The School's stunning new Science Centre is officially opened with musical accompaniment provided by the Brass Consort.

 

 

The new Science Centre was officially opened on Speech Day by Christopher Jackson, our retiring Chairman of Governors.  The Centre opened for teaching in December 2008 but Speech Day was an appropriate day to officially open the building with many parents present.  Mr Jackson has a background in science and has been fully involved with the development of the new Centre.  He is standing down as Chairman after ten years of dedicated and committed service to the School but still plans to remain on the governing body.  Mr Andrew Pengelly, previously Vice Chairman, now takes over as Chairman.

The Science Department devised an elaborate experiment for the opening.  Under the watchful eye of one of the Lower Sixth Chemists, Mr Jackson sets the car, carrying a pot of glycerol, on the roller coaster to start the experiment.

The glycerol was tipped down a tube into a dish of potassium permanganate.  After s short delay this started off a spontaneous combustion reaction, producing strong heat and purple flames.  This reaction should have ignited a fuse leading to the first of four Roman candles, which the Lower Sixth had made by mixing gunpowder with a metal powder in a paper cylinder.

The combustion of the first candle should have lit a fuse to the second candle and so on until all four candles were alight, each burning a different colour due to the different metals in each mixture.  Unfortunately, the ethanol had evaporated due to a slight delay in the proceedings and had to be lit by a blow torch but all the candles did burn successfully.

Mr Jackson then cut the strings to the balloons which lifted away the chiffon cloth unveiling the plaque to commemorate the opening.