In Summer 2019 Holy Spirit Primary School was awarded a Royal Society Partnership Grant with Farm Urban in the Baltic Quarter, Liverpool. Aquaponics involves fish and plants living together- the ammonia in the waste from the fish is converted to nitrates by bacteria in the filters. The plants need the nitrates to grow and so remove the unwanted chemicals from the water to keep the fish healthy.
We launched the project in early September with a whole school assembly led by our STEM partner Dr Myers from Farm Urban. We set up a lunchtime aquaponics group with 18 Year 5 and 6 children. During September the children assembled two produce pods. At the beginning of October we started our first propagation cycle- the children decided to grow kale, spinach and basil. We then acclimatised 2 goldfish into each produce pod and when the seedlings were big enough we transferred them to the pod growing areas. The children organised themselves into 2 groups to over-see the regular maintenance of the pods and feeding of the fish. After half term we started running the group as an after-school club as there was much more to do than we first thought!
In December 2019 the children had a video conference with Laurence, a PhD student from Farm Urban, who answered many questions the children had generated themselves. We will be using this information to decide on our next investigations, now we have learnt so much about how the pods work.
The children have taken growth measurements of the plants, looked at the leaves and roots with easi-scopes and measured the water pH and ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, levels in the pod water. We have learnt how to propagate seeds for aquaponics and how the produce pods work including what needs to be done to maintain them. We have grown kale, spinach and basil, with varying degrees of success and the children have sampled our produce!
The children have taken growth measurements of the plants, looked at the leaves and roots with easi-scopes and measured the water pH and ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, levels in the pod water. We have learnt how to propagate seeds for aquaponics and how the produce pods work including what needs to be done to maintain them. We have grown kale, spinach and basil, with varying degrees of success and the children have sampled our produce!