust Awards ceremony at

the Mermaid Conference and Exhibition Cen-tre in London on 1st November where he was awarded the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation medal and prize. Josh wrote an account of the day and his project.

The National Director of the Arkwright Scholarships Trust, Dr

Martin Thomas, visited the school in December to discuss the future development potential of Josh’s project with Mr Foley and his teachers and to meet the present scholars.

Josh has used the knowledge and experience gained from his personal projects to encourage younger students to become involved in STEM activities. As a registered STEM Ambassador Josh currently supervises the Raspberry Pi and the Lego League STEM clubs on Thursdays in the Design and Science Departments.

“The Arkwright Scholarship Scheme is designed to encourage and stimulate high-ability 15/16 year olds to consider engineering and design as a career, through the study of Design and Technology and STEM subjects, to seek out the very best students who are potential future leaders in engineering and related areas of design.” An unprecedented 4 Arkwright Scholarships were awarded in 2013 to Alex Bowen, Jordan Maddocks, Alex Buley and Peter Davidson, now in Year 12. Twenty two students who left THS in 2013 started engineering courses at top universities including previ-ous Arkwright scholars Guy Buttle (Mechanical Engineer-ing, Birmingham), Oliver Ford (Electronic and Information Engineering, Imperial College London) and Matthew Hart (Aeronautical Engineering, Loughborough). Following a visit in October from Colin Turner, Arkwright Liaison Officer, Year 11 student applications are in preparation.

The Rotary Club of Dorchester, Casterbridge sponsored budding engineer Emma Stevenson from Year 12 to at-tend the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Women in Avi-ation and Aerospace Conference “Future Challenges - the next 50 years for aviation, aerospace and space” in London on November 15

th. Emma enjoyed

lectures given by Professor Dame Julia King (Member of the Government Advisory Committee on Climate Change), Frances Watkins from BAE Systems (on the future of unmanned flight), Isabelle Montat-Guerin (Airbus Test Pilot) amongst others and concluded that

“The experience definitely broadened my thinking and was enjoyable. It was great to see so many high pow-ered, successful, articulate and friendly women in the aviation industry. There are so many job roles in the avi-ation industry …….. scientists, entrepreneurs, engineers, environmentalists and space tourists will all play a part in the future of the sector.”

Special STEM Prizes

Special Prizewinners met the Rt Hon Baron Fellowes of West Stafford at this year’s Presentation Evening on July 1

st. Amongst them were Stephanie Windows (now study-

ing General Engineering at the University of Warwick) who received the ‘Atlas Elektronik UK STEM Award’ as outstanding Year 13 student in a STEM subject, Charlie Street who received the ‘Poundbury Systems Award’ as IT/Computer Science Student of the Year and Fionn Bishop who received the ‘BAE Maritime-Naval Ships Award’ as the outstanding student from Year 11 studying ICT/Physics/Mathematics.

Dragonfly Engineering for Girls

It has been widely reported in the press that in the 50th year since the first woman cosmonaut there is a national need for more female engineers in the UK.

Fourteen Year 9 girls took part in the Universi-ty of Southampton’s Dragonfly Day during ‘Tomorrow Engineers Week‘ on November 5

th.

The day’s workshops and lectures were mainly led by women and featured a broad range of engineering-related hands-on activities and topics including soil impact and erosion, cryogenics and superconductivity, spectroscopy and fibre optics. Molly Harriman said “I thought it was really good and interesting and made me think about my future career and if science was some-thing that I would like to do. Being here gave me a real insight into what it is like to go to university”.

Students from all years who are considering engineering as a career join various STEM clubs to carry out project work and gain opportunities for engineering-related trips(see Pages 12-13). Many have experienced (or are ap-plying for) a wide range of summer residential and non-residential engineering taster courses organised by the Smallpeice Trust for Years 8 -12 and Headstart (for Year 12 and ‘Inspire’ courses just for girls in Year 11).

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Meeting Engineers

The roar of an Aston Martin Vanquish car proved a great attraction at the now biennial ‘Meet the Engineers’ event for 450 students in their Year 9 and 10 science lessons. Thirty engineers came from far and near, repre-senting a multitude of engineering disciplines and career pathways, to speed-network with small groups of students and inspire them with their knowledge and enthusiasm for their work. Rolls Royce, Honeywell

Analytics, Superior Seals, Roger Locke Consulting and a free-lance sound engineer - all for a first time – joined Aston Martin Lagonda, BBC, BAE Systems, Siemens, Mullard Space Science Laboratory, QinetiQ, Universities of Oxford,

Cambridge, Southampton, Exeter and Imperial College London, Dorset CC and THS Arkwright student Josh Curry in presenting cutting edge interactive displays. John Close (Schools Liaison Officer from the Institution of Engineering and Technology) and Karen Dickens (co-ordinator for Dorset’s STEM Ambassador programme) helped staff and volunteer students run the event. One student’s feedback summed up the day: “It was all very interesting; I didn’t realise how many different types of engineers there are, but they all seemed really passionate”. Other impressions of the event included ‘listening to so many different interests’; ‘the variety of careers’; ‘demonstrations of everything’; ‘engineering helps people’; ‘engineers are everywhere’; ‘learning about how engineering works’. When students were invited to nominate their favourite engineer, all 30 received mentions!

Following the engineering taster day, students were encouraged to enter the ‘What a Waste’ competition run by the British Science Association; although no student won a national prize, the best entries in Year 10 from Trevyn Barlow 1, Katherine Maitland-Gleed 2 and Toby Harriman 3, and in Year 9 from William Franklin 1, Jemi-ma Jackson 2 and Eloise Carter 3, were rewarded with book tokens.

Industry Visits to:

Rolls Royce and Airbus at Filton

In January, by arrangement with the Engineering Devel-opment Trust, Graduate and ‘Year in Industry’ trainees treated prospective Year 12 engineers to talks and tours

at both aerospace companies and discussed training options based on their own and wider experience.

EADS Astrium at Portsmouth

In November, Mr Sammons and Mr Hignett took 30 Year 9-11 STEM Club members to view £800 million satellites being assembled, component production, extreme heat and vibration testing and an anechoic chamber. A brilliant day was rounded off by a challenge; teams built model satellites and tested them with payloads (eggs!) incurring costs and penalties for any damage on launch.

Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton

In February, THS teams competed in an Engineering Challenge (held annually at Yeovilton and sponsored by BAE Systems and Aimhigher BU). The 4½ hour project task involved designing, testing, building and presenting an ejector seat system to the judges. The 10 students from Year 12 were split into 2 teams ’Harrier’ and ‘Hellcat’. Harrier (pictured) won the challenge - scoring perfect marks in several categories and amassing a total of 342/480 (minus 75 points for their build costs!). Some judges commented that it was the best build ever seen.

On November 13th and 15

th, 2 more Year 12 and 2 Year

11 teams took part in fresh challenges; they worked well and enjoyed the days, gaining valuable project manage-ment experience but were beaten by strong competition.

Dorchester Institution of Civil Engineers meet

monthly at the Poundbury Skills Centre and welcome students to their topical talks given by guest speakers. In 2013 these have included Beaminster Tunnel Resto-ration, Poundbury Anaerobic Digester and Water Aid.

Mr Stosiek organised 2 ‘Futures Days’ providing advice for prospective engineers and welcomed Dan Hambidge, now studying Engineering at Leicester, back to help.

And BP’s Lewis Nelson came in to speak to sixth formers (including physicists in their lessons) about engineering and geophysical careers in the oil industry.

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Science Theatricals

Dr Ben Littlefield, University of Southampton, gave Year 9 students an updated ‘Whizz Bang Chemis-try’ demonstration in April. Students learnt about latest advances in re-search (e.g. in Mo-lecular Assembly Function and Struc-ture) as well as helping with many

fun-filled experiments. On her last working day, Mrs Christine Forbes, Chemistry and Outreach technician was surprised with flowers frozen in liquid nitrogen to wish her a happy retirement.

Dr Tom Warrender from Classroom Medics presented a brand new ‘Human Guineapig Show’ exploring the world of healthcare science to Years 9 and 10 on the last morning of the summer term. Year 7 students from Dorchester Middle and St Mary’s Middle Schools also enjoyed an afternoon show. From live demonstrations and film footage, students learnt about his and their bodies and potential physiology, life science, medical engineering and medi-cal physics careers in the National Heath Service (NHS).

