St Paul’s Year 8 Home Economics students were one of ten schools in Northern Ireland who recently completed the STEM programme where Schools, the Food and Drink Industry and Science came together to carry out Science activities and to undertake a class based project focusing on food packaging.  Courtney’s Catering of Newry was one of ten companies in Northern Ireland to participate in the STEM Programme and was linked to St Paul’s for this programme.

Pat Courtney supported by Frank McCann, Sentinus Programme Manager, visited the Year 8 Home Economics class over three weeks to develop a series of practical Science investigations looking at a range of foodstuffs.  These practicals included:

Science of fruit jellies

Surprising stains

Making a mess with milk.

On completion of the practical investigations the pupils carried out a project looking at how local shops recycle their packaging.  On May 24^th the pupils attended a Tasty Science Celebration Day in Loughry College Cookstown where they presented their project along with the nine other schools.

Mrs Fegan, the Home Economics teacher at St Paul’s, expressed her appreciation to Pat Courtney for his participation in the Tasty Science Programme and making this a worthwhile experience for the pupils.