GROUND BREAKING SCIENCE AT SEDBERGH PREP

Britain produces good scientists. For proof of that, you need look no further than the Edinburgh-born and educated Sir Fraser Stoddart, who was awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work developing molecular machinery. 

But Britain needs to continue producing good scientists – and that begins in places such as Sedbergh Prep School, where we recently took delivery of a revolutionary new chemistry reactor. It’s called an H-Cube Mini Plus. Thanks to it, our pupils are gaining experience of flow chemistry, one of the most exciting frontiers in science.

This is a world-first for any school thanks to Cambridge University. We couldn’t have joined them without the kind collaboration of ThalesNano, the company behind the H-Cube Mini’s design, Cambridge’s Professor Steven V. Ley and Sedbergh Preparatory schoolmaster Dr Philip Hoskin.

They, like us, understand that if children are to understand what the future holds, then they need access to this sort of equipment now. It pays to prepare them for the laboratories they may encounter in university and beyond.

Our H-Cube Mini Plus is just the start. Work is underway at Sedbergh School to create a ‘laboratory of the future’ that will connect our devices to others. In this way, experiments can be conducted remotely through the Internet. Augmented Reality will bring the science behind these experiments to life as never before.

Science never stands still – so neither should our teaching of it. The newest developments and the newest technologies need to be put within reach of our students. There are, after all, more Nobel Prizes to be won.

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