World’s Youngest Nuclear Scientist gives Penwortham Labs the Seal of Approval

We’re delighted to say Jamie has given the new facilities his seal of approval and has given us an insight into the difference the new science labs will make to staff and students at Penwortham.

“The lab where I did my nuclear fusion experiment was pretty old, with heavy wooden desks and benches. It wasn’t really equipped to handle the practical sessions we do in science lessons, so it was quite challenging to work in.

“I think the new labs are ace. They’ve got everything you would ever need as a pupil learning science at school. You’ve got brand new, wide open spaces, which allow pupils to come in through breaks and lunchtimes, so they can work on extracurricular projects or even do more classwork. But the thing that’s completely different to the old labs is the spaces themselves and how they’re designed.

“Before, we were all sat in rows and it was very traditional. We could do experiments, but working in groups and collaborating on projects was a bit more difficult.

“Now you can move the desks round, you can reconfigure the classroom to the teacher’s needs for that lesson, which you couldn’t do with the old ones, so it will completely change the way teachers plan their lessons. We’ll be much more involved with each other and working together, which I think is a really good style of teaching.

“I hope the students that come into these labs will be inspired to explore science, technology, engineering and maths in more depth, because that’s what the future is. We’ll need people with the skills to go into these sorts of careers so we can make progress. If we don’t inspire the next generation of scientists, that won’t happen. These new labs are motivating students to come into them at any time of day and do independent work, which I think is a really good thing.

“What’s really great is since I did my experiment and now that we have these amazing new facilities, more and more students are coming in to science and wanting to do extra curricular projects.

“The idea for the pet zone that’s part of the new science facilities came from a student who wanted to investigate that area of biology in more depth, and other pupils have been using the new space to conduct a project looking at overclocking.”

“The new classrooms have really sparked everyone’s interest in science at Penwortham Priory, and without them the kind of projects students here are starting to look at just wouldn’t be possible.”