Recently, St Mary’s Primary School played host to 20 aspiring teachers from Shotton Hall SCITT, helping them experience first hand how interesting and fun STEM based learning can be. The trainees spent three days in school, working with children from both Year 5 and 6, taking part in activities including coding, making butter and bath bombs, skittle rainbow plates, newspaper bridges and a marble run that needed to be as close to 20 seconds as possible. The children, and trainees, soon realised just how long 20 seconds actually is.
The event was hugely successful and received many positive comments from the trainees, Shotton Hall Academy and of course our pupils. St Mary’s will continue their excellent STEM learning this year as we have been accepted on a brand new initiative called The Polar Explorer Programme, working with the group who are currently building The RRS Sir David Attenborough, enabling world-leading research in Antarctica and the Arctic for the next 25 years. The Polar Explorer Programme is working with NERC, British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and others to use this historic occasion to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. We hope to use the build, launch and operation of RRS Sir David Attenborough and Boaty McBoatface (a state of the art sub sea vehicle) to engage young people in science, enabling them to understand the scientific process and enhance their understanding of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics concepts. Sounds really cool, no pun intended!
