A full week in Jersey …

Comments are closed

The month of October saw our mobile astronomy-outreach team heading back to the Channel Islands, with a full week of visits planned on the island of Jersey. We started the week at St Peter’s Preparatory school on the west side of the island, which involved an early start, and collecting a team member from the airport just 45 minutes before the first session started. Our trip has involved many early starts so far, and today was no exception. Staying at the coastal community of St. Aubin allowed us to access all the schools, but seeing as the island is just 9 miles by 5 miles, most places were fairly accessible. Day two saw us spend the morning working with small groups of Year 5 students at St Lawrence school. The pupils wanted a more personal question and answer session with the team, so we found a quiet corner of the library and chatted to them in groups of 8. It’s the first time we tried this format, but the children seemed to really embrace the idea. Day 3 saw us battle to traffic for more Year 5 (where they cover space on Jersey) sessions at Victoria College Prep School. The evening saw our only community event of the trip, which involved working with the 29th Jersey Cub pack on their astronomy badge. The weather was good and allowed us to get outside to actually look at the stars, Moon and the planet Mars.

We allowed ourselves a break on Thursday, and used it to explore the whole island, including the magnificent Mont Orgueil Castle above Gorey Harbour – pictured above. We also visited a number of sites showing different fortifications was various eras in Jersey’s rich history. Friday saw us heading up to the delightful school in St Mary, where we ran a range of activities to onesie-clad year 5’s (a charity day), and finishing with a talk about Space Exploration to the whole school. It was then sadly time to head first to the airport to drop Scott, and then to await the overnight ferry back to Portsmouth.