Reaching for the stars
Westbury Leigh Primary School spent a wonderful, clear-skied evening stargazing with the Wiltshire Astronomical Society.
Business Manager Anna Thurman says:
"Initially, there was a presentation which took the children on an inspirational photographic journey from our school, out to our country, the world, and finally into the universe. It really put things into perspective when we were talking about distances such as 16 billion light years!
"Children, parents and carers got the opportunity to study the evening sky through enormous and expensive telescopes. They were able to see the Moon in its crescent phase (including the ‘dark side of the moon’), the Seven Sisters in the Constellation of Taurus, the nebula (an interstellar cloud of dust) within Orion’s belt, and the International Space Station, which travelled directly over our school at exactly 5.28pm.
"Some of the children even talked about how they aspire to become astronauts one day, based on this experience!
"There was much excitement and fingers pointing up to the night sky, and it was wonderful to see learning come alive through direct experience. The children kept warm drinking hot chocolate and eating delicious hotdogs...
"Jess in Year 5 said, “It was amazing. I loved every second of it, especially as in science we are learning about space including famous scientist and astronauts. I hope to achieve what they have in their lifetime and tonight has really made me aspire to be like them.”
"Ivy from Year 3 said, “ I loved the hot chocolate and hot dogs! I saw the 7 Sisters, the hills on the Moon and I saw the International Space Station, it was travelling really fast and looked like a shooting star!”"
Westbury Leigh: Inspire, aspire, achieve.
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