Becky Holmes from Science Made Simple

returned to THS and Wey Valley School to present ‘Engineering for Life - From Cradle to Grave’ to Year 10 students on the last Thurs-day of the Autumn Term. With lots of demonstrations and audience partici-pation, students explored the latest technology being used in pregnancy tests, nappies, playground and car safety, jaundice and cancer treatments and cryogenics.

Miranda Addey from the Institute of Physics invited triple science stu-dents from Year 11 to ‘Take a Fresh Look at Science....’ in preparation for sixth form subject and career choices in science and maths in February.

Sixth Form Enrichment Sessions In addition to afternoon lectures from Community Lectur-ers (see p.14), decision-making workshops for sixth form

geographers were provided by Prof Chris Rhodes

‘When the oil runs out’, the Environment Agency on

‘Shoreline Management Plans’ and Dr Ian Bastow from Imperial College London on ‘Earthquakes’.

Darwin Day & Ethics (Photo L-R) Dr Rowe, Prof Alan Gray and Prof John Bryant

On February 13

th Year

13 Biologists were given a Darwin Day lecture on ‘Genetics, Ethics and Athletics -from Design-er Babies to Gene Doping’ by Prof John Bryant from the University of Exeter. Afterwards, students discussed three real case studies in small groups using ideas and information taken from a background information sheet (on Cystic fibrosis, Fanconi anaemia and Huntington’s disease) and from the lecture. Each group then reported back to the whole year on their collective decisions whether medical procedures should be carried out and, if so, whether the NHS should fund them; medical, ethical, risk versus benefit, sociological and financial angles were all considered. For homework students wrote 2000 word essays on ‘How has our understanding of DNA changed modern science and medicine?’; Prof Bryant awarded Rebecca Hardwick top marks with Alex Lascelles and Ben Clarke runners-up.

Year 12 biologists received a lecture on ‘Darwin’s Lega-cy - Selection, Modern Agriculture and the GM Crops Debate’ from Prof Alan Gray OBE, Fellow of the Cen-

tre for Ecolo-gy and Hy-drology. Stu-dents then discussed recent ad-vances in applications

of GM in groups before a feedback session. After the workshop, students were invited to decide whether or not they agreed with 10 statements about GM technolo-gy to see if the knowledge gained during the day had changed their perceptions of this controversial subject.

In November, Dr Mike Youle, a doctor and clinical

researcher specializing in HIV treatment gave a talk to sixth form biologists in theatre. Dr Youle has been Director of HIV Clinical Research at the Royal Free Hospital and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Public Health at the Royal Free & UCL Medical School since 1996. His studies in health economics and health outcomes have helped to provide evidence to budget holders to fund HIV treatment in the UK.

Mrs Fields reported that Dr Youle’s talk was engaging and insightful, and discussed viral infections in general and then focused on HIV, how it causes AIDS and the latest treatments. It fitted in perfectly with the AS Biology ‘disease’ module and also for the A2 students preparing for their synoptic papers. Students were quoted as saying “it was really interesting to hear a researcher at the forefront of sci-ence” and “it helped me understand how viruses infect cells and how difficult it is to treat HIV”.

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Laboratory and Field Skills Fest…….

Original practicals and trips offer invaluable insights and experience of real science in action.

In January 14 Year 12 chemists carried out a twilight

practical at the University of Southampton extracting a

natural product trimyristin from nutmeg using a range of organic chemistry techniques in the university’s state of

the art teaching labs, guided by a team of experienced postgraduate demonstrators. In July, Will Saunders, Emily Evans and Jay Zhou gained places on Southamp-ton’s Chemistry Department’s Work Shadowing experi-ence. Students spend half a day working in the labs with a research chemist, complemented by a series of lec-tures and presentations on ‘state of the art’ research. Jay Zhou reports “We tried to connect organic compounds to transition metals and used crystallography to determine the shape and properties of the products (to see if any of them may be useful)…. In the research building, I saw the mass spectrometer and the crystallography room.”

Year 13 chemists were treated to a ‘Catalyst’ workshop in

February to help with their revision, presented by South-

ampton’s Luke Duckworth.

Thirty Year 13 biologists visited the teach-ing labs at the University of Exeter in Sep-tember for a genetics workshop. They am-plified DNA from their own cheek cells in order to investigate the prevalence of the ALu genetic marker and discussed advanc-es in synthetic biology with the iGEM team.

Fifteen prospective medical students from Year 9 visited the Peninsula Medical School, Exeter to celebrate Na-tional Science and Engineering Week in March for ‘Men in White’. Under the guidance of Dr Lorna Harries’ team, they carried out 3 activities to investigate an outbreak of a theoretical diabetes-causing virus: ‘Diagnosing the Dia-betes Bug, Molecular and Microbial Investigations.’

In partnership with the Fresh-water Biological Association and Bournemouth Universi-ty’s Dr Genoveva Esteban, Year 9 travelled to the River Laboratory near Wareham. The morning was spent kick sampling water sources with high and low oxygen levels. After lunch they identified Water Scorpions, Mayflies, Rat-tailed Maggots and other invertebrates in their samples; numbers were counted and photographs taken. Students were asked to explain the variation in diversity and adap-tations of each animal. The photographs will be used to develop a card game based on species and ecosystems.

Sixth form physicists and Year 10 BTEC music stu-dents enjoyed taking part in inspiring workshops with Dr Steve Dorney from the Institute of

Sound and Vibration Research, Southampton in their lessons. Year 12 Music Tech and Year 9 Maths students experienced the work of the ISVR researchers and music colleagues first-hand at the university later in the year.

……….and Science at Work

A party of Year 12 Maths, Computer Science and Phys-ics students visited the Met Office, Exeter in Septem-ber. Weather forecaster Dan Panton-King (ex-THS) and colleagues treated the students to talks and exercises on forecasting and climate change before a guided tour of the building and the observation instrument enclosure.

Applied Science students study scientific organisa-tions and scientists at work as part of their coursework. Autumn trips were arranged to Sigma Aldrich pharma-ceuticals, Gillingham (also attended by chemists) for a final time before site closure in 2014, to Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aq-uaculture Science (CEFAS), Weymouth (with biolo-gists) and to Palmers Brewery and Wessex Water sewage treatment works (- both Chideock and Bridport).

Geography students visited Eco Sustainable Solutions’ anaerobic digester at Piddlehinton as an example of a renewable energy case study. The new plant processes food waste and pig slurry and supplies electricity and gas to a neighbouring agricultural food mill. They also visited the Hanford plc photovoltaic array nearby which converts solar radiation into energy for the mill.

‘Britain needs Scientists’ was the title of a 1-day con-ference in July at the University of Exeter. Following key-note lectures from senior staff, Year 12 attendees chose talks from parallel themes according to their interests: Cells and Microbes; Medicine; Materials; Environment; Maths and Physics. A careers fair at lunchtime featured exhibits from local, national and international companies.

Year 13 Biologists carried out ecolo-gy fieldwork for their A2 unit at the internationally important dune system at Studland National Nature Re-serve. Students were given an intro-duction by the National Trust War-

dens into the key issues relating to the wildlife, conser-vation and management issues of one of the busiest and most studied UK conservation areas. The group then moved onto the dunes to carry out their fieldwork and gather the data they needed for working back in the lab, using equipment like quadrats, transects -and rain coats!

The Thomas Hardye School is indebted to the many people, organisations and companies who take part in our S.T.E.M. events and activities. Their willing-ness to give their time, expertise and to share their enthusiasm so generously is greatly appreciated.

