The Festival of Science and Curiosity kicks off in Nottingham on Thursday with a week of of events bringing Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths to the people of the city. The Festival of Science and Curiosity is now in its third year and is delivered by STEM CITY, as a partnership of science organisations, educational institutions and Nottingham City Council.
We believe that Science is creative, and that Science has to be part of our cultural lives – and not remote, hidden away, or only conducted in labs behind closed doors. On the Thursday and the Friday, the main focus is on schools. coming in to engage and interact with art and technology and the interplay between both. You’ll get to do things like science busking and learning how to code to create your own games. Then, at the weekend, there are loads of events happening in places like GameCity, Broadmarsh and Central Library!
The festival is about inviting the people of Nottingham to share not only what they know, but also what they would like to know. It’s about encouraging people to be curious, to ask questions and to engage in science as a cultural activity. So people of Nottingham – what do you want to know? What do you want to find out? For more information, click here.
2017 marks the 17th year of its Annual National Storytelling Week, which runs from 28th January~4th February. National Storytelling Week takes place in storytelling clubs, theatres, museums, schools, hospitals, spoken word venues, and care homes (where this event has been steadily growing each year!) National Storytelling Week is celebrated by all ages in the telling of folk and fairy tales, ripping yarns adventures, or just what you overheard on the number 68 bus to Bulwell. Anything can be a story but a good teller of stories will conjure it intriguingly and spin a web in which their audience become enthralled.
This week, why don’t you tell a story – in school or out. It can be one you’ve read in a book (perhaps borrowed from your local library), seen in a film or play, or one you make up yourself! You can also use it toward signing off a challenge when logged into the site. And, if you can’t find a story to tell, get someone else to tell you theirs and share it!
This week, millions of people will be celebrating Chinese New Year, which will be marked by communities all over the world. People will eat lots of food, enjoy fireworks, wear special clothes and hang red lanterns to mark the occasion. The Chinese New Year festivities will begin on Saturday 28 January 2017. The reason the new year falls now is because it marks the start of the lunar new year, which is when there is the start of a new moon. This is different to the “Gregorian” calendar that we traditionally use in the UK, which always starts on 1 January, and, because it depends on the moon, the date of Chinese New Year changes each year, though generally it will fall between 21 January and 20 February.
Chinese New Year is also known as the Spring Festival. It is the most important celebration in the Chinese calendar. In Chinese tradition, each year is named after one of twelve animals, which feature in the Chinese zodiac. The animals have a year dedicated to them once every 12 years, in a cycle. 2016 was the year of the monkey, while this year will be the year of the rooster. It is believed that the rooster is a messenger from heaven, so it is traditionally seen as a symbol of trust and honesty – will it be a year of trust and honesty for you?
It’s a big celebration with families coming together for eating lots of delicious food, including noodle soup, which traditionally brings luck for the year ahead. Before the festivities begin, people clean their homes thoroughly to make them ready for the celebrations. Then, when New Year’s Day comes, there is a tradition not to pick up a broom, in case you sweep the good luck for the New Year out of the door! In China, schools and businesses can close for the first few days of the new year, so that everyone can spend time with their families. People enjoy There will be parades and performances, with people dressed in traditional clothes. Fireworks are also set off, because it is thought that noise and lights will scare away any evil spirits for the coming months. There will also be performances of music and dance like the Chinese dragon – which is what the brilliant year 1 from Welbeck Primary in The Meadows have been exploring this week!
Look at Nursery's fabulous co-operative work to make our Chinese dragon move and dance! 🐉 pic.twitter.com/SiERxPyQGd
Do you want to know which sign of the Chinese zodiac you are and what it says about you? Find out here by checking which year you were born in! (If you were born in January or February before Chinese New Year that year, though, your animal will be the sign for the year before) and, if you’re celebrating, have a wonderful time! 新年快乐 (Happy New Year!)
