The Sun always shines at St Josephs! Especially this time of the year, STEM Club always gets an opportunity to go out and about. Our STEM boys are now wild life scientists , searching for nature's footprints- may it be insects or wild flowers or soil water air. This cross curricular activity encompasses areas of science maths and technology altogether. They will be using modern technologies like pH meter, light gates, wind meters to measure different parameter of nature, and looking at their effects on wild life.
They are also learning some leadership skills (STEM LEADERSHIP SKILLS BTEC) at the same time, which will help them to obtain a qualification at the end of next year. This activity will help them to achieve how to learn from an experienced people and also learn from each other.
STEM Club is thankful to the fabulous students and also to all PGCE Teachers (Maths and Science) for their help and contribution and last but not the least Mr John Cannell, Project Manager, Embrace Cooperation Ltd.

Mrs Sarkar

Please click on the link below to discover more:

Streatham Common Visit.

STEM club goes wild

As part of a month long investigation, the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) club have taken to the wild in the pursuit of nature. The students are working on an investigation into the flora and fauna in Streatham common.
The first session, run in collaboration with Croydon council on the 2nd May gave students the opportunity to grapple with nature at first hand. Students were given a talk on what sort of insect life to expect in the common and having been suitably equipped set out to find what they could. The boys quickly mastered the art of gently shaking well foliaged trees to catch the insects. They were soon enthusiastically chasing butterflies to try to classify them.
The activity was an excellent chance for the students to see some biology in the real world. The students all enjoyed finding and classifying the insects. Having seen the wide range of nature on their doorstep, the boys will go on in future weeks to explore what environmental factors affect the population growth and sustainability of species in the common.

Mr West

It was a Frozen Paris again with our own intelligent, bright and well-mannered St Joseph's Students! - Cross Curricular STEM Roller Coaster workshop went up to a completely different level with Enzo and Adam's presentation which definitely stole the show. The rest of them were excellent too. Thanks to all our parents for their help and support. Very big thanks to Mr Salam and Miss Patrick for their constant help and encouragement. Last but not the least my sincere congratulations to all the boys for their exemplary behaviour, enthusiasm, participation, teamwork and cooperation.
Here are some photographs for all of you to enjoy, and please do read the account from Mr Salam, Miss Patrick and some of our STEM Students.
Hope to get your help and support for future years.

Mrs Sarkar

"I really enjoyed the STEM trip to Paris. We were told by Mr Salam, Mrs Sarkar and Miss Patrick to design and make a rollercoaster for the student challenge. Enzo and I made this on Minecraft via my server with a small amount of help from Ishaaq. We thought it would be boring and hard but it was pretty fun and we also learned a lot about the science of rollercoasters and the help of gravity. We did this in our free time opposed to playing video games. Near the end we had a few minor issues with the making of the final video, for example the sound did not work and the server lagged a lot as a result the recording was rough and we had to go with an earlier recording. Finally it is done and we don't have to see that map again! However we do look forward to sharing our ideas with the STEM club. We also hope to win the Study Experiences prize with our rollercoaster design. Overall the trip was excellent and of course the best part was testing out the real rollercoasters. That beats designing every time. Thank you to Disney and our teachers."

YouTube Link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0NJwyAtJLo

By Adam Uddin and Enzo Satkuru-Granzella.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

13th February: We arrived for another Disney Rollercoaster Experience in freezing cold Paris. On the 14th February students completed the first rollercoaster design workshop. Our students worked in groups using a design brief to produce a new rollercoaster for the Disney Park. Students not only had to think about the design and aesthetics but also the physics behind how the rollercoaster would move. They were also asked how their design would support the key Disney values of emotion and service. Each group presented their design to all schools present and we are now waiting to see which school has the winning design as voted for by Disney representatives. I was very impressed with our students' ability to work well as a team and listen to each others' ideas to produce designs which paid high attention to detail and perfectly matched the design brief. After the demanding session students had the opportunity to try out the Disney rides in the park. Throughout the trip students from St Joseph's behaved impeccably and completed all activities with passion and enthusiasm. Particular recognition goes to Adam and Enzo who worked so hard on their rollercoaster design before we arrived - our fingers are crossed for the prize!!

(Miss Patrick)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Disneyland trip has always been an invaluable experience. From the sessions to workshops, these boys have experienced a great deal and will remember these last 3 days forever. The roller coaster challenge has stretched these boys' capabilities and they have far exceeded my expectations, they have done their school and country proud. (Mr Salam)

When winter comes – Sun cannot be far behind. Our Students designed and made their own solar cooker in this time of the year, using simple household items.
This is a project where Science , Technology, Engineering and Maths were embedded together. Almost all of year 9 students took part in this STEM project in Science. This was a very successful project where we had to test the cookers using table lamps. Hopefully in the summer we can use them for cooking food!

Mr Wahab and Mr Hughs' year 9 Maths class also did some STEM project on energy savings, which is related to the theme of renewable energy resources.


These photographs are from Mr Le, according to Mr Le, the students really enjoyed the project.

Click here for more images