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Summer Science Nuffield Research Placements provide selected Year 12 STEM students with 4-6 week project experience in universities, commercial companies and research institutions in the summer vacation. Annie Macklin spent 5 weeks at CEFAS supervised by Ed Roberts assessing the toxicity of 2 chemicals on sea lice that parasitise marine copepods; Nathan Halewood investigated the use of nowcasting and satellite imagery for showing current climatological conditions, supervised at BAE Systems in Dorches-ter by Ian Bone; Roger Vanburgh investigated the use and design of air con-ditioning systems on submarines, super-vised at BAE Systems in Weymouth by Scott Wilson and Kevin Roberts. In October, the 3 students presented reports and posters at a region-al celebration event in Bristol at the M-Shed museum. Annie’s project (photo) has been accepted for the National Science and Engineering Competition, Big Bang Fair 2014; Nathan commented “...it gave me the oppor-tunity to become familiar with engineering in a deep way”; Roger was likewise enthusiastic “The best thing was giving the final presentation to Chief Executives and supervisors and to feel that all the work was worth it and appreciated. It was nice to know that the research could actually be used on-board a submarine one day”.

The London International Youth Science Forum is a two week res-idential event held at Impe-rial College London, with lectures and demonstra-tions from leading scien-tists, visits to industrial

sites, research centres, scientific organisations including world-class laboratories and universities. Florence Rob-erts and Joshua Curry were selected by THS as its 2013 ambassadors. At the opening ceremony Josh deputised as the Mexico flag-bearer! Florence described attending LIYSF as “….the best experience of my life so far. I was one of 360 students from 60 different countries, all bringing something differ-ent. Every day held an amazing new experience, whether it was one of the lectures that day, or meeting another person from anoth-er country with another way of life. We had lectures on ‘The playground that is our brain’ and ‘Dark matter’ and why ‘Colour is fun’ and so, so many other things. All the people there amazed me: whether they were from Bel-gium, or Denmark, or Spain, or Indonesia, or Australia, or England, we all shared one thing in common which brought us all together; a love of science!”

UK-Japan Young Scientist Workshops - Cambridge and Kyoto THS was in-vited to partic-ipate in two amazing workshops at Cambridge and Kyoto Universities for a first time. The Clifton Scien-tific Trust, ably led by Dr. Eric Albone MBE, has been running the programme, with the aim of presenting school students with the challenge of scientific explora-tion and application. Working with students from British and Japanese schools, 7 of our students selected from Year 12 took part in the workshops led by eminent pro-fessors and inspiring researchers, accompanied by Mr Gallagher. Both workshops offered the chance to learn about Japanese language and culture, through working and sharing rooms. The students took part in workshops on microfluidics, astronomy, science communication, polymers, structural vibration, and mathematics. Here are some thoughts from the students:

“On the 1st of August I got on a plane to attend the UK-Japan young scientist workshop. We slept in Japanese style rooms (on the floor!) and ate a mix of Japanese and western style food. I really enjoyed my science pro-ject. My UK-Japan team synthesised Nylon 6,6 in the labs in Kyoto University. We looked at how the reactant volumes affected the properties of our product. We were also given the challenge of getting the best yield on our Nylon. We found that the best way of doing this was in-creasing the volume of Sodium Carbonate as this neu-

tralised the HCl, shifting the equilib-rium to the left. Learning about the intermolecular forces between the organic molecules was also very interesting as I could apply the science that I have learnt in school to a new situation. Overall the trip was an amazing experience and it has made me very excited about a career in chemical

research. Working in the state of the art labs with profes-sors gave me an inside view in to studying science at university. It really infused my passion for chemistry. Working alongside the Japanese students was great! Their English was of a really high standard and they were all very enthusiastic!” (Elizabeth Martin, Kyoto).

“The week really was an incredible opportunity to experi-ence the very different, but amazing Japanese culture and the beautiful city of Kyoto! Whilst at Kyoto Universi-ty, I worked in a team of international students, conduct-ing Measurement and Control of Structural Vibration experiments and research. Measurement and Control of Structural Vibration is the engineering science in zones that are susceptible to earthquakes. We studied a few of the many adaptations that can be made to buildings in order to reduce the damage that can be caused by natu-ral disasters, this was incredibly interesting and I hope to continue researching this field.” (Lucy Bradbury, Kyoto).

And Conal Judd-English, Cambridge agreed “I experi-enced a very rare cultural diversity, met some incredible people and had a ridiculous amount of fun. It was a science experience with a twist, one I will never forget.”

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International Discovery

The trip to CERN propelled THS into a new era of scientific re-search as the school recently joined the CERN@School initiative. Thirty-six enthusiastic

Year 12 students experienced the exciting visit to the Large Hadron Collider in March and met Prof Samuel Ting (winner of the No-

bel Prize in Physics 1976) as well as see-ing the laboratories of the Medipix research group, led by Dr Michael Campbell. Microchips

designed at CERN are being used to kick-start innova-tive research in 30 pioneering schools including THS, in collaboration with SEPnet, the Langton Star Centre, sup-ported by the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

A group of keen CERN trip veterans is already designing new applications of this cutting-edge technology and testing its potential in a brand new CERN@School STEM Club following acquisi-tion of the exclusive Jabla-tron detector in November. This sensitive particle detec-tor, developed from the earli-er Timepix microchip de-signed in the Medipix research labs at CERN, enables students to detect and identify subatomic particles, from nuclear decays to cosmic rays. The club is attended reg-ularly by c20 students ranging from Years 9 to 13, who have been practising data handling and processing from the previous detectors and are now collecting exciting images of radioactive samples and calibrating the new device. Students have already designed possible innova-tive applications of the detector, and will be looking at making them come to life over the next few months.

Space Cadets: ……..The first batch of 30 Year 9 astronauts-in-training returned safely from a mis-sion to Belgium in June. The intense preparation tested the physical and mental skills of our pioneers at the remote Eurospace Centre, a former cosmonaut training facility for the European Space Agency recently converted to provide an educational enterprise. All participants were thrilled to experience the extreme zero gravity conditions of space travel, do a bit of rocket science and to experience flying the Space Shuttle launching and docking with the International Space Station.

Florida: The science trip to Florida trip in February was a resounding success including the ever-popular excursion to the Kennedy Space Center and a special first-ever trip to Lake Jesup. As one of the largest lakes in central

Florida, it is home to a wide variety of species and is considered to support the state's largest popula-tions of alligators. Airboat rides ‘on the wild side’ took groups around

the lake where they saw alligators from 0.3 - 3 metres long, turtles, heron, ospreys and a pair of bald eagles fishing - a superb spectacle and lesson in conservation.

The Kennedy Space Center trip was inspirational featuring a guided trip around Cape Canaveral - looking at the launch sites and launch control centre and walking around the Rocket Garden where vintage rockets and their tiny space capsules from the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programmes are kept.

More Science Discovery in London:

Thirty six Year 10 students explored the Science Muse-um (and saw an awesome 3D film of The Deep Seas) before attending ‘Science Discovered’ at the Piccadilly Theatre. Simon Watt (Inside Natures Giants presenter), explained how mutations in the genome result in varia-tions to characteristics that could explain the X-Men!; Prof Andrea Sella, from UCL demonstrated a number of chemical reactions to illustrate the nature of oscillations in science and linked these to Alan Turing’s 1950’s theo-ry on biological pattern formation; and Prof Brian Cox, leading British particle physicist, researcher at CERN and BBC presenter, inspired the group with recent devel-opments in CERN, current thinking on origins of the uni-verse and the great questions that his star struck audi-ence (next generation scientific researchers!) will face.

Exploring the Seabed from the Classroom: Four Year 9 clas-ses celebrated the International Year of Water Coopera-tion (THS is a UNESCO Associ-ated School) by experiencing pio-neering scientific research aboard the RV James Cook, thanks to Principal Scientist Dr Jon Copley from the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton and team. Students talked (via Skype) to the scientists who were exploring the deep Cayman Trough beneath the Caribbean Sea and watched in real time the view from cameras on a remotely operated vehicle ‘ISIS’ exploring the seabed > 2 km below. This was the first time that the expedition had linked with a school and THS students witnessed the excitement of a previously unknown species of starfish being collected by suction tube!

Page 8 S.T.E.M@ths

Bringing Research to Life: Cutting Edge

Science @ the University of Southampton

Dr Tony Curran, Dr Steve Dorney and a team of enthusi-astic student ambassadors and researchers came to the theatre in April to ‘bring to life’ a brand new roadshow.

