Two of our year 7 classes went on a visit recently to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Joined by Mr Olisa, Miss Hammond, Mr Blakemore and Ms Chen, the pupils had a great time learning about all things space related! One of the sessions ‘Maths in the Milky Way’ included using a formula to work out how long it would take a horse to run from Earth to Mars, how long it would take Usain Bolt to run to Venus and other interesting scenarios. The pupils really got to grips with working out the time taken to reach different destinations, given the distance and speed, and practiced converting their time from hours to days and years.

The second session of the day was a show in the Planetarium. If you’ve never been to one, I’m sure the pupils would highly recommend it! We were able to sit back and watch as a guide narrated the display on the darkened dome of the planetarium ceiling. Hushed ‘ahhs’ and ‘oohs’ could be heard from some pupils as the display zoomed in and out of different areas of the universe, giving a real sense of the size of our galaxy ‘The Milky Way’ and the stars, other galaxies, and space that surround it.

Overall it was a thoroughly enjoyable trip for staff and pupils, with so much learning taking place. We can’t wait to take more of the year 7’s to discover this excellent location which is just a short hop across the heath.