Year Two Visit to MTBS Laboratories

Year Two were thrilled to visit MTBS science laboratories, on what has become an annual trip for the year group. Linking to our History topic of The Great Fire of London, we wanted to explore the reasons why the fire spread so easily though London and why it was so difficult to contain.  An afternoon at the Senior Boys’ School was a wonderful way to bring to life our History topic and explore practically the reasons why so much of London burned during the Great Fire.

We were invited to don our safety goggles, whilst the Senior School teachers helped the children to understand the effects of burning different materials, whilst exploring different methods to extinguish a flame. We concluded that water can be used to extinguish a fire and that flames needs oxygen to burn.  We were able to watch a super experiment showing how fire spread along a row of connected houses and how a fire break can stop this.
 
The children also enjoyed other exciting demonstrations. Dr Clay held out his palm filled with bubbles. He chose a child to take a lighted taper and place it in the bubbles mixture on his hand. Imagine our surprise as he held a ball of flames in his palm.  In a further experiment, the children watched in astonishment as icing sugar was made to explode. The miracle of science!

All teachers emphasised the importance of safety at all times. Whilst enjoying ourselves immensely, we were constantly reminded that these experiments were only safe to conduct, because we were in the school science laboratories, watching demonstrations by fully trained scientists, who were using the correct safety equipment.

Year Two thoroughly enjoyed their afternoon and really appreciated the time, effort and care shown by our colleagues in the Senior school – we are greatly looking forward to our next trip!