Reach for the stars

Pupils from St Luke’s Church of England Primary School in Formby where treated to a visit from TSB Bank CEO Dr Paul Pester and space scientist Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock to help bring the wonders of the universe to life for 60 Year 5 pupils.

The class spent the day designing rockets getting set for lift-off on a top secret mission to colonise Mars.

The workshop ‘Let’s Build a Rocket’ was the result of a collaboration between Professor Stephen Hawking’s daughter Lucy Hawking, TSB and Curved House Kids – a company specialising in educational materials for young people.

Specifically aimed at Key Stage 2 students, the workshop sees students become space explorers who design a rocket for their journey into space.

Incorporating maths, science and art, the initiative has been designed to encourage more children to engage with STEM subjects and to demonstrate the value and impact that numeracy and technology skills can have.

Sharon Cowey, headteacher at St Luke’s C of E Primary School said: “We have redesigned our curriculum over recent years, to make it as creative and relevant as possible, taking advantage of first hand experiences for the children, so TSB’s ‘Let’s Build a Rocket’ competition fitted perfectly.

“We encourage our children to reach for the stars! It was wonderful for them to see that scientists are real people and that a STEM-related career is a real possibility”.