An Invitation to Year 5 Girls to Attend a 'Girls in Stem' Event

Woldingham welcomed just over 50 girls from 3 of our local primary schools including Woodlea Primary School, St Francis Catholic Primary School and St John's CofE Primary School, for a day exploring science, technology, engineering and maths related topics.  In science we experimented with diffusion using skittles, made robots from toothbrushes and learnt about tooth enamel by making alginate beads.  In maths we had the magic square challenge, learning how to use creative and collaborative skills.  In DT we used lasers, dye sublimation and 3D printing in the construction of photosensitive bracelets.

Aims

The aims are to inspire year 5 girls to take up Stem subjects in secondary school and beyond by sharing our laboratories, DT equipment and teaching resources.

Background

The project came about as part of the school's Community Outreach project which has been in operation for a number of years.

Resources

Resources from all departments were used to maximise the interest for our visitors.  Our school facilities were used for the programmes, for lunch and for the performance at the end of the day.

Non-teaching staff were used for the initial set up of the programme and for meeting and greeting, and teaching staff were used for the teaching of the programme.

Impact

Highly positive feedback with the schools commenting on our ability to tackle academic stretch in curriculum related topics.  Pupils enjoyed the combination of practical and seminar based work.

Pupil Involvement

There was plenty of participation in the various events throughout the morning.  The visitors were girls aged 9-11.

Frequency

This is a yearly event and likely to continue for the foreseeable future.