St. Peter's Primary Bray Blog

Welcome to our submission for the Curious Minds (previously the Discover Primary Science and Maths) Award for 2024. This is our 19th year taking part in the awards, once again, we are applying for the Plaque of STEM Excellence. This award is given to schools that carry out extensive work in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths, all of which are very important in St. Peter’s. We are delighted that this is the 10th year that we have had Junior and Senior Infants taking part in the award! It is great to see the young scientists have so much fun learning about Science and Maths. Each... 

Poor Teddy has lost his coat. He has asked Senior Infants to help him make a new one but he is not sure which is the best material he should make his coat from. He wants one that will protect him from getting wet if it rains. Should it be made from… foil? plastic? paper? We helped Teddy out by testing these materials to find out. In small groups, we placed a dry cube into a cup and then covered each cup with foil on the top using an elastic band, plastic and tinfoil. We made predictions about which materials we thought would be waterproof and which would not be. Then we poured some... 

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In 5th class we have been working hard with the Junior Entrepreneur Project. We came up with a few business ideas in groups and then we pitched these ideas at our Meet the Dragon’s event. Everyone came up with some brilliant business ideas, but one group came out on top, ‘The Positive Beads’. A business that plans to make and sell beaded bracelets with slogans or positive phrases on them. We look forward to continuing our JEP journey and seeing our business take off.  

Junior infants have had great fun experimenting with magnets in science. Firstly we discovered how magnets work and then we experimented with magnets of all sizes to see what was magnetic and what was not.  

Senior Infants have spent a lot of time learning about Space last month. One of our lesson was making a rocket from paper, a straw and sellotape. We wanted to see if we cold blow the rocket off the straw using air from our mouths. We had to investigate to see which position to place the straw and how much breath to use to ‘launch’ the rocket. Once we found the best way to blow the rocket we wanted to see who could blow it the furthest. We all went into the hall and in small groups, stood at the one point to make it fair. Then we launched... 

With Spring upon us we have been learning about nature and the environment. Linking in with our work on recycling before Christmas we have been discussing the impact plants and trees have on us and the earth. We took a nature walk to look for signs of Spring. We learning all about parts of a plant. How trees create oxygen for us to breath and have planted our own seeds which we will watch sprout and grow over the coming weeks.  

This year 6th class took part in the ESB Science Blast and asked the question: ‘What happens to the food we waste and how does it impact our lives’. Science encourages us to question the world around us and how we as humans, interact with the world. We chose our project title because we identified food waste happening in our school community and knew it was an issue in our homes too. We wanted to find out what happens to the food we waste and where it ends up. We know that recycling/ compost bins are encouraged but do people and communities use them correctly or is there any... 

Fourth Class had a great time bringing in our favourite books and sharing our favourite images and scenes with each other in the classroom. We also loved getting the chance to read to Senior Infants and listening to them read to us too! The best part was getting to be in our cosy pajamas while we did all of it!  

Fáilte ar ais chuig Frása na Seachtaine! Mar cheiliúradh ar Lá Domhanda na Leabhar is é ár bhfrása an tseachtain seo ná… Is é an leabhar is fearr liom le léamh ná __________! Bain sult as a bheith ag léamh ar scoil agus sa bhaile gach lá más féidir leat!