Wonderdome Planetarium Shows

An opportunity for primary school students to take part in an immersive Planetarium show.   

Aims

The aim was to allow local primary school students to enjoy a Planetarium experience, designed to immerse children in the wonders of space.  
 
The need was to provide the show free-of-charge to students who may not otherwise have had the opportunity to benefit from an experience of this scale.  
 
The main factor of success was for the children to leave inspired and excited about space.  
 
Pupils from 46 schools benefitted from the shows throughout the day, which included children visiting the Senior School for a Year 7 Taster Day.  

Background

Mr Alexander, Assistant Head of Co-curricular and Partnerships invited Wonderdome Planetarium to visit for a day, at the request of the school’s Astronomy Club. Our students accessed it during lunchtime, however we made the Wonderdome available for a full day, and invited local primary schools to benefit from it as well.  
 
We plan to make this inaugural event an annual partnership with Wonderdome and local primary schools. 

Resources

For this event to be a success, we needed to reserve the school’s Lecture Theatre for a full day, for the Wonderdome to be installed and made accessible. We needed a member of the Wonderdome team to attend to present the shows. 
 
Mr Alexander, Assistant Head, managed the logistics for Wonderdome's visit. 
 
3 members of academic staff from the Science department supervised the visiting children.  
 
The schools’ Head of Admissions and Partnership oversaw the invitation and booking process.  
 
The catering staff provided refreshments and lunch free of charge for visiting children and school staff.  
 
The event itself ran for 1 hour, with approximately 3 days of preparation time.  
 
There was a cost of £555+VAT, for the Wonderdome structure itself and the visiting expert.  

Impact

The visiting Wonderdome presenter commented that children were excited and engaged throughout the shows on the day.  
 
We are expecting word to spread, building towards a wider impact to more pupils at next year’s event.  

Pupil Involvement

79 girls and boys aged 8-11 from 46 local state primary schools. 

Frequency

We are planning to make the Wonderdome Planetarium Shows an annual event.