Primary 7 2025-2026
Stemstruct Project Presentation Day at Queen's University Belfast
Primary 7 were delighted to finish in second place from 18 schools - winning £150 in Stem Vouchers!
Primary 7 really enjoyed participating in this wonderful STEM Project. It was organised by Sentinus in partnership with Construction Futures. One of the main aims was to promote jobs in construction with a strong emphasis in creating future buildings from sustainable materials.
In planning, designing and building their Eco-towns for the year 2040 Primary 7 pupils' learning was linked to the World Around Us, including History, Geography, Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.
In achieving second place the judges were very impressed about the amount of teamwork involved in our project; with our whole class splitting into teams of 3-5 to build their own unique Eco-town for 2040. Our project also had a strong emphasis on science including an investigation which compared different materials to find out which one was the best heat insulator (from materials tested natural wool was found to be the best); and we studied renewable energies, including explanation writing about how wind turbines generate electricity.
Special thanks to the Chartered Institute of Builders who sponsored our prize of £150.00 which we will use to buy more STEM resources for school.
During the day, as well as presenting our own project to the judges, Sentinus organised a lot of exciting STEM exhibits and workshops for pupils to attend including: wind turbine building, working with lego robots and listening to exciting science talks from the 'Science Guy'.
Day Trip to Armagh Planetarium
This was a fabulous trip! Primary 7 were treated to a very entertaining presentation about the different planets in our solar system via the amazing digital projection sytem in the big dome. Afterwards we made rockets in teams of 2-3 and used a compressed air rocket launcher to project fire our rockets, up to 100m across a field. Finally, we had a tour of the many other exhibits and our guide told us all about the International Space Station.
Building our Model Ec0-Towns for the Year 2040
After careful team planning it was time to put one of the key parts of our new P7 Stem Curriculum project, 'Green Energy' into action. The class worked in teams of 3-4 to build their own model Eco-town for 2040. The pupils were enthralled in this very engaging, hands-on task. There was a lot of joint problem solving and decision making evident, not to mention a great deal of enjoyment in working together!
Main considerations were the type of residential housing chosen and sustainable materials used; the range of non-residential properties; the proportion of green areas to absorb carbon dioxide; the inclusion of renewable energy sources; and the design of shops, cycle paths and walk ways to build a sense of community and encourage healthy living in the future.
One of the main aims in our planning and design was to strive towards a net zero carbon emission town for 2040.
Stemstruct Project - Design and Build an Eco Town for 2040
We have joined forces once again with Sentinus (a local Stem organisation that supports work in schools) to take part in this exciting construction project. The brief is to design and make an Eco town for the year 2040. In our first session an engineer visited our class and told us about the many jobs involved in planning and building a town. We also made some structures using art straws and knex. Key aspects of the project are:
- Town planning.
- Building a model of our town.
- Building an individual house, bungalow, apartment block; or non-residential property such as a hospital, supermarket or shop.
- Researching and writing about renewable energy sources.
- Building our own battery powered cars.
- Two meetings with engineers and architects.
Finally, we will present our completed project at Queen's University Belfast on 3rd December 2025.
