AstroThoughts

06/10/2026

If you are looking for more ideas to help make World Space Week zing for your primary class, why not visit this resource:
https://www.stem.org.uk/resources/library/collection/501482/world-space-week

06/10/2026

Free online continuing professional development for primary teachers provided by ESERO UK.

It's all about Using Space as a context in the classroom and all the amazing resources provided by ESERO UK.

Several repeat slots available. The ones afterschool from 3.30pm until 4.30pm are on:

October 15th,
November 2nd, 9th, 12th, 16th, 19th, 23rd,
December 3rd, 7th, 10th, 14th

For the early in the day from 10.30am - 11.30am there is a session planned on October 30th

Fill out this form https://forms.gle/2xkfsZhfZ8rXgwDSA to express interest and get the online meeting link.

For more information, contact [email protected]

About the 1 hour session:
Explore the Moon, Mars and deep space with your primary pupils through practical activities and the exciting context of space exploration when teaching the primary curriculum.

Learn about current and future space missions, aiming to explore our solar system and beyond. Discover effective ways in which to engage pupils in science and wider STEM activities linked to space exploration.

There are many topics in the primary science curriculum where you can use the theme of space to engage pupils. For example, designing an astronaut's space suit can bring in aspects of the science curriculum to do with properties and the uses of materials. Exercise, keeping healthy and having a balanced diet can be applied to an astronaut's training regime and their time in space.

You will also consider cross curricular links, for example, to numeracy and literacy.

Discover the wealth of FREE resources, events and competitions available to support your teaching and learning of science using space as a context.

Explore the opportunity to enrich your curriculum through a whole school space week.

Find out about how you can work towards a Space Education Quality Mark!

Taking part in this CPD will provide evidence for the Space Education Quality Mark (SEQM). It will also give you resources and subject knowledge that will enable you to plan lessons and enrichment activities to provide further evidence towards the quality mark.

Who is it for?

This course is for primary school teachers. There will be references to the English National Curriculum, but learners will be encouraged to review their local curricula to contextualise the course content.

This course includes:

Current and future space missions and how they can be linked to the curriculum
Practical activities based upon the search for exoplanets
Exploring space using telescopes
Human spaceflight as a context for teaching: exercise and healthy eating; properties and uses of materials; light
Cross curricular opportunities, including geography, literacy, maths
Careers in STEM and in particular the space industry

Outcomes:

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

1. Investigate opportunities to link space exploration and space missions in your lessons to excite and inspire your pupils.
2. Develop lesson plans that involve working scientifically, using space as a context.
3. Explain using models, some of the scientific concepts and ideas involved in space exploration

17/09/2026

Design, build and launch a mini satellite.

Find out more about getting your school involved in the CanSat Challenge: https://www.stem.org.uk/esero/cansat

Groups get to plan and build a satellite and have it launched at a regional event. If successful, groups will be invited to the national event.

You can register your school by Friday 2nd October on the same link.

The competition is open to teams of 3 to 6 students from any school, college or community group located in the UK only. Team members must be over the age of 14 at the time of the competition.

17/09/2026

Sometimes when you're asked to bring the science and history alive for people you have to fully immerse yourself to encourage others to let their imagination follow.

Here, perhaps I'm Alexander Herschel, the brother of famous siblings Caroline and William Herschel, talking about the discovery of the planet Uranus 245.5 years ago as part of the Jane Austen Festival in Bath.

13/09/2026

Astro Pi Mission Space Lab invites young people to run their own code on the International Space Station (ISS), giving them an unforgettable opportunity to conduct real science in space. Teams aged 12 to 19 years write a Python program that captures sensor data from Raspberry Pi computers on board the ISS to use in their very own space science projects.

Your school can get involved from Monday 14th September 2026 and you have until 22nd February 2027 to submit your programs.

Contact AstroThoughts if you'd like a mentor to support you.

Find out more at

Teams are guided by a mentor to calculate the speed at which the ISS is travelling. Follow our handy guide or let your team come up with their own imaginative solution.

13/09/2026

Astro Pi Mission Zero offers young people the chance to have their code run in space! Kids can write a simple program to take a reading from the colour and luminosity sensor on an actual Astro Pi computer on board the International Space Station, and use it to set the background colour in a personalised image for the astronauts to see as they go about their daily tasks.

Your school can get involved from Monday 14th September 2026 and you have until 22nd March 2027 to submit your programs.

Teachers can run this themselves or contact AstroThoughts to help.

Find out more at:

Homepage for the Mission Zero Challenge

13/09/2026

Get your school involved with Protecting Our Planet (POP) '26 on Thursday 19th November 2026 - an all day online event classes can immerse in or just dip into.

Register for free using https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/protecting-our-planet-day-2026-tickets-1999382876004

POP Day connects thousands of classrooms nationwide with scientists, researchers, conservationists and other inspiring experts working to protect our planet - on Earth and from space.

Through live talks, discussions, panels and interactive activities, pupils explore climate change mitigation, biodiversity, conservation, space science and STEM careers. Highlights include live links with Antarctic researchers, ESA Mission Control experts, BBC Blue Planet III producers, the Eden Project and Dynamic Earth, alongside special sessions honouring Sir David Attenborough with leading conservationists and the Planet Earth team.

Schools can dip in and out throughout the day, link sessions to wider STEM learning, or join with STEM clubs after school.

Find out more at:
https://www.stem.org.uk/esero/protecting-our-planet-day

ESA - European Space Agency ESERO UK UK Space Agency

Live streamed schools event with sessions & class activities from passionate people working to protect our planet both on Earth & in Space!

09/09/2026

A trip down memory lane for me coming up with a new talk on Dark Stars or Black Holes as everyone calls them now.

I read The Black Hole in class when I was 8 years old. I remember sitting with one of the mums helping out in class with reading and discovering about the amazing voyage of the exploration ship Palomino and its crew. The robot V.I.N.Cent was my favourite.

So disappointed a few months later when I got to see the Disney film The Black Hole. Imagination is best.

29/08/2026

SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft.

25/07/2026

A great morning for AstroThoughts entertaining dozens of families camping at Mendip Basecamp .

We packed in learning about the Solar System, recreating a scaled Solar System across the campsite and created fun planet masks.

The next activity was making sundials and solargazing. We even talked about the upcoming partial solar eclipse on Wed 12th Aug and everyone learned how to use eclipse glasses safely.

We closed the morning's activities with demonstrations of different types of rockets and then everyone got busy making and launching paper rockets high into the skies above

Thanks to Mendip Basecamp for capturing the morning on a reel.