The 2013 showcase of latest research taking place at the University of Southampton included SEPnet’s demon-stration showing the importance of transistors in today’s world; what DNA looks like, and how knowing about it can lead to new treatments for childhood disease; how the UK population is changing; calculating carbon foot-

prints and food miles; understand-ing travel behav-iour and improving efficiency for road users; what cata-lysts are and how hydrogen fuel cells may solve our en-ergy for transport

needs; how stronger and lighter composite materials are improving engineering designs and ongoing research in 3D printing. Groups of up to 15 pupils from sets 1,3,5 and 7 in Year 10 and sets 1, 2 and 3 from a year quarter in Year 9 visited the stands on rotation in their science lessons. Students from Sunninghill Prep, Dorchester Middle and All Saints schools also took part. Feedback showed that more than half of the students who attended were seriously considering science or engineering at A level or university.

The team presented the roadshow at a se-ries of festivals and public venues between March and September and honoured THS with the ‘Best Host’ of the year award in November for a second year running (as announced by Pro Vice-Chancellor Education, Professor Alex Neill). THS looks forward to welcoming back the roadshow in April 2014 to inspire yet more students! A film of the day made by Mr Scott can be downloaded from Youtube.

Fossil Festival 2013: Secondary Schools Day Scientists from The Natural History Museum (NHM), Juras-sic Coast and THS Fossil Club and - for a first time - the UK Onshore Geophysical Library presented a wide range of scientific activities and displays in theatre at the second Secondary Schools Day to celebrate the Fossil Festival.

Groups of students from THS (sets 2,4,6,8 Year 10, sets 1-4 quarter Year 9), Purbeck, Wey Valley, Beaminster and St Edward’s Schools enjoyed an hour of discovery. From the NHM:- Dinosaurs identification of mystery specimens and the morphology, diet and lifestyle of 2 North American dinosaurs; Past & Present marine ani-mals taxonomy of Ammonites and Nautilus; Popocate-petl volcano dynamics and rocks; Copper Ores origins, extraction and uses; Meteorites and Impacts speci-mens up to 4.6 billion years old, and from Mars; Dia-monds and other minerals including gold and a diversi-ty of other minerals; UK Biodiversity the variety and distribution of UK animals and plants.

From Sub Surf Rocks with UKOGL:- P and S waves and the structure of the Earth from a geo-physical perspective. From Jurassic Coast: - Dorset Seabed Bathy-metric Survey - the wonderful underwater

world of the coast and Meet Jaws! How a spectacular Ichthyosaur was found. From THS Fossil Club Showcase:- Dr Rowe, who together with some student helpers ran the stand said “It was great to see so many people talking real science in a school setting. One member of staff told me that this was the best event we had ever run and I think I agree!” Dr Anjana Ford and Dr Andy Fleet were invaluable in helping THS staff jointly arrange and run the event. (Feedback suggested many students had never visited the NHM, London and consequently a trip was organised for 30 lucky Year 9 students in July and was very much enjoyed. The trip will be running for 60 Year 9s in 2014.)

A Café Sci discussion for the community pre-sented by Professor Sara Russell on ‘The Birth of the Solar Sys-tem’ concluded an awe-inspiring day.

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Getting Competitive:

The Valter Prize

Competitions Five students from Thomas Hardye School joined the roll of honour at the annual Valter Prize Award ceremony at Bournemouth Uni-versity organised by Dorset Asset. For their efforts in Design and Technology, James Riddoch received the IET prize for his electronic metro-nome and Joseph Allen (represented by Mr Stosiek) was highly commended for his remote control lighting ball. Valter Award projects are selected from the best GCSE Design Technology projects at the end of Year 11. This includes student work from Resistant Materials, Systems and Control, as well as Textiles. In addition, Year 13 Electronics and Year 13 Design students are given the opportunity to enter their projects for consideration.

In the Ernest Cook Trust Mathematics competition, Sophie Kendall-Price won the A level prize for her Nuf-field research project on ‘Ultrasonic power measurement using calorimetry’ carried out with Precision Acoustics Ltd, and the GCSE prize was jointly awarded to James Canning in Year 11 for the ‘Mathematics of Pendula’ and to Emily McFarlane in Year 9 for ‘Why are numbers com-plex?’ The Maths department encourage gifted mathe-maticians to submit pieces of original mathematical work-ing for the GCSE prize. Emily said “It was a complete surprise to win an award for my maths project and, though excited, I was somewhat apprehensive about giving a presentation; this was something I had never done before. However, the support of the audience of prize winners and their families was very encouraging and I really enjoyed the experience.”

Year 9 students have been encouraged to enter various national competitions within their science lessons to de-velop their skills and extend their knowledge of curricu-lum topics. Mr Lewis has been one of the teachers keen to set his classes challenges “Competitions motivate stu-dents to produce outstanding work, engage with the wid-er scientific community and are enjoyable to complete. Feedback from the students and the organising partners has been very positive”.

Mr Lewis’s classes entered ……..the Microbiology in Schools Advisory Commit-tee’s competition ‘Facebug: a social media network for microbes’ in March when they produced social media profiles for microbe species to help improve understand-ing of how microbes work in human health/disease and interact.

(Photo: Plasmodium by Rebecca Buley)

……..and also ‘How and Why is Copper Used in our Daily Lives’, a poster competition run by The Copper Development As-sociation. The entry from Carlos Finlay (pictured right) was shortlisted for the Key Stage 3 prize. A poster by Abigail Rule (below) was also com-mended in class. Students depicted copper’s role in renewable energy, infor-mation and communication technology or architecture and design categories.

……..and two classes in Year 9 worked in November to produce timelines on the significant inventions and discoveries in the history of the world and the four best were entered in the ‘What on Earth Timeline Competi-tion’ with one team gaining a Highly Commended.

Mrs Sammons offered keen Year 9 and 10 students the ‘Biology Challenge’ involving a series of hour-long online quizzes set by The Society of Biology. Questions were based on a range of scientific topics in the syllabus and news. Aislin Field gained a Silver Award; Harry But-tle, Eilish Hart, William Still, Anna Green and Carlos Fin-lay were Highly Commended and Jonathan Hoare, Flora Johnson, Amy Gorham and Verity Ridout, Commended.

Dr Rowe encouraged sixth form biologists to enter The Society of Biology’s ‘British Biology Olympiad’ compe-tition, George Whatley received a Bronze Award, Charlie Clarke-Williams, Leah Crabtree and Antony Tucker were Highly Commended and Phoebe Beer Commended. Two Year 12 entries are being prepared for ‘The Science of Life: How your body works’ competition launched in November by The Physiological Society; ‘An investigation into the effects of sea water on eczema’ by Cicely Watson and ‘Investigating the effects of food groups on cardiovascular recovery’ by Emily Pulletz, Matthew Sargent, Poppy Martin and Alastair Mair.

Page 10 S.T.E.M@ths

National Science and Engineering Week Edward Duckworth won the Institute of Physics Prize for Physics, as part of the National Science and Engineering Competition, for his Gold CREST Award project ’Tidal waves: An investiga-tion into the tidal effect on spectrogram back-ground noise’ at The Big Bang Fair 14-16 March, London. Ed-ward’s prize was pre-sented by the President of the Institute of Phys-ics, Professor Sir Peter Knight and BBC pre-senter Greg Foot . He was awarded £500 and a visit to some of the UK’s leading science facilities – ISIS Neu-tron and Muon Source and the Central Laser Facility – hosted by the Science and Technology Facilities Coun-cil’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, which took place in August (as reported by Dorset Echo).

STEM Ambassa-dor Jim Nicholson from QinetiQ men-tored Edward’s project (in Earth-quake Club). A significant correla-tion between the

tides and seismic activity was detected using the school seismometer (as shown). Edward’s poster was included by the British Geological Survey in an international con-ference as a shining example of real science being car-ried out as part of the UK School Seismology project.

THS Stem Clubs United Showcase

The school’s diverse STEM Clubs were also invited to showcase examples of their innovative work at The Big Bang Fair in London.

Phoebe Coward, Carlos Fin-lay, Phoebe Kelsall, Emily McFarlane, Jake Rowland and William Ward were cho-sen to represent the clubs and were accompanied by Mr and Mrs Sammons.

The team demon-strated hands-on activities to the many visitors to the stand - including Dallas Campbell from BBC’s Bang Goes the Theory.

On return to school, they were presented with CREST Silver Awards for their tireless efforts.

