It was a 360 degree experience for our 360 visiting pupils on Thursday 26th May as KS2 students from 10 local primary and prep schools joined us for STEAMFest 2022!
With the chance to launch high velocity bottle rockets into outer space, create a satellite communications tower from spaghetti and marshmallows and discover the wonders of the stars in our mobile planetarium our budding astronauts had plenty to pack into their two hour visits.
The event is an anchor in Leighton Park’s outreach and partnerships programme. As a school that routinely celebrates Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Maths (STEAM) and winners of the Excellence in STEAM Education Award (2020), we are keen to share our expertise with younger students in our neighbouring communities. The inaugural event took place in 2018 as Big Bang Interactive, repeated in 2019 and then hit by the first lockdown of the pandemic in 2020. 2021 welcomed a virtual STEAM Interactive online experience with students building geodesic domes, creating stage sets demonstrating perspective and learning about the heart and effects of exercise on the body from home or their bubbled classrooms. This year, to welcome everyone back to the Park in a safe, post-Covid crisis manner, STEAMFest was conceived; an outdoor festival feel lending plenty of fresh air and distancing opportunities to the continuation of our Year 5s STEAM outreach work.
“It was brilliant to be able to welcome so many local children onto the Park. Their excitement and joy was infectious. We look forward to hosting a similar event again next year.” commented Alex Wallace, Deputy Head (Academic)
“The vision of STEAMfest is students enjoying an interactive and educational STEAM experience in an outdoor festival atmosphere. It was a real pleasure to hear the laughs, the excited ‘wows’ (as the rockets launched) and see the smiles as this vision came to reality. Mission ‘have fun and learn about space’: achieved.” added Mark Budge, STEAMFest Co-Ordinator and Maths teacher.
The event welcomed 120 children at a time to each of three sessions across the day, supported not only by Leighton Park staff but our student STEAM Ambassadors from Years 7, 8, 10 and Lower Sixth. Charlotte (Year 10) who helped with the activities reflected, “I think STEAMFest was amazing, it looked like all the children were having so much fun which made it more enjoyable for me to see them also enjoying it too! I thought the activities were engaging and creative.”
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