Over the past three days, 18 of our Year 10 students at Wakefield Girls’ alongside students from QEGS have been leading Year 5 students from local primary schools, running practical science activities for our visitors to enjoy and develop their science knowledge. 

This annual event, known colloquially as ‘SPLATS’ (Students Participating Learning and Teaching Science), is a much-loved occasion. It enables our senior students to develop confidence in their presentation skills and work with younger students, and allows our visiting Year 5 students to enjoy interactive, engaging and fun science experiences.

On Monday 10th June, our Year 10 students received training from ‘Sphere Science’, who are the leading providers of practical school science activities in the UK –  guiding them on how to carry out the experiments and how to support the Year 5 children to understand the science behind the fun activities. 

In total, 300 Year 5 children attended SPLATS from local primary schools in West Yorkshire: Cumberworth CofE First School, Greenhill, Sandal Castle (VA) Community Primary School, St Austin’s Catholic Primary School, St Johns, Stanley St Peters and West Bretton Junior & Infants School, alongside our own Year 5 students from Wakefield Girls’ and brother school QEGS.

They participated in six activities: Marble runs, Flames, Rollers, Kites, Earth and Space, and Solar circuits. The activities encouraged the children to problem solve – as they worked together to find alternative solutions to science problems, thinking laterally about why certain factors might be impacting the output of circuit boards or flame size. At the end of each activity the children were encouraged to reflect on the science behind the activities, and they discussed with the Year 10 students why their experiments were successful or unsuccessful, and what makes a scientific experiment valid or not invalid.

The event was a brilliant success, with all the Year 5 students really enjoying themselves. We believe this annual event is hugely beneficial, not only for our visiting Year 5 students who experience hands-on science activities which develop science enquiry and investigation skills; but also for our Year 10 students who develop confidence in presentation, communication, planning and organisational skills.

Well done and thank you to our Year 10 students for your hard work over the past three days: Addi, Alice, Allison, Amelia, Anyah, Charlotte, Eleonora, Elizabeth, Ellie, Harriet, Hema, Kaitlin, Lucy, Mae, Maya, Rhea, Saachi and Mikaela. We hope you enjoyed the experience!

Mr N Lambert 

SPLATS Coordinator