Rae Chilton

It’s called shepherd’s pie because shepherds herd sheep and it’s called cottage pie because cows live in a cottage

"📢The #BSW26 activity packs are live now!

We've published three FREE packs for children & young people from under 5s to secondary school students - there's something for everyone!

Download yours now & get the British Science Week fun started:

www.britishscienceweek.org/activity-pac...

Congratulations!

Told both my yr11 groups today that the practical they were doing might be their last go at using a Bunsen burner and they were genuinely a bit sad/nostalgic

MY FOSSILS BRING ALL THE Boys To THE YARD Image: a drawing of a woman in a gown and bonnet AND THEY'RE LIKE: YoU STILL CAN'T JOIN THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON Image: a drawing of a grumpy man

An infographic guide to selected common painkillers. The structures of 12 different painkillers are shown, including paracetamol, ibuprofen, codeine, morphine and more. Trade names for each compound are shown as well as a short description of modes of action (where known).

A thorough review confirms that taking paracetamol during pregnancy does not increase the chances that the child will be autistic: www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Paracetamol is featured in this infographic guide to different painkillers and how they work: www.compoundchem.com/2014/09/25/p...

My 1 year old grandson loves fruit, but has expensive tastes. Strawberries, blueberries and mango are his preference.

Question:
If a pigeon flies into one of the labs and refuses to leave, whose responsibility is it?
I played the 'that sounds like biology to me' card and passed the problem over to a more qualified colleague!

As I used to tell all student teachers - bribe the techs first! Who do you know who deserves celebrating for their impact on teaching and learning?

Warning over students ingesting copper sulphate DfE issues health alert after a helpline supporting safe science practical work warns of students ‘deliberately’ consuming the chemical compound

A colleague just incredulously emailed me this article and I, completely unsurprised, noted that while teaching I had at least two students try to eat copper sulfate crystals. Something about those blue crystals is clearly too alluring!

www.tes.com/magazine/new... #ChatChemistry

About 20 years ago I worked at a school where a student drank a sip of copper sulphate solution. It's been happening for a long time!

Supporting Chemistry and Biology for science technicians

This one-day practical course is designed for technicians new to the role of supporting biology and/or chemistry practical work.

courses.cleapss.org.uk/Courses/Cour...

Our January Sale is now live with fantastic savings of up to 80% off selected laboratory equipment and consumables! These offers are available until 31st January, so make sure you grab your favourites before they’re gone ⏳

Shop now 👉 https://ow.ly/l4v250XVrMZ

I am saying this!

Science Fix - winner - best science textbook ASE Book of the Year 2025

Just back from the ASE Conference. Very chuffed that my Science Fix book won the Textbook of the Year category. Still in shock :)

All the winners are here www.ase.org.uk/news/ase-boo...

#primaryscience #edusky #ukteaching

The screen in my car showing 6:58 am and a temperature of -3. It is pitch dark outside the car.

Not happy about this whole Back to School thing!

Welcome to 2026!

Find our latest Bulletin which has just gone live on the website, an ideal starter to the new term.

science.cleapss.org.uk/Resource-Inf...

Making Copper Sulfate solution / crystals ?

Then always use a water bath to stop dangerous fumes being formed.

Please also refer to the latest Hazcards about the storage of the forming crystals as this has changed....

science.cleapss.org.uk/Resource-Inf...

Sixth form student just came to the prep room to ask if we have anything like a wind tunnel. They were so surprised and happy when I told them that I made one a couple of years ago using @cleapss.bsky.social instructions.
Can't wait to see what they actually want it for!

CLEAPSS and LabLogger

The collaboration will use anonymised requisition data from LabLogger to build a picture of school science practical work. Participation is entirely voluntary (opt-in), and no personal data is shared in the process.

For more info see science.cleapss.org.uk

Show Your Stripes Visualising how the climate has changed for every country across the globe

showyourstripes.info/s/europe/uni...
#ShowYourStripes

Publication Day! Moss Safari is Out in the Wild! Well, the day has finally arrived. After months (OK, years…) of researching, writing, editing, photographing, microscope-fiddling, and occasionally yelling at my laptop – Moss Safari: Exploring the Secret Life in Moss is officially published! It’s out there. In the world. A real book. With a cover, pages, microscopic creatures, and everything. If you've ever crouched down to peer at a cushion of moss and wondered what’s going on in that miniature jungle – or even if you haven’t yet but now suddenly feel the urge – this book is for you.

Publication Day! Moss Safari is Out in the Wild!

Well, the day has finally arrived. After months (OK, years…) of researching, writing, editing, photographing, microscope-fiddling, and occasionally yelling at my laptop – Moss Safari: Exploring the Secret Life in Moss is officially published! It’s…

Eight trays of equipment for an electric circuits practical.

Tidy, uniform trays make happy.

I wrote an article for @rsc-eic.bsky.social on safety specs vs goggles in schools!

The link in the quoted post is broken, but try edu.rsc.org/endpoint/do-...

Quick poll time, it would be very useful for our work to know how many labs you have in your school.

Sadly we can't do this via a voting poll, so please just reply with how many labs (teaching labs + prep rooms) you have.

Please also share this with others

Thanks for your help in this 👍

6 labs, 3 prep rooms.

This goes for STEM events targeted at children too. Science communicators, step up.

Year 8 have examined all the evidence and have concluded that it was the Head of Physics who killed the gryphon, using a circus baton as a weapon, so that he could get a gryphon feather to wear on his fancy hat!

As part of enrichment week, tomorrow our Year 8 students are going to try to solve the murder of the school's pet gryphon.
I've had a lot of fun preparing fingerprints, blood spatters, and footprint casts for them.