As part of our STEM activities, over 100 students in Key Stage 3 have been considering the vast size of the universe and the Milky Way thanks to a portable planetarium on loan from Durham University.

The experience was organised by Mr Lawton, our STEM Co-ordinator, following the success of a similar event which took place last year. The planetarium allows students to look at the relative distance of the planets and learn how to identify some of the most well-known star constellations such as Orion and the Big Dipper.

Third year Durham University Physics Undergraduate, Holly Scutt, accompanied the planetarium to give students a guided tour of the Solar System and to provide training to STEM Space Ambassadors, who will deliver planetarium activities for future space related events.

Sessions were split into two parts with a Maths challenge to work out a suitable scale to shrink the Solar System into less than 5 metres in which students had to grapple with a new unit of measurement - The Astronomical Unit or AU.

We would like to thank Durham University and the Science in Schools Ambassadors who have been working in Maths, Science and Psychology since January. Holly Scutt (Physics), Richard Root (Engineering), Catriona Houston (Biology) Frances Lindley (Chemistry) and Petra Bod (Psychology) have all brought a great deal of enrichment to the students they have worked with and we wish them well in their finals.