Professor Brian Cox hosts “unforgettable day” of science at St Gregory’s!

Professor Brian Cox spent a “wonderful and fascinating day” at St Gregory’s Catholic Primary School in Netherley as the Year 6 classroom became a temporary TV studio.

The celebrated physicist and broadcaster joined pupils to oversee experiments for The Royal Society about heart rate which were carried out both in the classroom and outdoors.

Teacher Kate Ridley was selected alongside the scientist and TV presenter to help create a set of teaching resources to support primary school teachers “to be able to create inspiring experiments for their Key Stage 2 pupils to be able to do at school”.

Listen: Professor Brian Cox speaks exclusively to Educate Magazine about the importance of science

After a morning of filming indoors, the action switched to the school playground as the children conducted experiments under the watchful eye of Cox who is Professor for Public Engagement in Science for the Royal Society.

Many of the experiments were devised by the children themselves using a mixture of both traditional scientific methods and new technology.

After filming had finished, teacher Katie Ridley spoke glowingly about an unforgettable day for the school and multiple benefits for the pupils.

“It has been an amazing experience for the children today,” said Ridley. “Not only to be participating on this science experiment, but also to get to meet Professor Brian Cox and to see what a film crew do and how a film is made.

“Part of our role as teachers is to educate the children about the wider opportunities out there.

“Today, our children have seen a wide variety of jobs which are out there, the way things work and I think the whole experience has been absolutely fantastic.”

The footage will form part of a national campaign which will be available as a teaching resource for Key Stage 2 teachers.

A spokesperson for The Royal Society said: “Young people have a natural curiosity about the world around them and science is about allowing them to explore that world.

“Science isn’t really something you learn, it is something you do, so doing real experiments is a great experience.”