STEM club reports are fea-tured on Pages12-13.

As a reward for presenting the showcase, THS was offered a free STEM Event for teams to compete in a ‘Raising Water’ challenge. The event was arranged with Dor-chester Middle School for Year 8 in June and sixth form students,

parents and STEM Ambassadors from the Dorchester area helped Nigel Moore (the challenge provider from ‘Young Engineers’). Mrs Gowers, Design & Technology Leader at DMS, remarked “It was absolutely fabulous and - the feedback from the students has been brilliant! I feel honoured to have such well qualified people in work-ing with our students…very much appreciated by us all ”.

Big Bang Solent On March 21

st, 45 STEM club

members and Year 9 and 10 students attended a regional Big Bang Fair at the University of Southampton. In a lecture on ‘Bubbles; the bath and beyond’ given by Dr Helen Czerski, the students learnt about how bub-bles matter in oceanography, medicine and the natural world.

The students enjoyed the interactive games and challenges provided by c30 top quali-ty industry and academic exhibitors.

Aislin Fields and Isabella Archibald won certificates and £10 vouchers for a challenge: 3 light bulbs in a box and 3

switches - once the box was closed, students had to work out which switch was connected to which light bulb without opening the box. A film of the event is available - www.solent-ebp.co.uk/projects-events-big-bang.htm

To round off a very hectic NSEW week, keen local astronomers were amongst the packed audience treated to a special Café Sci on March 22

nd at Dorchester Arts

Centre. A presentation by former Astronomer Royal, Professor Sir Arnold Wolfendale FRS delighted (and sometimes shocked) the audience with his knowledge and views on ‘The search for intelligent life’. And finally - on March 23

rd, staff and students from

DASP partner schools and a team from Bournemouth University School of Applied Sciences volunteered chal-lenges galore for all ages and abilities to ‘invent and dis-cover’ the joys of science and engineering at the 11

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Students and Professionals as Role Models THS welcomes the involvement of Government-backed STEM Ambassadors - volunteers who are engaged in

STEM professions and who enthuse students about STEM subjects and careers within STEM Clubs, the class-room and extra-curricular enrichment. STEM Ambassador help has also been provided at the Sixth Form Open even-ing and the ever popular ‘physics for all’ workshops held at Dorset County Show (in conjunction with Institute of Physics

Ambassadors and sponsored by The Ogden Trust).

In Dorset the scheme is run (very efficiently) by Karen Dickens from Katalytik, who has also helped out with various THS events. Monthly updates of opportunities for ambas-sadors are sent out regionally by Catalyst; schools can request specific assistance for forthcoming activities via STEMNET.

This year, there has been a drive to get more sixth form students aged 17+ acting as regis-tered STEM Ambassadors. Karen Dickens has given groups of volunteers bespoke training in the science department and is arranging extra Continuing Professional Development for them at Bournemouth University in the New Year. Student STEM

Ambassadors can help with clubs, revi-sion classes, Café Sci, Community Lec-tures and Fun Days, enrichment activities and other STEM Events. Summer leavers who became STEM Ambassadors includ-ed Alex Lascelles now at the University of Southampton, Kathrine Thompson-Ward -

an apprentice at Agusta-Westland, Sophie Kendall-Price and Charlie Clarke-Williams - both at the University of Oxford. Josh Curry, Matthew Farrow, Philippa Gregory and Jake Rowland, all presently in Year 13 also help out at STEM Clubs and with enrichment.

Amongst the latest recruits are 6 high-flying Year 14/gap year students who are piloting a STEM Ambassador innovation 2013-14. Phoebe Beer, Alex Claridge, Vince Hayman, James Herbert, Polly Kershaw, and Isobel Thompson were all keen to develop their

skills in ‘The Science Student Intern Team’. In previous years a solo gap year student has been employed to work one day a week supporting students in need of ex-tra help with AS and A2 science courses and assisting the department (e.g. 2012-13 Max Welch now at the Uni-versity of Cambridge studying Veterinary Science). The brilliant team have taken over Lab 10 and between them offer support in all 3 sciences on most days (bookings advised!) and also run the Biomedical Discussion Group and help enthusiastically with outreach according to their availability and subject interests.

Phoebe Beer reports from ‘The Biomedical Discus-

sion Group’

“This year the biomed group has had a bit of a face lift with Dr Rowe and Mrs Wardlaw, who have done a fan-tastic job of running the group over the past couple of years, now taking more of a back seat role and leaving the organisation to our STEM Ambassadors. This year’s group of about thirty students (mainly Year 12) is the largest ever. We meet in Lab 18 every Thursday.

Our first mission was to ascertain what the students wanted to get out of the group. They gave us plenty of ideas, including the introduction of practical sessions, preparation for university applications, and university style lectures relating to the varied specialisms and inter-ests of the students that attend the group.

Term kicked off with various ana-tomical and skel-etal games, giv-ing us as ambas-sadors a chance to brush up on some anatomy. Another week saw an exciting patient role play. Here the students were given ten diseases to research, before being confronted with a ‘patient’ presenting a certain set of symptoms, the students then had to use their deductive skills to make a group diagnosis (- they correctly diagnosed TB in one patient and Septicaemia in the other). We have also had two marvellous presentations from group members, one on Plastic Surgery, the other on Autism, and we all learned something. These presentations are fantastic for the students to build individual confidence and knowledge in a subject of personal interest.

We will hold various ethical debates on issues such as the legalisation of certain illegal drugs, and whether the NHS should reserve the right to refuse to treat the clini-cally obese and smokers. This will allow students to real-ly think about situations that may arise in their future ca-reers, and the ability to give a balanced argument, even if certain points of view conflict with their own. We are booking external speakers for the Spring term, and will continue with group and individual presentations. We will also revisit the mock patient scenario using cases relevant to Midwifery, Dentistry and Veterinary studies. Feedback from the group thus far has been extremely positive, and we hope to continue to provide a fun and

interesting alternative to Thursday lunchtimes.”

Visitors in 2013 have included: Dr Nicola Monks discuss-ing the work carried out at fertility clinics, including ethi-cal aspects, and the many possible career paths availa-ble within the wider NHS; Rosemary Reader on her work coordinating research projects within the local NHS and on the sensitive and ethical issues associated with medi-cal research programmes; Dr Andy Macklin gave stu-dents excellent insights into Diabetes; former students Anita de Longh, Charlotte Lees, Jon Bartlett, Maddie Bickley discussed studying medicine, problem based learning, strategies for UCAS applications and choice of university courses. Most recently, students benefited from very useful interview advice and mock interviews given by local Vet Rip Kirby and GP Dr Andrew Allen.

Page 12 S.T.E.M@ths

For all!

THS has developed diverse, federated STEM clubs with an ethos to promote STEM across

curriculae. The successful model which has evolved over several years has attracted attention nationally and ‘THS STEM Clubs United’ were invited to showcase at the Big Bang Fair. Mr Sammons (STEM Club co-ordinator) and Mrs Wardlaw also helped with a national STEM audit.

A huge range of opportunities is offered to students of all abilities and ages to get involved in one or more STEM clubs. There are many benefits to be gained by students who join e.g. skills development - especially team, presentation and problem-solving; priority on extra en-richment opportunities including special competitions, industry trips and attendance at regional and national Big Bang Fairs; broader knowledge and excitement in testing novel science. Students may also register projects for CREST Awards at Bronze (10 hours), Silver (30h) or Gold (70+ h) levels. STEM Ambassadors play an integral role, sharing their expertise and inspiring original investi-gations in multidisciplinary projects. Staff from Science, Maths, Design Tech and ICT and also sixth form stu-dents run the clubs, uniting disparate STEM disciplines; they follow interests at times and a pace to suit their con-tinuing professional development. It is heartening to re-port that numbers in clubs now exceed 100 (up again!).

A STEM Fair was held in the school theatre at the begin-ning of the autumn term for a third year running. For a first time the entire new intake of Year 9 students took part. Club leaders exhib-

ited props and were given just a few minutes to pitch their plans to groups of students visiting their stalls. Georgina Humble from STEM + discussed CREST projects and Karen Dickens and Susie Donaldson from Katalytik were on hand to explain how sixth form club helpers could become STEM Ambassadors.

