Flying High
HHJS Science Week 2013
Information about Events
Flying High
HHJS Science Week 2013
Hot Air BalloonMonday 10th June
Robin Batchelor has flown hot air balloons in 36 different countries, logging more than 3,750 hours in balloons. He has flown balloons in adverts and films, including Superman lll, Enduring Love and Round the World in 80 Days. His fascinating experiences even include teaching Richard Branson to fly a hot air balloon. He has all kinds of extraordinary tales to tell and fantastic pictures of a whole range of balloons. You can find out more at
Robin will start our science week with a whole school talk and slide/video show. After this (and an early break) the whole school will go down to the Holly Road Rec to watch Robin and his team inflate the balloon. The Balloon will be tethered to the ground but will lift up about 6m off the ground. He will be able to take some children in the basket for this; the children chosen will be the winners of the lucky dip of completed quizzes.
In the afternoon, Robin will have the balloon basket in the playground (in the hall if wet weather) so that every child can have a (very short – about 20 seconds!) turn to climb in and see what it is like. Each year group has been given a 25 minute time slot for this; please organise the children for this within your own year groups.
9.30 – 10.30Whole school in the hall
10.30 – 10.50Whole school early breaktime
11.00 – 12.30Whole school to Holly Road Rec to watch the balloon inflate – we will all stand around the edge of the field
1.40 – 2.05 Y6 children trying out the basket
2.05 – 2.30Y5 children trying out the basket
2.30 – 2.55 Y4 children trying out the basket
2.55 – 3.20 Y3 children trying out the basket
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HHJS Science Week 2013
Birds of PreyTuesday 11th June
Eagle Heights in Kent is one of the UK’s largest bird of prey centres. Alan Ames will bring a selection of different birds to show the children, including falcons, owls and eagles. He will get the birds to fly across the hall over everyone’s heads. He is very skilled in getting the children to think about adaptations to environment. He encourages them to look carefully at the different features of each bird and think about why they are useful for the bird. You can find out more at
The sessions are an hour long, but have been timetabled for an hour and a half so they don’t need to be rushed and to allow plenty of time for children to ask questions; it might be that your session ends up being shorter than timetabled.
Both sessions will take place in the hall.
9.40 – 11.10 3J, 3L, 3M, 4E, 4W, 5S (5S until 10.45)
1.40 – 3.10 4MG, 5H, 5CN, 6A, 6G, 6M
Flying High
HHJS Science Week 2013
Sphere Science WorkshopTuesday 11th June
This session will be run by Meg Post who has many years of experience of running science workshops with children. The focus of the session will be investigation and through this, the children will learn more about the principles of flight. They will develop and practise investigative skills through experiments with kites and gyrocopters. They will also try demonstrating Bernoulli’s principle for themselves.
These workshops will take place in the Art Block
9.00 – 10.105CN
10.10 – 11.155H
11.30 – 12.30 12 children from year 3 – G/T science
1.40 – 3.105S
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HHJS Science Week 2013
RAFTuesday 11th June
Flight Lieutenant Luke Vardy and Flight Lieutenant Nick Elliott from the Royal Squadron at RAF Northolt will visit the children in year 4. They will talk to the children, using videos and slides, about what the RAF do and their role in this. They will also help the children to understand the principles of flight. There will be time for questions from the children which they might like to prepare in advance.
The sessions will take place in the classroom
10.10 – 11.104MG
11.30 – 12.304E
1.40 – 2.40 4W
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HHJS Science Week 2013
Kite MakingWednesday 12th June
Nick James has been designing and making kites and running workshops in schools for almost twenty years. He makes all kinds of kites, seagulls, falcons and pterodactyls. More recently he has moved on to designing and making more abstract and complex kites. Nick is a regular at kite festivals around the world. More information can be found at
Nick will start the day with an assembly in which he will talk about his work designing and making kites, and show the children his kites as well as some from China, Japan and India. Nick is then going to work with the children in year 6. They will all make their own kite and they will also learn about teaching others to make kites; later in the week, they will help other children in the school make their kites.
At the end of the day, Nick will give a kite display in the playground.
The workshops will take place in the Art Block
9.10 – 10.00Assembly – whole school - hall
10.10 – 11.106A
11.30 -12.306G
1.40 – 2.406M
2.45 – 3.25Kite display – whole school – playground
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HHJS Science Week 2013
Amy JohnsonWednesday 12th June
Amy Johnson was the first female pilot to fly alone from Britain to Australia, which she achieved in at the age of 26. Her other triumphs included becoming the first female ground engineer licensed by the Air Ministry, and being awarded the C.B.E. for her flying achievements
The aeroplane that Johnson used on her solo flight to Australia, Jason, a De Havilland Gipsy Moth, is on display in the Flight Gallery at the Science Museum in London. Many other artefacts, documents and records relating to her can be found in the RAF museum in Hendon.
