This year, we called on all our Northfield pupils to participate in our first ever Northfield Dragons’ Den. The Northfield Dragons were looking for unique ideas, brilliant knowledge and creative thinking to innovate the future!

Y3/4 classes had the task to create a safe space within a new housing development so that local animals could live in their natural environment. Y5/6 were tasked with designing a robot that would help the aging population to remain independent within their own homes. Here’s what happened…

What did the judges think?

Y3/4 Finalist Videos:

Dr Thomas thought that there was great team work and super ideas to provide habitats for the wildlife. He thought the Riverside Wildlife Park was cleverly designed.

Mrs Marshall thought that the finalists used their voices really well and gave excellent descriptions and reasons for their choices. She also liked the way the models were used to help explain what features the wildlife habitats had.

Mrs Timperley enjoyed watching the enthusiastic and expressive videos. She thought there were some great models, which used good science ideas.

Mrs Nowell said that there was lots of information given about the habitats and that the presentations were well prepared with good scientific ideas. She loved the range of unique ideas and hard work that was put into creating the habitats.

Mr Bracken thought that there were some very detailed and well thought out presentations. He also commented on the enthusiasm and good demonstrations given.

Y5/6 Finalist Videos:

Dr Thomas thought, “the ‘Talking Rolling Chair Mobile’ was very smart, ingenious and useful.”

Mrs Marshall made the following comment about one of the finalists, “You used excellent technical and persuasive language to tell me about your design.” She also said this about another, “Lovely expressive delivery and I was impressed that you spoke without notes as this showed an in-depth knowledge of your design.”

Mrs Timperley was also impressed with the enthusiasm, persuasiveness and expressive presentations in Y5/6. She said about one of the finalists, “You really thought about how you could develop your product in the future too!”

One of the finalists impressed Mrs Nowell with their organisation and ability to show off the different features of their robot clearly. She said, “I like all the different functions of the robot so it can do more than one thing. The sun umbrella is a lovely idea to give a person some shade. The long legs and arms will be very beneficial to reach higher up in the room when dusting.”

Mr Bracken was captivated by the ideas and detail shown throughout the robot designs. He thought there were many confident and enthusiastic presentations, as well as some persuasive and well thought through inventions.

And the winners were…

What did the children think to British Science Week?

"I had lots of fun working in a team with everyone"- Daisy

"I had lots of fun making the habitat and learning why it was important"- Ivy 

“I liked how we got to make the design we made. The videoing was really good as well. I liked telling the Dragons all about my design.” -Ella

“I love science – it’s one of my favourite subjects – so I loved the task. We could pitch our ideas and show all of our ideas independently.” -Betsy.

"I enjoyed building my robot invention and learning about technical vocabulary to describe my robot." -Georgia 

"I enjoyed showing off my ideas and filming my presentation to show to the dragons." -Oliver