Pupils from St Leonard’s Primary School in East Kilbride will have the opportunity to get up close to a giant bee and see inside a bee hive when Little Giants, part of Generation Science, the Edinburgh International Science Festival’s schools touring programme, visits their school next week.
In this entertaining science show, which has been donated by EDF Energy, children are taken on an in-depth exploration of the life of mini beasts. They create a ‘pollen’ maze back to the beehive and examine the body structure of a typical insect using a human sized bee. They also discover how bees create honey and what makes these mini-beasts buzz.
Mr Timmons, Head Teacher said: “We are delighted to have Generation Science at St Leonard’s Primary this year. We hope that Little Giants will prove to be an excellent way of helping the children understand the life cycle of insects and their importance to the environment.”
George Dunn of EDF Energy said: “We have an established relationship with St Leonard’s Primary and we are delighted to be able to bring this show to the school. As the UK’s largest provider of low carbon electricity, we are keen to encourage children of all ages to become interested in science subjects and the Little Giants show will introduce very young pupils to scientific concepts in a hands-on and entertaining way. We hope they all enjoy the show.”
Joan Davidson, Generation Science Manager said: “This year, Generation Science celebrates its 21st year ofsuccessfully touring science shows all over Scotland, engaging more than a million pupils through bringing science to life, and educating and exciting pupils by the true wonder and meaning of science. Our workshops and shows cover six different strands of the curriculum for excellence and are designed to make learning and teaching science not just simple and fun, but truly inspirational. “
Little Giants is one of 16 amazing shows and workshops provided by Generation Science which are designed to make science fun, exciting and easy to understand and to help teachers cover the school science curriculum. The Generation Science tour reaches over 55,000 primary school children and over 600 schools in 31 Local Authority areas annually, it is the largest school science touring programme in the UK and has activities for all ages, from infant classes right up to upper primary.
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Notes to Editors: For more information, please email claire.cook@edf-energy.com. Alternatively, you can call Claire on 01355 846283 or 07785 762 375.
For more information on Generation Science Touring Scotland 2012 visit www.generationscience.co.uk or contact Emma Henderson, Press and Media, emma@pi-communications.co.uk, 07977 134 614 or 0131 553 0321.
Generation Science
Generation Science is the Edinburgh International Science Festival’s schools touring programme. As an organisation the Festival’s mission is to inspire, encourage and challenge people of all ages and backgrounds to explore and understand the world around them – and to communicate the educational, social and economic benefits of science and technology.
Generation Science’s Spring touring dates are 30 January to 23 March and during the Summer term from 23 April to 25 May 2012.
The Edinburgh International Science Festival runs from 30 March to 15 April 2012. For more information on this year’s exciting programme of events visit
Little Giants is touring schools throughout Scotland until 25 May, the show has been made possible through support from Scottish Natural Heritage.
Generation Science is supported by EDF Energy, Scottish Government, Edina Trust, Generation Science Club, Baillie Gifford, City of Edinburgh Council, Diabetes UK Scotland, Exxon Mobil, Marine Scotland, NVA, ProStrakan Group Plc, Rio Tinto Alcan, Scottish Gas, Scottish Natural Heritage, Talisman Energy, TOTAL, Veolia Water and Wolfson Microelectronics. We also received funding from many trusts and foundations including; Barcapel Foundation, Binks Trust, Carnegie Dunfermline Trust, Cruden Foundation, Equitable Charitable Trust, Gannochy Trust, IET Education Fund, John Watson’s Trust, MacRobert Trust, Mikel Fund, Leng Charitable Trust, Hugh Fraser Foundation, Robertson Trust and Sylvia Aitken Charitable Trust.
EDF Energy
EDF Energy is one of the UK’s largest energy companies and the largest producer of low-carbon electricity, producing around one-sixth of the nation's electricity from its nuclear power stations, wind farms, coal and gas power stations and combined heat and power plants. The company supplies gas and electricity to more than 5.5 million business and residential customer accounts and is the biggest supplier of electricity by volume in Great Britain.
EDF Energy’s safe and secure operation of its eight existing nuclear power stations at sites across the country makes it the UK’s largest generator of low carbon electricity. EDF Energy is also leading the UK's nuclear renaissance and has published plans to build four new nuclear plants, subject to the right investment framework. These new plants could generate enough low carbon electricity for about 40% of Britain’s homes. They would make an important contribution to the UK’s future needs for clean, secure and affordable energy. The project is already creating business and job opportunities for British companies and workers.
Through Our Sustainability Commitments, EDF Energy has launched one of the biggest environmental and social programmes of any British energy company and the company has since been awarded the highest ranking of Platinum Plus in Business in the Community’s 2011 Corporate Responsibility Index, the UK’s leading voluntary benchmark of corporate responsibility.
EDF is the official electricity supplier and a sustainability partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The company is also helping its customers and others use energy more sustainably through products and initiatives such as Team Green Britain, smart meters and electric vehicle research.
EDF Energy is part of EDF Group, one of Europe’s largest power companies. The company employs around 15,000 people at locations across the UK.
For more news from EDF Energy please see www.edfenergy.com/media-centre/ . To find out more about the UK's energy challenges look at www.edfenergy.com/energyfuture/