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WARWICK PREP PUPILS GET CLOSE TO THE MOON! Boys and girls at Warwick Prep were ‘over the moon’ to have the opportunity of holding priceless and rare samples of moon.
The moon rock and a collection of impressive meteorites landed at Warwick Prep School on Monday 19 March for a weeks’ visit. The Science Department held a special assembly, presented by Mrs Charl and Miss Wilby dressed up as astronauts, where they informed children about the exciting news that the moon had just landed at Warwick Prep! The moon then went on tour around the school enabling all the children to get up close and personal with the lunar rock.
Throughout the week the pupils were able to enjoy unique and interactive experiences of astronomy during their lessons. Other highlights included examining some hand-sized meteorites, enabling pupils to touch a real piece of space, a 1.2 billion year old piece of Mars and a 4.3 billion year old carbonaceous chondrite meteorite – the oldest object you will ever hold in your hands!
Immersive Experiences’ award winning mobile planetarium also visited the Prep during the week, delighting children, from Nursery up to Year 6, taking them on range of adventures across planets and through the Space Age!
Mrs Charl, Head of Science at Warwick Prep said: “It has been very exciting and a privilege to have these special materials in school. A tremendous amount of effort has gone into obtaining them on loan and it has enabled the pupils here to experience something totally unique.” Miss Wilby, STEAM Coordinator, KS2 and KS3 commented: “The security of the lunar rock was taken very seriously as NASA understandably regards the moon rocks as irreplaceable! Our budding astronauts have been very excited to hold and feel pieces originating from outer space.”
The moon’s arrival kicked off a month long series of inspirational Space activities, run in conjunction with King’s High School, Warwick, introducing our students and parents to the excitement and wonder of space science. There are a number of events taking place across the coming weeks. Stargazing Live, run in conjunction with Stratford-upon-Avon Astronomical Society, took place on Friday 23 March with demonstrations, telescope talks and some live star gazing and Space Day will be taking place in April and will include space crew training challenges amongst other activities. The excitement is all building up for the live link-up to the Space Station in April, when pupils from both schools will talk with the astronauts on board.
The lunar samples are on loan from NASA and were provided by the UK’S Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). The samples were collected in the late 1960s and early 1970s during some of NASA’s first manned space missions to the Moon. A massive 382kg of lunar material (about the weight of a crocodile!) was brought back to Earth – mostly for use by scientists in their studies of the Moon, but small quantities are used to develop lunar and planetary sciences educational packages like this one. The STFC programme is the only programme in Europe that is able to loan out the moon to educational establishments.
For more information visit our website: www.warwickprep.com or contact us on marketing@warwickprep.com.