Greenpower Car: Mr Januszewski reports that this club has 25 students enlisted with a ‘core’ of fifteen that have been to every session. They completed the rolling chas-sis in the summer term and tested the car on the tennis courts. A magnetic pickup speedo from a bicycle regis-tered a maximum speed of 40 mph. The steering is pre-cise and the cable operated disc brakes on the front pro-vide adequate stopping power.

This year Josh Curry has designed and built a speed controller that can provide regenera-tive brak-ing. The first design has been tested and

showed that the concept can work, although there is still some progress needed to provide simple operation and reliable working. The group has split into three teams to design the bodywork: one in aluminium; one in plywood and one ribbed canvas. Teams have finished their designs and given presentations to the club. The next stage is to buy materials and build and fit the bodies to the frame. They are grateful for financial support from Atlas Elektronik UK and Community Lecture audience.

The new Future Engineers Club is run by Mr Hignett, has a mix of Year 12, 11 and 9 students who have be-gun two challenges: The first is the BMFA model air-plane challenge producing an elas-tic band powered model and flying it for as long as possible. This has helped to develop communication and teamwork skills. Reading the instructions for building and applying them has provided quite a test in itself.

The second challenge is the Landrover 4x4 challenge chosen by the group; they picked the simplest option as it is their first attempt which involves using a kit vehicle that has to be modified with

working lights, tilt sensors and a tow bar. Driving the vehicle is more difficult than most imagined and takes finesse to be able to control it over obstacles. The group aims ambitiously to be ready to compete in regional heats next January. A powerboat challenge and powered flight challenge are being considered which could mean they attempt land, sea and air challenges!

Wild about Nature: In its second year the club, now led by Mr Sammons, has continued to work with the axolotls which reside in Lab 15. The students have been working to ensure that the animals are receiving the best possible care and have produced a care sheet that could be used by anyone keen to get involved in keeping these fascinating amphibians. They have some excellent ideas for individ-ual projects including creating a self-sustaining biosphere in a jar, the propagation and care of carnivo-rous plants and the captive care of European green tree frogs Hyla arborea. Following their initial research, the students will present their findings to the group and they plan to create wall displays to illustrate their progress.

Sensational Science: Nine students received Bronze CREST Awards in July for their hard work - Sarah Brad-shaw, Georgia Cartwright, Erin Day, Vittoria Dagostino, Hattie Gooding, Casey Hamblin, Eilish Hart, Anna Killer and Isabella Treccani-Chinelli. In the autumn, the club has been investigating novel antimicrobials for potential use in beauty or cleaning products with Mrs Sammons. Twelve new Year 9 students tested a range of herbs and spices to determine the ‘bacteria killing’ properties, care-fully infusing, extracting and filtering over several weeks. They discovered that rosemary produced the biggest clear agar space, and had not allowed bacteria to grow, so set about steam distilling the rosemary in order to use it in their next project on lip balms.

Page 13 S.T.E.M@ths

Electronics Club with Mr Popkin and Mr Stosiek contin-ues to attract a good cross section of students. They are supported every Thursday by STEM Ambassadors Josh Curry and Steve Howes from Poundbury Systems. Activ-ities range from the building of ready-made electronic kits to the development of micro-controller systems based on the Raspberry Pi platform. The club has re-cently acquired some Arduino boards, funded by the Ark-wright scholarship, to give stu-dents the opportunity to devel-op hybrid micro-controller sys-tems using both Pi and Arduino in a similar manner to that used by Josh Curry in his ‘Joshbot’ project. The usefulness of the platforms has been recognised by industry and they are increasingly being used to test the viability of commercial systems without needing to commit the time and money needed to develop a project from the ground up.

Fossil Club has not only been busy carrying out original science investigating fossils on Wednesday evenings but has also helped with outreach events. Representa-tives, including STEM Ambassador Jake Rowland, at-tended the Big Bang Fair and Fossil Festival. In October, members took part in two new events - ‘Wallace 100 Sci-ence Family Fun Day’ and ‘The Big Draw’. Together with

Jurassic Coast scientists, THS students helped visitors at the Wallace 100 celebra-tion uncover fossils, make brass rubbings and casts of fossils, do word searches, colourings, drawings and discuss the specimens on show. Club leader Dr Rowe observed “The lab was buzz-

ing all afternoon and there were so many younger stu-dents who clearly are inspired by fossils and dinosaurs- hopefully they will all join THS Fossil Club when they join the school in a few years’ time!” Working alongside Mrs Davies and a team of A level Art students, Dr Rowe and team provided activities to help pupils create collages at Damers First School as a part of the National ‘Big Draw’.

First Lego League: Year 12’s Sam Perry reports “This year’s THS entry for the 2013 Lego

TM League ‘Nature’s Fury’ challenge

came runner up in the best project catego-ry. The team’s ideas included a road pav-ing truck, inflatables for infrastructure and Lego inspired buildable bricks which could be filled with crushed rubble to make them more stable. They even made a working scale prototype using the school laser cutting machine. Their simplistic but innovative designs did well and the team were able to hold their heads high when they returned to school”. The team competed at Hewlett Packard in November and was mentored by Sam Perry, Mr Sammons, Josh Curry and BAE Systems STEM Am-bassadors Robert Clarke, Simon Reed and Ian Bone.

Biomed Club: This year Dr Collington has been working with a group of Year 9 and 10 students investigating a range of topics. They began by making DNA models and carried out a DNA extraction. They then researched the history of the study of DNA, themed around the idea of ‘What Wallace didn’t know’ for the family fun day where

members helped visitors to find out more about this fas-cinating molecule. The group then went on to look at

physiology, carrying out a range of re-search projects and dissections includ-ing organs such as the heart and kid-neys as well as whole organisms like fish,

rats and frogs. They were even able to link in with the Art department as part of the ‘Big Draw’ event, challenging students to produce artistic representa-tions of dissected material. Aislin Fields attended a LifeLab Summer School at the University of Southampton.

Astronomy Club is run by Year 13 students Rachel Newman and Florence Roberts with support from Mr Richmond. Rachel reports “More than just looking at stars with expressions of ‘ooh’, Astro club has looked at

a range of subjects - from binary systems within Star Clusters to the relative size of some very large stars e.g. if Earth was the size of a golf ball, Betelgeuse would be the size of 6 Empire State buildings stacked.” They are

also making pinhole cameras and guarantee members ‘mind-blowing’ experiences, thought-provoking discus-sions and plenty of fun! Earlier, in the summer term, Weymouth Astronomy Club member John Gifford gave an illustrated talk on astro-photography.

Earthquake Detectors have continued their work up-loading all earthquakes detected by the school’s seismo-meter to the British Geological Survey. In addition, mem-bers have been carrying out individual and group CREST projects with Mr Reader, Mrs Wardlaw, Mr Ellison, and mentors STEM Ambassador Jim Nicholson and Dr Ian Bastow. Experimental work with shaking tables, slinkies and globes and an introduction to how the seismo-meter and Amaseis software work, have occupied the Year 9 students working towards Bronze Awards. They are creating a FROGOS page to share their knowledge with the school. As well as helping the younger members, sixth form students have been carrying out primary research, analysing raw data and gaining Gold

Awards: Akanksha Kiran’s project ‘Investigating the accuracy, precision and uses of a school seismometer’ has been accepted for the Big Bang Fair 2014 and she hopes to follow in the foot-steps of 2013 Institute of Physics prize-winner Edward Duckworth (see Page 10); Akanksha was presented with her CREST Award by Dr Bastow in October(as photographed by the seismometer) .

In September the school’s playing field was visited by 2 white lorries carrying out a 3D ’vibroseis’ seis-mic survey. Details of their mission was reported by the Dorset Echo. Jerry Field from Edgon Resources and Dave Hounsell from TESLA gave a presentation about the survey to the club and demonstrated geophones and wi-fi dataloggers.

Page 14 S.T.E.M@ths

Community Engagement Matters

Exciting topics and remarkable speakers during 2013 have helped both Café Sci and Community Lecture programmes go from strength to strength.

