Green Britain Centre March 2018

On a very cold and blustery day, Monday 19th March 2018, the children from all three schools braved the lingering snow and had a very interesting and informative trip to the Green Britain Centre. The enormous glass frontage to the building proved it's worth as it was gloriously warm inside which was appreciated after an eco tour of the gardens.

Much was learnt outside including different sorts of compost making, bug hotels, the use of polytunnels and, of course, looking at renewable energy in the form of wind and solar power.

Most of the children made it up the 305 steps to the top of the wind turbine. Some, unfortunately, were barred by age, size and, in one case, a broken arm.  These children were lucky enough to make their own newspaper seedling pots which were planted with their choice of flower seeds.  I hope they all made it home without getting spilt and it would be great to see the growing seedlings when they germinate.

The turbine provided amazing views with the blades rushing round in the wind and was worth the climb.  Well done to those who were rather unsure about going up but managed to challenge themselves and make it to the top. A real achievement!

With the knowledged gleaned from the workings of the turbine, the children were challenged in teams to design their own (see picture above), experimenting with different numbers of blades to see who could produce the most energy. A lot of thought went into the balance and tilt of the blades, with trial and error producing some pretty impressive results.  There were certainly some budding engineers of the future in that room!

Thank you to the school staff for making the trip possible and thank you to the Centre staff for their enthusiasm and knowledge during a thought provoking and inspiring day.