SS Sept 19 Web

seaford rotary
Safety in Action
In June 2019, East Sussex
Fire and Rescue Services
(ESFRS) co-ordinated a
Safety in Action event at
Newhaven Fort, working
with other emergency
services and agencies to
encourage Year 6 children to
recognise hazards and take
action to keep themselves and
others safe. The scenarios that
the children were presented with
varied from being approached by
a stranger, reacting to a fire, road
safety etc. There is a competition
element to the events and the
highest scoring team from Wivelsfield Green Primary
School was visited on 2nd July by Seaford Rotary
President Keith Ross, fellow Rotarians Peter Posgate
and Mark Forrester and Sophie Hepworth, Health
Coordinator (ESFRS), to be presented with a Safety in
Action award and prize cheque. On 5th July the same
team and fellow Rotarian Paul Vaesen were delighted
to present a similar award and cheque to Bowden
House School in Seaford as the overall winning team.
STEM Challenge 1 July 2019
In response to an idea for Seaford Rotary to sponsor
a Young Scientist competition, Sara Barnes at Seaford
Head School (SHS) set up and co-ordinated a ‘STEM
Challenge’ for teams from Year 5 (aged 9-10) of the
four primary schools in Seaford. STEM stands for
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
On Monday 1st July, 41 pupils in ten teams from the
four schools in the town presented themselves for the
challenge. The task for each team was to design and
build a small four-wheeled ‘racer’ propelled by rubber
bands to cover a distance that would be measured
at the end of the day. Each team had a Year 7 student
from SHS assigned to them to assist and encourage
their planning and advise on ‘purchase’ of the materials
to build their racers. The first race test delivered
varying degrees of success and final design changes
prepared them for the final test. The teams should be
congratulated that all the racers moved (not as easy as
it sounds!) and achieved distances of between 18cm
and 72cm.
Judgement considered distance travelled, racer
design, expenditure on materials and how well pupils
worked as a team. Comments like ‘I can’t do this’
were overcome with a change in approach to resolve
each difficulty. All the children received certificates
commending them for
what they had achieved, and
President of Seaford Rotary
Keith Ross presented the
winning school, Cradle Hill,
with a cheque for £100.
Summer Produce
Show
The Seaford Horticultural
Society staged its 117th
annual Summer Produce Show at Seaford Head
School on 3rd August. Seaford Rotary were again
pleased to sponsor the children’s categories for
judgement by the residing President Keith Ross. This
year the children had been invited to make bug houses,
decorate a flowerpot and, in the photographic section,
to show a photo of ‘My Garden’.
Entries were up as the Seaford Horticultural Society
has been working alongside the four Seaford primary
schools throughout the year, encouraging participation,
supporting gardening clubs and enrolling pupils as
junior members of the society.
The bug houses proved innovative using gathered
rustic materials, tin cans, redundant bird boxes and
blocks of wood. The painted flowerpots proved
very colourful and imaginative, and the ‘My Garden’
photo featured different garden aspects including
insects, digging potatoes and foliage. It is hoped that
participating in simple horticulture will encourage them
and their parents to appreciate the benefits of growing
one’s own produce.
Photos from top: The STEM challenge race line-up at
Seaford Head School; Seaford Rotary President Keith
Ross with fellow Rotarian Michael Logan at the Seaford
Summer Produce Show, judging bug houses in children’s
categories.
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