At THS, students and community have enjoyed discussions on ‘Bad Science’ Prof

Alex Scott; ‘The Birth of the Solar System’ Prof Sara Russell; ‘The Wytch Farm Oilfield’ Dr Suzie Baverstock; The Poundbury Anaerobic Digester’ Peter James. At the Dorchester Arts Centre ‘Is there anybody out there? The search for extra-terrestrial life’ Prof Sir Arnold Wolfendale and ‘Drugs on Trial‘ Dr Mike Youle proved very popular.

Community Lectures: Prof Simon Conway Morris began the spring programme with ’Nine Evolutionary Myths’. Following on, Dr Lucie Green tackled ’Solar Max’, Prof David Bainbridge ’The Natural History of Teenagers’ and Dr John Manlove ’Forensic Scientists’; all were very engaging. Dr Simon Foster launched the autumn season with a demonstration-packed lecture on rocket technology. Dr Ian Bastow fascinated his audi-ence with an exploration of the ’innards of the earth’ after giving A level geographers an afternoon workshop, help-ing them to understand the causes of earthquakes. In November, hundreds of devoted fans of legendary weatherman Michael Fish gathered to enjoy a lecture on the processes that underpin climate change and the pre-dicted impacts on the world’s weather systems. Round-ing off 2013 in style, the annual Clinton Grassby Memori-al lecture was delivered by the superbly knowledgeable and engaging Dr Simon Singh. Dr Singh spoke about his new book and revealed the maths that is subliminally hidden in episodes of The Simpsons. Both spring and autumn programmes have been a tremendous success with 450+ attendees filling the theatre. THS is extremely grateful for the outstanding presentations and to the loyal audience who turn up in droves whatever the weather!

Dorchester Area Schools Partnership: Donations collected at the end of the THS Community Lectures are, from September 2013 onwards, being split equally between the speaker’s chosen charity (often supporting a scien-tific cause) and the newly formed DASP Science Devel-opment Fund. The Dorchester Area Schools Partner-ship (DASP) is a collaboration of 19 schools (THS, 3 Middle, 13 First Schools, an independent Prep School plus one Learning Centre) working together to ensure the best learning outcomes for the youngsters of Dor-chester and surrounding villages. The aim of the DASP Science Development Fund (SDF) is to promote science across the DASP Partnership by allowing all our students from 4-18 years old and regardless of ability and back-ground access to high quality opportunities. On behalf of DASP, THS is sincerely grateful to the Community Lec-tures audience for so generously supporting this objec-tive. Donations since September amassed for the DASP SDF has already exceeded £1000 and a bidding process will be announced in 2014 to ensure fair allocation.

Two more themed DASP Science Family Fun Days were held on Saturdays to celebrate ‘National Science and Engineering Week’ at St Osmund’s Middle School and ‘Wallace 100’ and ‘Biology Week’ at THS. A glorious twelfth family fun day - held in October -offered an afternoon of science, art and technolo-gy to celebrate the work of pioneering evolutionist Alfred

Russel Wallace100 years after his death. The Dorset County Museum’s collection of his brightly coloured bird skins in-spired a collage of art for ‘The Big Draw’. Bournemouth University, Butterfly Con-servation, Dorset Wildlife Trust and the Jurassic Coast joined THS staff and stu-dents to present displays and hands-on activities suitable for all ages. Visitors

explored the science department as they took part in ‘Where’s Wallace?’ (a game using QR codes and i-Pads to hunt for facts about animals), ‘Whose poo?’, ‘ Uncov-ering fossils’, ‘Microscope Madness’, ‘Beauty and bril-liancy of butterflies and moths’ to ‘What Wallace didn’t know’ (about DNA!). More than 300 people attended from 28 Dorset schools. A DASP poster competition was won by Chelsea Florentino (see above), Hannah Lee and Emily Bywater. Typical of comments “A really won-derful afternoon for all the family – stimulating, fun and relaxed – we’ve all learnt something – thank you.” Sixth formers sold refreshments in aid of their 2014 Operation Wallacea ex-pedition to Mexico where they will gather data on jungle flora and fau-na and coral reefs. (See Viewfrom).

RV Callista trip with Puddletown First School: In May, Year 12 IB students took part in an exciting joint visit to the National Oceanography Centre at Southamp-ton with Year 1 and 4 pupils from Puddletown First School. This included a trip aboard the research vessel RV Callista, which looked at the life of the Solent using a range or direct and remote sampling techniques and brought students of all ages face to face with the some amazing marine creatures. One of the highlights was studying a thorn-backed ray brought up in a trawl of the sea bed - a remarkable find!

The Big Draw with Damers First School: Pupils worked on a massive mural covered with paintings and drawings of fossils including an ichthyosaur cast, skulls and other biological specimens with Mrs Davies, Dr

Rowe and THS students. Dr Rowe was very pleased with the event: “It was amazing to see the imagination and quality of the piece as it unfolded during the after-noon and the ener-

gy and enthusiasm of the students of all ages. This sort of project shows how science and art overlap and that observation and description of fossils are common themes that inspire each new generation”.

‘Whizz Bang’ and ‘Gifted and Talented’ sessions are provided by the Science Department for selected Year 8 students from DASP partner schools each term. The Ogden Dorset Schools Science Partnership support-ed Mrs Copson working with First Schools using weather stations and Mr Stabellini providing advice and equip-ment for Key Stage 3 physics to Middle Schools, Sun-ninghill and recently All Saints and Wey Valley schools.

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The Prince’s Teaching Institute

Essay competitions: At the end of the summer term the Biology department joined forces with Physics as a part of the PTI Associate Department Programme, by setting up an essay competition for all Year 12 students. The idea was to inspire

students (and staff!) by setting a varied range of interest-ing essay titles beyond the ideas normally covered by the teaching curriculum. For her prizewin-ning Wallace 100 Biology Essay ‘Why do healthy women like Angelina Jolie choose to have a double mastectomy?’, as judged by Professor John Bryant from the University of Exeter, Juliet Goss received a certificate and book token from Dr Rowe. Anthony Tucker was runner-up with Kathryn Stratton 3

rd,and Jasmin Eveleigh and Emily White joint 4

th.

The Ogden Physics Essay competition was judged by Professor Hugh Griffiths from UCL. Josh Young was the

winner with Mirabelle Knowles runner-up, Peter Dillistone 3rd and Sian Franklin 4th. Prof Griffiths presented the winners with certificates, book tokens and physics goodies given by The Ogden Trust.

Wider engagement: Dr Rowe has been working with the PTI as a consultant on the science team supervising and advising members of other science departments on their projects as part of the PTI Schools Programme, which has given him excellent insights into some of the amaz-ing projects that other schools have been running this year, along with ideas for resources and events that could be developed for use at THS. Dr Rowe has also helped The Physiology Society’s education programme and THS recently hosted a visit from Education Manager Angela Breslin. Mrs Wardlaw attended a meeting of the Environmental Education Network of The Chartered In-

stitution of Water and Environmental Management.

The Ogden Schools Partnership for Dorset, now in its second year, was represented by Mr Stabellini at the Ogden meeting in Rugby. Latest

developments not mentioned elsewhere include Peter Dillistone and Josh Curry attending a Senior Physics Challenge in Cambridge and THS sixth formers gaining teaching experience and active roles in the wider learn-ing community by helping Dorchester Middle School pu-pils design and assemble a spectacular Reubens’ Tube.

Adele Barnett-Ward came from the University of Durham University to be the school’s first Ogden Student Intern in the summer term and made a great impact. Adele reports “My internship has been both interesting, fun

and particularly rewarding. I found that though the five weeks flew by quickly I have had enough time to really get to know some of the students, sharing my passion for physics, and encouraging theirs. I greatly enjoyed helping in many classes, experiencing a bit of the teaching world and talking to students about their opinions of physics. I particularly enjoyed some of the creative lessons including making a wave machine, firing rockets and listening to the Monty Python 'Galaxy Song'. I also experienced being on the other side of a school trip with the sixth form (going to the 'Britain Needs Scientists' conference in Exeter and the Royal Society's Summer Exhibition) which was a pleasure with such enthusiastic students. I gave a presenta-

tion to many classes entitled 'Where Phys-ics can take you' which inspired many questions and hopefully enthusiasm for the subject. I was particularly interested, as a minority girl myself at Durham, in the way physics was thought of by the female stu-

dents. I hope that as a presence in the physics department this term I have reassured girls that physics isn't a boys' subject only! I have learnt a great deal about teaching and the school workplace these five weeks and enjoyed observing and getting to know the talented teachers and dedicated students in the department. The Ogden internship has been brilliant and has benefited me in many ways and I hope the school too.”

