Description:

Our final visit of the year involved a long drive to the far north-west of mainland Scotland to spend the day at Kinlochbervie High School in Sutherland. The school is set in stunning scenery, right on the banks of a fresh water loch. The programme involved a variety or workshops to different classes, so that much of the school had a little taster of astronomy. We started with the solar system for the P3-4 pupils, followed by Nature of Light for the S1’s. We then moved onto Earth, Sun and Moon for the P1-2 class, who coped admirably with some of the concepts. After lunch, the P5-6 group undertook the stars and constellations module, which saw them creating their own planispheres to take home. Finally, we ran the space exploration talk with both the P7 and S2 class groups.

After a little break, we ran a couple of mini-talks (science careers and the sky tonight) for a few parents and pupils that showed up after school. The night sky was clear at the end of the chat, so we actually managed to get outside and look at a few constellations and planets. Once over, it was just a question of a long drive through mountainous single track roads, which saw temperatures dropping to -4°C at points.