A Science Who Dunnit’ for Year 5

Our Year 5 pupils headed to the Senior School today to help crack a terrible mystery… The Year 5 Science Day started with a video showing Andy Johnson, Head of Truro School, falling suddenly ill. Questions immediately followed, including was foul play involved and what was the mysterious substance stirred into the Head’s tea?

One thing was certain, only a crack team of Year 5 scientists could help to solve the mystery of ‘Who Poisoned the Head?’.

The day unfurled with workshops in Biology, Physics and Chemistry; each designed to help solve the mystery. In Biology, our pupils looked at heart rates to determine whether caffeine could have played a role in making the Head unwell. They measured their own heart rates, collected their data, plotted it on a histogram to spot patterns, and investigated what factors might increase or decrease heart rate.

In Physics, they experimented with infrared cameras to test for unusual amounts of radiation which may have caused him to feel unwell. They also watched some further video footage from a night-time infrared camera which caught a suspicious individual in the School’s corridors. But the question remained, were they up to no good or merely taking an evening stroll?

Finally, in Chemistry, the groups explored how different substances reacted to combustion (with some fabulous coloured flames created along the way), enabling them to at last identify whether the Head was poisoned.

While the children had plenty of fun and learnt a great deal, it was also a fantastic opportunity for our Year 5s to familiarise themselves with the Senior School and get a taste of what the sciences look like in secondary school.  We want to thank the staff from both sites who made the day so engaging and fun. Finally, we would like to assure you that no Heads of Truro School were harmed in the making of this Science Day and Mr Johnson is in perfect health!