Our Year 7 pupils are studying plants at the moment. Today they established that plants store starch (made from the glucose they make by photosynthesis). They took a leaf and boiled it for 2 minutes to soften it, before immersing...
Category Archives: Academic
Sir Isaac?
Our bearded dragon may have a name – Sir Isaac. This hasn’t yet been decided but appears to be front runner at the moment. He is proving very popular with the pupils who love handling him – a much better...
River Study
Our Year 5s spent the day with The Boxmoor Trust https://www.boxmoortrust.org.uk/ studying the River Bulbourne. This is a rare chalk stream that flows through Boxmoor, joins the River Gade, then the River Chess before joining the Thames. Our Year 5s did...
New Resident
Last summer holiday the Science Department lost one of its long term residents, Tara the tarantula. We’ve spent a long time thinking about a replacement and finally decided on a bearded dragon, an Australian lizard. We felt that this was...
Geography Fieldwork at Ivinghoe Beacon
Lockers Park is very close to the National Trust’s Ashridge Estate. Part of this estate is Ivinghoe Beacon, a very popular landmark with fantastic views. Our Year 7 geographers are studying the impact of humans on the environment at the...
How clean are you?
Our Year 6 pupils are investigating microorganisms in science. Today they were trying to see how clean their bodies were. They took swabs from their armpits, toes and from their mouths and wiped these over some prepared agar plates. I’m...
Science Week – Popcorn
Most people like popcorn, but which type is best? The popcorn pops because water in the kernel expands. One of our Year 5 forms experimented to see which was best – standard, soaked or pre-heated. As it is the water...
Science Week – What are those clouds?
At Lockers Park we have some incredibly clever teachers. Mr Bowker is a case in point. Most pupils know him as a Latin/History teacher, but he has a hidden talent. He is fascinated by weather and especially clouds. This isn’t...
Science Week – Hexbugs
As part of Science Week we hold a Set Practical Competition. This year each Set had to design and build a Hexbug. This is a toothbrush with a motor that vibrates along the surface – at least in theory! Each...
Science Week – Ancient Technologies
Mr Iqbal has certainly pulled out all the stops this week and has managed to find a number of really interesting guests to talk science to the pupils. Today our guest was Paul Stanbridge, a teacher for many years at...