Notre Dame gets a silver-level science quality teaching award

At a school assembly yesterday Professor Richard Conder, a non-voting member of Education, and Associated Professor Jane Turner presented the school with a silver level Primary Science Quality Mark award.

It was one of 600 schools to receive the award in the country. of which only a select few get a silver mark.

Forest and Le Rondin have also been successful.

Science subject lead at Notre Dame du Rosaire Claire Burchell said: ‘The school community has worked together to develop a science teaching and learning environment in which children can explore, wander, and develop their skills.’

During the assembly, students demonstrated some of the science experiments they had been doing.

Jane Turner, director of PSQM, said: ‘It is an honour to be invited over to Guernsey to present this award with Professor Richard Conder.

‘I can see you [the students] have all been working really hard and at a really high standard to help develop our understanding of the world around us.’

The focus of PSQM is to develop positive attitudes towards science as well as secure science understanding and skills.

Nine-year-old Edie Montague’s favourite subject is science.

‘I really enjoyed looking at everyone’s different experiments,’ she said.

‘The hardest bit of [our experiment] was not smashing the cup in pieces when we had to put a hole in it.’

Year 5 and 6 students were experimenting with sound and discovering which materials made the loudest chicken noise.

Younger students completed experiments such as putting ‘magic’ jelly beans in water and predicting whether their colour would come off.

Other students did a biology-based experiment in which they found out as much as they could about various animals.

For example, the students learned that an otter has more hair on one square centimetre of its body than humans do on their whole head, and the species hold hands when they sleep in water so they do not drift away from each other.

Notre Dame du Rosaire was congratulated for making the most of the opportunities presented and creating a ‘seismic shift’ in the school’s approach to science and teaching.

Le Rondin science subject lead Jennifer Spencer said: ‘Since incorporating the PSQM programme into the school, children are now able to explore and investigate their own questions and ideas and can lead the focus of the topic.’

Science lead at the Forest Jessica de la Rue said that since completing the award science was everywhere at the school.

‘Children have been able to enjoy and celebrate science through many practical activities, fairs, trips and visitors,’ she said.