Young Newhall Astronauts Blast Off for Space Week

Across the school, each year group focused on their own specific space-related topic.

Year 3 had great fun learning all about the moon. They examined the different phases of the moon – finding why sometimes it resembles a banana – and delved into the story of Apollo 13 and how humans first landed on the moon.

They even had the opportunity to experiment with their own pump rockets on the playground; thought they weren’t quite able to land their creations on the moon just yet!

Year 4, meanwhile, looked at the Solar System. Using stickers, they were able to visualise the distance between each planet. Getting hands-on, pupils then brought out the playdough and constructed the planets, ensuring they got the relative sizes correct.

They were able to handle real artefacts from Mars before using watercolours to paint their own planets.

Pupils in Year 5 took on Mission X – Train like an astronaut. They explored important features of a spacesuit – such as why do the helmets have built-in UV visors – and looked at the importance of heat shields. They finished the week by creating their own robotic arm.

Our Year 6 children embarked on a topic called ‘Is Anybody Out There?” They focused on the planet Mars, examining soil samples and pondering whether anybody could live on that planet.

They also had tremendous fun creating their own capsules which would (hopefully) protect an egg when it was dropped from a height.

What a week we had celebrating space and bringing science to life!