Maths Enrichment Report: Senior Maths Challenge: 67 students from Years 11, 12 and 13 took part in the UKMT Maths Challenge in November and 10 of these qualified for the next round, sitting this paper on November 29

th. James Canning,

Fergus Johnson and Matthew Chandler achieved scores of over 100 out of 125 - a great achievement.

Year 8 Enrichment: 32 students from local middle schools visited the Maths Department for a morning’s enrichment session; they worked in teams to complete a series of challenging questions and will be welcomed back later in the year for further sessions. A group from Dorchester Middle School have also attended an after-school enrichment session with Mr Eadie.

Maths Challenge, Team Competition: 4 Year 12 and 13 students took part in a competition at Poole Grammar School. They enjoyed the experience and their result put them in the top half of the schools who entered.

Enigma Club: Mrs Ward runs this Maths Club on Mon-days after school; it is for all students who would like to explore different areas of interest in maths, and recently students have been working on the Cipher Challenge Competition, set by the University of Southampton.

Free Time Project: In July, a group of 16 Year 9 students visited the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, Southampton with Mrs Hughes and Dr Ennion for an inspirational tour of the acoustic chambers and a maths workshop on room acoustics with Dr Steve Dorney. The students were researching how music had changed since the 1940s. They experimented with different musical instruments and considered the sounds and vibrations and the mathematics involved.

GCSE Maths: Students in Years 10 and 11 are working towards the linear Edexcel GCSE, specification A.

Staff: In September Mr Mackay and Miss Baker were welcomed to the department. Mrs Ward now coordinates work for Gifted and Talented students and monitors data for other groups of students; Mr Lansdale coordinates use of ICT in Maths. Hugh Ramsden and Alice de Kret-ser are running the Sixth Form Study Room, impressing staff with their excellent commitment and organisation.

Community Lecture: Maths were very pleased to host a visit by Dr Simon Singh; he spoke to Year 12 and 13 students about Climate Change and forming non-expert opinions on scientific topics in the afternoon of December 9

th, before giving a

very entertaining evening talk ‘The Simp-sons and Their Mathematical Secrets’.

Support: The Maths Department is very grateful to the many sixth formers who support Year 9, 10 and 11 stu-dents in lessons and to those who help Year 12 lectures.

Page 16 S.T.E.M@ths

Science Curriculum Report

There have been a few changes to science staffing this year. Deputy Head and Biology teacher Miss Dodman, Chemistry and Biology technicians Mrs Forbes and Mrs Prior retired after many years at THS. Their enthusiasm, dedication to the students and friendly faces are missed, and wish them long and happy retirements. Mr Oliver is taking over as Chief technician when Mrs Hardman re-tires at Christmas. She has been a fantastic lady to work with – her organisation of the technicians is second to none and she will be very much missed. There have also been new additions to staffing: in September, Mr Almond was welcomed to the teaching team; he taught in Africa for a few years and so is still getting used to the cold weather! He is a superb Chemistry teacher and the team looks forward to working with him. Two new technicians, Ms Thiveyrat and Ms Adkins, have settled in quickly and are bringing fresh ideas to the department.

The focus this year in science is on outstanding teach-ing and learning. The whole team has been producing and trialling resources aimed at improving student en-gagement in lessons, including those “invisible passen-gers” – the quiet students who prefer to observe rather than participate. For example, teachers have been using “teach-me-tell-me” and “perfect partners” games to in-volve all students while assessing their learning at the same time. It has been wonderful to see teachers contin-uing to be learners themselves and spice up their lessons so learning improves. A ‘spaced learning’ tech-nique was also employed to help students with their revision. A lesson by Mrs Fields was filmed by Dr Ennion showing how spaced learning uses neuroscientific un-derstanding about how memories are made to help stu-dents learn a lot of information in a short period of time.

Exam Success: This year, despite drops in A*-C pass-es, the department is still enjoying success rates above the national average. 221 students were entered for sep-arate sciences. At the national entry rate, only 95 stu-dents would have been entered. By entering such a large number of students for triple award, the school continues to push the most able students and encourage a high take up of sciences at AS level. Chemistry GCSE has produced a 6% increase in A*- C and is now >2% over the national figure. The pass rate for Physics was also tremendous - there has been a huge amount of work within the Physics department encouraging more girls to enjoy and participate in this subject. The pass rate is now nearly 7% over the national average and there is a record number of girls taking AS physics this autumn.

The Sixth Form Open Evening was very well attended and teachers and sixth formers were supported by Dr Alison Hill from the Society of Biology and University of Exeter, Ian Bone from BAE Systems and the Institute of Physics and Robert Hammond-Smith from the Royal So-ciety of Chemistry and Merck in providing subject advice.

Articles supplied by: (In alphabetical order)

Dr Collington, Dr Ennion, Mrs Fields, Mr Gallagher, Mr Hignett, Mrs Hughes, Mr Januszewski, Mr Lewis, Mr Munro, Dr Rowe, Mr Sammons, Mrs Sammons, Mr Sta-bellini, Mr Stosiek, Miss Tanner; Students as quoted.

This newsletter was written and edited by Mrs Wardlaw and published by Mr Scott.

Most photos supplied by Mrs Wardlaw and Mr Scott.

and the last word ...from Mrs Fields, Head of Science

“After eleven years at THS, I am leaving at Christmas to take up a post of Assistant Headteacher at Buckler’s Mead Academy in Yeovil. I am leaving with really mixed emotions – I am excited about the challenges ahead of me but am very sad to be leaving a school I love, where I have seen many changes in the last decade.

Firstly, the arrival of Mrs Wardlaw pushed the depart-ment up a gear – her dedication to bringing science ex-perts into the school and arranging trips to such wonder-ful establishments such as CEFAS and the Royal Socie-ty has inspired many students and opened their eyes to the wide world of scientific careers available. It is no sur-prise that the number of students applying for STEM de-grees has rocketed over the time she has been with us.

Mrs Skeldon also deserves a very special mention – her arrival in the department as admin assistant, has meant that the arduous tasks of (amongst other things), enter-ing data into spreadsheets, filing controlled assessments and keeping track of the huge amount of trips in science is taken from teachers’ hands so they can spend more time planning and improving Teaching and Learning. Sharing an office with her has meant that I have seen how her job is a constant barrage of people demanding of her time, which she copes with calmly and with a smile. I will miss her tremendously.

Teaching has made great changes since I started at THS. We have gone through syllabus and exam board changes, and I have been very grateful that with each change, the team accepted the reasons for change with great spirit and enthusiasm, despite there inevitably be-ing hard work ahead. We have also progressed as a de-partment through the building of shared resources. Eve-ry summer, the team tirelessly produce updated schemes of learning to help every member of the depart-ment in their teaching. I will certainly miss the uniquely collaborative approach to working and the strong team ethos we all have here.

There have been changes to the environment as well – My first job as Curriculum Coordinator was to improve the corridors in the department. I’m not sure my choice of colour was very popular, but certainly the notice-boards have made a great difference! The interactive whiteboards are now used constantly to show the wide range of interactive and online resources we have built up. In the last decade, we have made improvements to the lab spaces, a workroom developed and have bought in trolleys of laptops for students to use in the labs.

There have been the obvious changes to staffing and when I imagine my teaching “dream team”, it is made up primarily of THS teachers past and present, who have always gone above and beyond to ensure their lessons are engaging, inspiring and that learning extends beyond the classroom. I cannot imagine the job of being Curricu-lum Coordinator being the joy it has been without the help of Mr Ellison, Dr Rand, Dr Rowe, Mr Sammons and Mr Thompson. Their expertise in their subjects is out-standing and I am so grateful for their enthusiasm and professionalism. I wish them and the whole of the sci-ence department the very best wishes and I look forward to seeing what the future holds in store for you all.”

STOP PRESS: Mr Ellison has been appointed Head of Science; he will take up the post in January 2014.