The laws of physics? Just ask the pupils at Scamblesby school...

They staged a Science Festival which saw the school transformed into a series of indoor and outdoor laboratories. Children - and staff - used their enquiring minds, intelligent reasoning skills and keen observations to engage in a range of physics investigations. What made the first ever Scamblesby Science Festival even more impressive is that 75% of investigations were led by the children themselves! Highlights of the two-day festival included: •Static electricity demonstrations where the children observed water changing direction and tin cans moving as if ‘by magic’; •Skittle sweeties investigations where colours were separated into rainbow patterns; •Sinking and floating objects through oil and water; •Exploring optical illusions – how can we trick our own eyes? •Blindfolded sound investigations to test listening and hearing skills. The real highlight featured the Year 5/6 ‘Otters Class’ teaching the rest of the school a range of science investigations and experiences. Charlie Luff, the school’s Science Co-ordinator, said: “We recently applied for a £600 science grant from the Edina Trust and we were thrilled when we discovered we were successful. “We felt that the best use of the money was to purchase some brand new resources to support our teaching of physical processes and then to make them available for everyone to use in a fun and educational way. “Our children love to discover new things and to challenge themselves and the family atmosphere that we encourage in our school community gave us the opportunity to allow our older children to plan and teach sessions to the younger children.” The children were similarly inspired by the experience. Elsie (9) said: “I really enjoyed making aeroplanes because we had a flying competition and I won!” Isabella (6) said: “I loved it when we saw the Skittles turn the water different colours but when we took them out they turned brown.” Poppy (9) said: “I really liked the parachute because it nearly took me off my feet when I ran with it and it got really tricky.” Cameron (10) added: “I like how everyone was so enthusiastic and how everyone learned something. We should definitely do it again next year – I’ll sign up for it!” Mr Luff added: “I am so proud of how the whole school community embraced the festival. “We are already looking forward to extending the learning opportunities by inviting local secondary schools, parents and businesses to help share and celebrate our science teaching and learning for the 2019 Festival.”