Christmas has arrived in Prep Science

Christmas has arrived in Prep Science and this year we have the ‘Elementree’ and the ‘Planetree’!

Mrs Hills-Matthews and her team of Blue Planeteers have been hard at work for the past few weeks painstakingly painting and varnishing every planet by hand to ensure each would shine in the galaxy that is their Christmas tree. This tree has the addition of some chemical molecules representing the many elements which came from the stars to form the planets. On the top is a hand-painted sun (as near to scale against our planets as possible!) which was also hand painted with the help of our senior school helpers.

The Elementree shows every element on the periodic table and is topped with a star representing the nucleus of the atoms with lots of electrons whizzing around the outside. The children are invited to find their favourite element – will it be gold or copper because they are the only 2 metal elements on earth which are not silver? Will it be silver or platinum as they are both such beautiful jewellery metals? Will it be oxygen, carbon or nitrogen as they are so vital for life on earth? Or will it be holmium (Ho) which is the only element to be repeated 3 times on our tree (Ho Ho Ho!)…We think, even though it is against some very strong competition from the others, holmium will be the new festive favourite as it is named after the Latin ‘Holmia’ which means ‘Stockholm’, which is not a million miles (835 miles to be exact) from Father Christmas’ home in Lapland!

Mrs Hills-Matthews said: ‘It is an absolute joy to see the children so engaged in these projects. Many have given up so much of their free time to showcase their artistry. You can so clearly see the creative, educational and fun festive links which bring science to life and make it so visual and accessible to people of all ages.’

Happy holidays everyone!