Westholme School hosted their annual Year 5 STEM Challenge Day with visiting schools from across Lancashire. The schools entered teams of four students to compete in the subject areas of Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Product Design and Maths.

Students and staff were welcomed by Mr Hiller, Head of Science and the teams were then given the timetable for the day which was split into four tasks.

Task 1- Chemistry – The task was based on forensic science and involved identifying clues after a body has been found.

Task 2 – Biology – The six activities tested the students by asking them to identify bones, leaves and invertebrates, as well as studying photographs of organisms and cells and working the magnification or type.

Task 3 – Bridge Building – Using nothing but wooden blocks to build a bridge, the pupils had to, through trial and error, test the theory of balancing objects on the centre of their mass.

Task 4 – Product Design –this task involved designing and constructing a boat from Styrofoam, dowels, Plasticine and card. The craft had to be buoyant and stable enough to float down a channel filled with water propelled by a fan. The speed and distance travelled was measured for each school.

Maths Challenge – During the day, alongside the others tasks, the teams also had to complete a maths based crossword which was extremely challenging.

The results were calculated and then all of the teams and staff were invited back into the Theatre to find out the winners of each category; Biology, Bridge Building, Chemistry, Maths and Product Design as well as the overall winning team.

The winners of each category were:

Chemistry – Coupe Green Primary School

Biology – Broughton CE Primary School

Product Design – Blackrod Primary School

Bridge Building – Northern Primary School

Maths – Coupe Green Primary School

The overall winners were Coupe Green Primary School, with second place going to Fulwood and Cadley primary School and third place awarded to Westholme School.

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