This year’s Science Investigation Competition culminated in the annual judging event, which was held in the Activity Space in the new Senior School building on Friday 9 March. A record number of teams, comprising Year 5 & 6 pupils from the Junior School and Dame Bradbury’s, had been working hard during the course of the Spring Term on their research projects based on the theme of ‘Water’.

The pupils interpreted this in an imaginative variety of ways, providing evidence of creative, ‘out of the box’ thinking which will be required of scientists, engineers and technological innovators of the future.

The guest judge was Mrs Celia Beadle, former Head of Chemistry in the Senior School, who carried out the role in a previous competition. She faced a daunting task, to make her way around all the displays and speak with the team members to assess their projects against the three criteria of creativity, collaboration and communication. Time was short but Mrs Beadle completed her round with calm efficiency and was able to deliver her verdict on schedule. This year’s winners were a team called ‘The Fizzy Flamingoes’ from Dame Bradbury’s, with the runners-up prize going to the ‘Global Geniuses’ from the Junior School.

All in all, it was a very successful and enjoyable way to cap off months of hard work by the pupils involved, all of whom deserve much credit for the dedication they have shown. A strong turnout of enthusiastic and supportive parents also helped to encourage the pupils to give of their best. Many of the adults expressed their admiration at the quality of work on display, with astonishing levels of detailed observation and scientific thinking to make sense of the data, combined with creativity to turn it into a presentable form.

Well done to all involved and we look forward to next year’s competition!