Lucy Hawking and Stephen McGann lived up to our 'Inspire Me' title at our event on 7 May 2014, addressing a packed audience - our biggest crowd yet!

• How do we communicate science? 
• How can we inspire people to go into this field?
• Can science explain our world clearly - even if we are not scientists?

Addressing these questions, our speakers gave illuminating talks on the universe, what science is all about, and the way it is communicated can sometimes fool everyone. As part of the event, Stephen did an experiment with the audience to look at assumptions we make about people working in science and what we believe. Let's just say it's not always as straight-forward as it looks! The motto of Stephen's presentation was 'Take no-one's word for it' and challenge all assumptions. There was also an engaging debate with the audience on how people view themselves as either 'Artistic' or 'Scientific', and how we should constantly challenge this.

Lucy Hawking, an alumna of our school, showed the importance of creativity and imagination in science with a brilliant animation that she made, narrated by her father Stephen Hawking. The animation was all about imagination, and how important it is to stretch and question what we think is possible - is anything possible? We also learnt a huge amount about space, including how astronauts go to the loo and a great video showing the possibility of magic-carpet rides in space! Lucy talked about how her 'Cosmic George' books are challenging and entertaining children while introducing real scientific concepts. Her fourth book will be available shortly.

We were delighted to open the event up to more local schools, and also welcomed parents and families who will be entering the school in the near future.