Year 6 STEM Week

Year 6 enjoyed an exciting and highly creative STEM Week, developing both their Design Technology and Computing skills through a hands-on fairground project. The children began by learning key DT techniques, including how to safely and accurately use a hacksaw to cut wood for their structures. Once confident with the tools, each group selected a fairground ride to design and build, choosing between a chairoplane, a merry-go-round, or a Ferris wheel.

Constructing their rides required plenty of teamwork and perseverance. Many groups encountered challenges along the way, from misaligned pieces to mechanisms that didn’t quite work as expected. However, the children approached these setbacks with impressive critical thinking, problem-solving, and resilience, adapting their designs and testing ideas until they achieved a successful build.

To bring their models to life, the children then coded a Crumble controller to make their rides rotate in a programmed sequence of forward and backwards movements. They also incorporated Sparkle LEDs to light up their rides in different colours, adding a real “fairground feel” to their creations.

Throughout the week, Year 6 worked brilliantly together, demonstrating support, focus and enthusiasm. Their creativity and determination shone through in every stage of the project, and the final fairground models were a fantastic celebration of their STEM learning.