Jelly Baby experiment
Every few weeks at St Andrew’s, the school offers its Prep school children the opportunity to attend enrichment workshops. Held over lunch time, these presentations are offered to inspire and stimulate the children and encourage them to ask questions and give them a thirst for discovery.
A Year 7 and 8 gathering with Mr Ferguson yesterday offered just such an opportunity as the children flocked to hear a Jelly Baby howl in the Science department. The experiment was noisy and smoky but provided an effective way to demonstrate that the food we eat contains lots of energy. As the Jelly Baby landed in the potassium chlorate, it let out an impressive yowl until it was ‘no more’; an exciting, if rather sad end to the Jelly Baby. To underline the aim of the experiment, the children were given a jelly baby as they left. Enrichment in every sense.
Years 5 and 6 had the chance to experience the authentic taste and smell of France by hearing about and then tasting a selection of French regional cheeses. One or two found the experience overwhelming but others were converted to the delights of fromage de chèvre and even Roquefort!
The children from Year 3 and Year 4 were enthusiastic in their semiotic analysis of Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne. They quickly worked out the reason why Bacchus was wearing a circlet of vine leaves and lots of interesting ideas came out of our discussion of this amazing Renaissance painting.