An actress from Spectrum Drama will come to school in role as Amy Johnson. She will tell the children about her life and her achievements and will remain in role throughout.
The sessions will take place in the hall.
10.10 – 11.106M, 5CN, 5H, 5S
11.15 – 12.154E, 4W, 4MG, 3M
1.40 – 2.406G, 6A, 3J, 3L
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HHJS Science Week 2013
British AirwaysWednesday 13th June
Barbara Pearson (mother of Millie in 3L) is a training manager for BA. She has kindly volunteered to contribute to science week. She is bringing a flight engineer with her. They will talk to the children about their work, the science they use for this, and answer any questions that the children have. Then they will do some role play where the children can take the part of pilots, cabin crew, passengers ….. they can go where they like!
The sessions will take place in the classroom which will need to have the tables pushed to the sides of the room and the chairs arranged like the inside of an aeroplane.
10.10 – 11.103L
11.30 – 12.303J
1.40 – 2.40 3M
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HHJS Science Week 2013
Rocket MakingThursday 13th June
Out of this World Learning bring the excitement and adventure of space travel to schools. Jon London and his colleague will work with the children to
build and launch their own rockets. They will start the day with a short assembly about rockets and space. Every class will have an hour’s workshop, during which the focus will be as much on investigative skills as the end product. The workshops will start in the classroom and move outside when the children are ready to try out their rockets. Because the workshops run straight through the day, some classes will need to make adjustments to their morning and lunchtime playtimes. An area of the playground will be cordoned off for the children to try their rockets outside; please remind your children not to go into this during playtimes. Please clear desks in advance as working space is required. Children will need scissors, pens and pencils. More information can be found at
Thursday(two workshops running at the same time in different classes with Jon and a colleague)
In the Rocket Factory up to 150 pupils per day design, build an
9.10 – 9.40Assembly – whole school - hall
9.45 – 10.453L, 3M
10.45 – 11.45 4MG, 3J
11.45 – 12.454E, 4W
1.15 – 2.156A, 5H
2.15 – 3.155CN, 5S
Friday (workshop with Jon)
9.10 – 10.106M
10.10 – 11.106G
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HHJS Science Week 2013
Kite MakingThursday 13th June
Year 6 children will share their new kite making skills with the rest of the children in the school. Each year 6 child will work with about three children in another class, helping them design and make their own kite. Each year 6 class has been linked with all three classes in another year group. The times given show the time available for the whole session, although it may not all be needed.
9.40 – 11.10Year 5 working with children from 6A
1.40 – 3.20 Year 4 working with children from 6G
1.40 – 3.20 Year 3 working with children from 6M
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HHJS Science Week 2013
Aeroplane design and carsFriday 14th June
Geoff Grose (father of Christian in 4MG) is an engineer who works for McClaren. He will bring a car into the playground and use this to stimulate the children’s thinking about aerodynamics and to think about what they have learned about aeroplane design and how this would help engineers with car design. He will work with children in year 4, with one class at a time. If the weather is bad the car will be under gazebos.
9.10 – 9.504MG
9.50 – 10.304W
10.30 – 11.104E
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HHJS Science Week 2013
Inter class paper spinner competitionFriday 14th June
One of the suggested investigations in your pack is finding out about paper spinners, either through open ended exploration or trying to find what makes the ‘best’ one. Once the children have done this, they need to work our what makes the slowest spinner, and as a class produce one spinner that they think will take the longest time to fall to the ground. This will then be their class entry to the competition between all classes. The rules are:
- the spinner itself has to be made only from one layer of paper/card
- no glue or tape allowed
- the weights have to be paper clips
- no restrictions on the number of paper clips you can use
- no restrictions on size or proportions of the spinner
- the basic design should be based on the one provided (ie will open out as a rectangle), but adaptations to this are allowed
Your class spinner should be ready for the competition by 11.30 on Friday 14th June. It will take place in the hall, or maybe the playground if not too windy.
Helium balloons – science week will fly on ……
We will end our science week with a balloon display of our own – each child will hold a helium balloon to which they have attached a label with their name and the school address/e-mail address. We will all let them go in the playground at the same time. There will be a map in the school during the following weeks so we can track where the balloons went and any messages that might come back from where the labels were found.
Other activities
Flight simulator
The computers in the ICT suite have the microsoft flight simulator package loaded on to them. It is one used by airlines for training and the children can choose where in the world they would like to land or take off, as well as the type of plane, the weather, and other variables …… sign up for a session and enjoy! NB the older machines do not have this software on them.