Cherry Orchard Primary School Outreach Work
On Friday 5th October, 10 Year 9 students went to Cherry Orchard Primary School to teach some Physics. Mr Alishah, Mrs Saleem and Mr Dwyer were kind enough to help with the equipment and general activities (EVEN THOUGH THEY DON’T TEACH PHYISCS!) and Mr Jones was kind enough to drop us off. When we got to the school, we all had sudden flashbacks and a whole load of primary school memories flooded back… the hopscotch, the classroom and the children. We had two Year 5 classes to teach from 9:30-10:30 and 11:00-12:00 with a break between 10:30-11:00. The children were split into groups of 10 and we were split into 2 groups of 3 and one group of 4, each group doing a different practical. Despite the age difference, I was really intimidated and embarrassed, at first, to even look at the children, with all the little heads just staring at me! Luckily, I had Saladin and Cody to help me. If you’re wondering what we were teaching them about, our group was focusing on levers, moments, pivots and balancing. The other two groups worked on pulleys and gears. We explained that the further away the mass is from the pivot, the more turning effect is exerted. For some of the students it was difficult to keep their attention, however most were dedicated, engaged and enthusiastic to learn, question and answer. One of the students even came up to me and said ‘’Thanks for your service!’’. I was slightly worried if the children asked me a question that I didn’t know the answer to, but my group and teachers were always there to help. I must be honest, I was a bit tired near the end, but I still very much enjoyed it. We were all relieved when Mr Jones came back with the minibus. Overall, it was an amazing day!
Karanjit Virdi
