Year 8 Aim Higher Visit to Imperial College

On Friday 1 October thirty-six students from Year 8 took part in a Science and Maths visit to Imperial College, a specialist science and engineering university in central London. The students in Year 8 behaved exceptionally well and took part in the planned activities with maturity and enthusiasm, impressing the organisers of the event and the students at the university who led the events. On the following day, Saturday 2 October, students were joined by their parents and carers who were given a tour of the university and a talk about accessing further education, an event that is worth planning for well in advance even though the students that took part are currently in Year 8.

Here are some of the students’ thoughts about the visit:

“On Friday, the first half of our trip commenced. We passed many landmarks on our way. When we arrived we were very excited but also shy. We were then split into three groups. My group (group3) went to Robotics. It was loads of fun. We were slit in two groups of six and had to work in pairs to create some instructions for the robot to finally go through a maze. After that we had an enjoyable lunch which gave us a little taste of university life. In the afternoon, we had chemistry in which we learned more about Acids and Bases, a more scientific name for Alkalis. We tested products for their pH values and used red cabbage as an indicator. The next day we did our final activity, Domes in Maths and Engineering. To put the dome together we needed a lot of teamwork and patience. We loved our dome so much we named it ‘Domey’ but sadly it had to be demolished. On our way to lunch, we had a surprise, Ms Donovan arrived! All the groups met together for lunch and prepared presentations for the parents. Overall, I think that we enjoyed the visit as we learnt more about science, robotics, technology, Mathematics and Engineering and we would love to go again.”

“When we arrived at the college we met Sarah and Barnaby who study there, then we were put into 3 groups and we went to different parts of the college to start our activities. Our group’s first activity was to build a dome. We had a picture of how our end product should look, with 1 metre-length plastic poles and pieces of cable wire. Our target was to make hexagons and pentagons to create the dome. Once we had finished, we went inside the dome and took pictures, then we had our lunch.

After lunch we did robotics. We had to give instructions to a robot and then we had a little competition in which pairs had to give the robot instructions to go through a maze. On the second ay we arrived at the college early in the morning. This time our activity was based on acids and alkalis (bases). We tested different liquids to see if they were acids or alkalis and made our own indicator. At about 2.30pm we met our parents in the college and presented one of our activities. We each received a badge and certificate. Overall, I enjoyed the trip and hope to study at Imperial College.”

“I enjoyed my experience at Imperial College, although the trip was two consecutive days, it was great fun but challenging as well. On Friday there were two activities. My group did Robotics and Chemistry. In Robotics we learned how to control and power a robot and in chemistry we looked at different types of acids and alkalis. On Saturday, the second day of the trip my group focused on maths and engineering. Our challenge was to build a dome; 5 metres wide by 2.5 metres in height. We beat the group record by about 7 minutes. In the afternoon our parents came and we presented all that we had learnt during the two days. At the end we were each given a certificate. Lastly I would like to say a big thank you to all who were involved in organizing the trip.”

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