It doesn’t take long to get into the swing of things again. Just five days have passed and it feels as though the holiday is long behind us. I’d forgotten how early 6:30am was. Still, it’s been quite an exciting week, mainly preparing for the launch of our space project – Out of This World.

Monday, as for most schools, was our INSET day and that was my opportunity to introduce the project to the rest of the staff and try and instil some of the huge enthusiasm that I have for the topic. Surely, it couldn’t be that hard? I mean isn’t everyone mesmerised by space?

I think the Sokol space suit helped, especially when I said that we were ‘lending’ it to Blue Peter for a few days. Anyway, everyone seems to be on board and our first ‘team meeting’ on Tuesday after school went really well – we even started to discuss our next big event (slow down now! We haven’t even started this one yet!)

The meeting was called mainly to discuss our launch day on Wednesday 10^th and who was going to wear the space suit. Having compared heights and girths, we decided that the best man for the job was John. After all, he is the P.E. co-ordinator and therefore the most supple and capable of extricating himself, once in. From what I have seen and read, this is no mean task. Anyway, with the amazing Miss Moss to assist him, everything is sure to go swimmingly. I have suggested a practice on the Tuesday evening, just to ascertain timescales etc.

The rest of the team: Carl Leech, Clare Pheasey, Sharron Ross, Caroline Sinclair and I are to don white boiler suits, which I believe are to be decorated in some way.

The climax of the assembly will hopefully be the firing of a pop-bottle rocket along a 20m wire into a black hole at the other side of the hall.

All I have to do now is put a short slide presentation together.

This year is going to be quite exciting, certainly in terms of education. I have been a teacher for over 14 years now and I have constantly striven to inspire and motivate children to learn. I must say that it is getting more and more difficult though. Even standing on tables and doing a jig doesn’t seem to attract attention any more – and anyway, my knees can’t stand the strain!

What to do? Well, I have always been fascinated by all things scientific (despite having no science background) and this last year I became involved with ESERO – the European Space Education Resource Office- and took part in their Primary Project. With the expert help of Sue Andrews, I immersed my Year 5 pupils in all things space related. It worked. They sat in awe of astronomers; were mesmerised by moon rocks and learned how to Train Like an Astronaut, plus much more.

The resulting work and enthusiasm from the children was amazing. They were constantly being praised by people we met outside school for their knowledge and understanding. And, at the end of the process, we were among 3 of the first primary schools to be awarded the Gold Space Education Quality Mark – a very proud moment.

Speaking at the recent ESERO UK Space Conference was a great experience and enabled me to meet some of the faces behind the scenes – Heather MacRae for one, who runs the excellent Train Like an Astronaut programme, something we will certainly be taking part in again next year.

There are so many excellent space resources out there. In fact, this school year at Rode Heath we are implementing a whole school space project based around a series of specially designed space passports for each year group. It is intended to last the whole year, and into the future. We have coined a phrase at Rode Heath – restless curiosity. That is what I want children to have – it is so vital for learning.

Anyway, it starts at the beginning of the school year, with a launch during the second week. We have borrowed a real NASA spacesuit and are hoping to spend the day with our STEM ambassadors, the very brilliant Dave Thompson and Roger Gittins, launching rockets and generally having a splendid time.

Let’s hope it doesn’t rain.