Our Heads of Biology, Chemistry and Physics at King’s Ely Senior brought this term’s ‘Round Table Lecture’ series to a close with a fascinating talk, entitled ‘Watch This Space’.
Now in their third year, these after-school academic lectures are organised for students in Years 9 to 13, through our vibrant co-curricular and enrichment programme.
‘Watch This Space’ acted as a preview to our STEM-packed Science Week in March 2024, with each Head of Science looking at space through their own particular lens.
First up was Mr Ned Kittoe, our Head of Physics, who explored the almost incomprehensible scale of space. He focused on light and patterns, and how we can use them to find out about the distances between stars and galaxies. Mr Kittoe illustrated this through an experiment, using lights to demonstrate the properties of stars.
Next up was Dr Helen Ost, our Head of Chemistry, who, quoting Carl Sagan, reminded us that we are ‘all star dust’. It was fascinating to find out that every element on earth has been made in distant space, and that 73% of elements in the human body owe their origin to giant exploding stars.
Miss Isobel Smyth, our Head of Biology, brought an excellent presentation to a close, exploring the nature of life in the universe and what it takes to define it. Miss Smyth took the audience down several scientific and philosophical avenues, which ultimately raised as many questions as it did answers on this complex issue.
Round Table Lectures this term have included: ‘The making of King’s Ely: Stories from our first thousand years’ by Mr John Attwater; ‘What is the nature crisis, and what can we do about it?’ by Dr Graham Prescott; and ‘Discover your future by asking the ancient gods’ by Dr Jerry Toner.
At King’s, we believe that learning is all about educating young people for life. That is why we invest so much time and energy into our co-curricular, extra-curricular and enrichment programmes, for children in Nursery right the way through to Sixth Form.
Every day, before school, at breaktime, during lunchtime, and after school, groups of students can be found exploring and developing their passions. This may be in sports, music, drama or outward bound activities; it may be for chess, DT, art, debating, computer programming, literature, philosophy, or hip-hop – these are just a handful of our clubs and societies!