Last week, we celebrated Science Week at Tormead and it is safe to say that the highlight for many students was the five fluffy chicks which arrived as eggs to incubate. Our students quickly set about giving them names and lining up to visit them at breaktimes. Over lunchtimes there was a plethora of fun science-based activities, from the CSI Crime Scene investigators using chemistry to ascertain whodunnit to the physicists working out the best material to use to parachute eggs from the Sixth Form balcony. Enrichment on Thursday even saw a live dissection taking place and several students seeing if they could outrun physics in the sports hall. Our Year 9 pupils attended a Women in STEM careers panel, which was a combined celebration of Science Week and International Women’s Day. Anushka, an environmental consultant, spoke about how she works with businesses to reduce CO2 emissions and the heat that is produced by manufacturing and data centres. She was joined by Tormead alumna, Laura, who works as a software engineer, having completed a maths degree. Laura spoke about often being the only woman in the room and the importance of women in technology. The week ended with some culinary science in the form of a baking competition. We were particularly impressed with how our students used scientific principles to create their bakes, from biscuits that perfectly illustrated particle theory to cupcakes cooked with a red cabbage indicator that changed colour depending on whether they were introduced to an acid or alkaline.