Education | ED06 | Summer 2019

Just as technology is now involved with every aspect
of life, the school subjects that used to be considered
the preserve of boffins and nerds are becoming much
more integrated with other parts of the curriculum. And a
proper grounding in theoretical and practical sciences is now
essential for careers in an ever-increasing range of areas.
Schools are rising to the challenge, investing in innovative science
blocks and taking new approaches to teaching these subjects, making
them more approachable to the broadest range of pupils.
Nick Ellwood of Tonbridge School explains the thinking behind
the school’s state-of-the-art new science centre.
The life
scientific
In every aspect of life, science is
more important than ever – and
schools are rising to the challenge
Science at Tonbridge took a great leap forward this year
with the opening of the Barton Science Centre, a truly
ambitious development which provides a world-class
environment for innovative teaching and learning.
Named after Nobel Prize-winning chemist Sir Derek Barton,
a former Tonbridge pupil, the spectacular three-storey building
places science and technology at the heart of school life, blending
new classrooms and spacious laboratories with many architectural
features from the school’s original Victorian science building. Features
include an interactive periodic table, a TV wall, a beehive, thoughtprovoking
sculptures, a roof garden, a greenhouse and three libraries.
The school’s Head of Science, Bill Burnett, describes the
centre as: ‘striking, innovative and simply fun to be a part of.
‘Everything reflects our approach that science should be a
creative and exploratory endeavour, not dry fact learning. Practical
work is used to stimulate questions pupils want the answers
to, not to confirm what they already knew beforehand.
‘Classrooms have a flexible layout, with a range of imaginative
designs. There are specialist labs for optics in Physics, microscopy
in Biology and fume extraction in Chemistry. Other rooms
provide opportunities for independent project work.
‘The centre’s location, in the middle of the school, is significant
too. Staff and students are encouraged to wander through and
take notice of the presentations, experiments and other activities
that happen in its shared areas. A sixth-form international science
“Science should be a creative and exploratory
endeavour, not dry fact learning…”
conference, an art exhibition and a ‘Mission Discovery’ educational
course run by NASA astronauts all took place in recent times.
‘The Barton Science Centre will also have a wider public benefit and
the school hopes it will become a regional hub for the community. It
will enable the school to enhance its outreach programmes, such as
the popular Science for Schools project that benefits hundreds of local
primary school pupils each year, and to host more public lectures.’
‘When you walk around,’ adds Phil Deakin, Head of Physics,
‘you are more likely to see teachers and students building a
Heath Robinson machine side-by-side, than you are to see
a teacher lecturing at the front of a class laid out in rows.
It is an extremely exciting time for science at Tonbridge.’
Tonbridge School, Tonbridge, Kent
01732 365555 www.tonbridge-school.co.uk
All pictures: The new Barton Science Centre at Tonbridge School
67 wealdentimes.co.uk