Aiming high and shining bright
Published: 12 February 2020
Last week, Sharples Primary School hosted a primary Physics Olympics for the Bolton North Primary Partnership. Thirty Year 5 pupils from five schools attended the event which saw the pupils tackle ‘Olympic’ challenges.
In the ‘Skyscraper’ challenge, the children had to construct the tallest tower which needed to be able to stand without human support. They were only allowed to use 10 sheets of newspaper and sticky tape. This was won jointly by two teams of three children from Sharples Primary and High Lawn who each created a tower reaching an impressive 2.4 metres going from the floor and touching the ceiling.
This was followed by a ‘Highlights’ challenge, where the children had to construct a model lighthouse that was at least 30cm in height with a working light. The judging was based on the design and use of a working switch. One of the teams from High Lawn team was victorious in this challenge with the switch cleverly disguised as part of the lighthouse door.
The event was supported by science ambassadors from Sharples School, hub school for the partnership. They were impressed by the children’s enthusiasm, teamwork and original ideas.
The Deputy Head Janet Samways said that “this was a fantastic cross-phase event, the children were engaged thoroughly in the challenges and the outcomes for both tasks were all of a high standard”. Headteacher Gemma Partington added, “it was extremely hard to choose a winner in the ‘Highlights’ challenge as they were all so great, but the ingenious switch idea was the deciding factor”.