On 16 March the ‘A* Scientist’ outreach team completed another successful hands-on science morning with Year 4 children (8-9 year-olds), and a tailor-made talented and gifted afternoon with Year 3 children (7-8 year-olds), at Bramber Primary School in Worthing. The A* Scientist team is made up of experienced and talented members of PaBS including Dr Angela Sheerin, Dr Anna Guildford, Dr Claire Marriott and Ms Bertie Berterelli. We also had a special guest from the BrightSTAR team, Ms Maria Verdenelli, who was disseminating principles from her PhD studies.

Thirty year 4 children enjoyed our specialist science program that included strawberry DNA extraction, cheek cell staining and the much-enjoyed organ assembly race against the clock. In the afternoon the team held a special talented and gifted session with the Year 3 children that saw the creation of our own pH indicator and volcano competitions with the principles of basic chemical reactions as part of the learning outcome. In parallel to this, Ms Verdenelli held an additional hands-on workshop for the Year 4 children to design new methods to mend heart conditions.

The A* Scientist outreach team was founded over four years ago and in this time we have seen upwards of 1,000 children. We have gained over £18,000 of funding (including Springboard, WPOOG and Compact Plus) which has enabled purchase of equipment, consumables and some salaries.