The workshops are held in each period at the Compton school in North Finchley to involve parents in scientific education and experience the practical side of the school curriculum.
The last workshop was ‘The science of magic’ in which families created their own ‘spider eggs’ expanding with ‘vampire blood’.
The parents enjoyed being in a classroom again, some remembered not having that experience with their own parents when they were at school.
“There is magic!” Oxana served excited. “We expected to see some good magic tricks and definitely disappointed Hurds.”
Another father, Carlos Silva, said: “It was incredible to spend time with my son at school and learn with him.”
Other issues have included noise manifestations of ‘Fizz, Pop, Bang’ with fire or the dissection of a heart as a vision of medical science.
The last workshop was just as exciting for their children.
Year 7, Berned Facnaha, said: “It is worth going. There were many great chemical and physical reactions.”
The Middlesex Learning Trust school directs a workshop in each term so that parents learn next to students to explore science.
They have an experience of “shared learning” with their children to foster an interest in life in science and potentially inspire the next generation of scientists.
The Compton School has been judged ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted in its five inspections, including the most recently in March last year, a qualification that has lasted about 25 years.
It is at the site of the old high school of Finchley Manorhill in Summers Lane, which closed in the 1980s. The buildings were reopened as the Compton school in 1992 and granted the state of ‘College of Technology’ two years later.
Compton became a ‘Beacon School’ in 1997, showing the way with its progressive curriculum.
The school is also in association with five best secondary ones in northern London: Southgate School, New Barnet’s Jewish Community Secondary, Finchley Catholic High, Wren Finchley, Wood Green’s Heartlands High and Highbury’s St Mary Magdalene Academy.
