Dear Teachers,
 

Welcome to the  latest STEM newsletter  for Primary Schools  from your local STEM Ambassador Delivery Partner. 

Thank you to all the teachers who attended the Networking event in Airbus - it was wonderful to see you all there  - please make sure you post any requests on the STEM Learning platform - more about the event below.

Don't forget that it's British Science Week in March - with plenty of resources and opportunities available. 

There are also several new STEM engagement opportunities available for the forthcoming half term. STEM Ambassadors are still keen to offer as many enrichment opportunities as possible to learners and we welcome requests for STEM Ambassadors to help with any enrichment opportunity - please contact us directly to discuss your individual need.

Please encourage new colleagues to register with STEM Learning in order to receive the See Science newsletter in the future using the link:  www.stem.org.uk/user/register and then opt to receive newsletters.

See Science  have a facebook page where we will also be sharing lots of new ideas regularly - please like or follow the page.

Please don't hesitate to contact us if we can support the teaching of STEM subjects. 

With best wishes, 
The See Science Team

Latest STEM news and updates

Networking event at ABRM and Airbus
 

Tuesday 6th February saw See Science, ASE and the apprentices at Airbus & AMRC work together to deliver a teachers CPD event at AMRC in Broughton. First to present to primary and secondary teachers in the Wrexham area was See Science who explained the benefits of teachers making use of the STEM Ambassador programme, and also listed some of the opportunities available to teachers. ASE delivered a presentation about “raising standards in the classroom” and how ASe can help support teachers in the delivery of the science curriculum. The last part of the CPD session was taken by some of the apprentices at Airbus and AMRC who explained how they are benefitting from completing an apprenticeship. The CPD session was finished by a tour of AMRC. The CPD session was enjoyed by all with positive feedback from teachers, including: ‘Hearing first hand from the apprentices was really inspiring’ and ‘Very informative and great to hear experiences of the students’

Read more

British Science Week March 8th - 17th
The theme for 2024’s activity packs and poster competition is ‘Time’.

Free activity packs for #BSW24 are available to download now!

The packs provide fun and engaging ways to introduce the theme to the children.

Each pack, created with the support of UK Research and Innovation and 3M, includes a wide range of fun, hands-on activities, and loads of useful information for planning your events for the Week.
 

There are separate packs for Early Years, Primary and Secondary. Find them here.
 

Share your #BSW24 activities with us and other teachers by tagging @SeeScience into your tweets!

Events in Wales 
Teachmeet- Inclusive teaching in STEM - Adapting STEM teaching to engage and challenge. 20th March 4.15pm Howells School, Llandaff, Cardiff. CF5 2YD

Join a STEM Teachmeet to share ideas and resources - adapting STEM teaching to engage and challenge.


Breakout sessions for primary and secondary teachers. Some elements of this event will be “hybrid” with a live-stream for teachers from further away in Wales.

Tea and coffee will be provided  Book here.

Read more
Science Teacher CPD - Revealing the Hidden Universe. Monday 26th February  12:30 - 16:00. Techniquest, Cardiff Bay.

Join the team from Cardiff University, School of Physics and Astronomy who are excited to demonstrate a number of hands on classroom resources to assist you in your teaching across the sciences.

Held at Techniquest, Cardiff Bay, the afternoon will be spent looking at Infra Red cameras and their many uses, considering the scale of our Solar System and discovering Exoplanets. 

Due to generous funding, all of the resources we will look at are available for us to deliver to your school or for you to loan - at no cost. A subsidy is also available to help cover staff costs from state funded schools.  What's even more exciting, is that all attendees will leave with a 'gift' to use back in their own classroom (and lunch is provided). 

Aimed at primary and secondary teachers of science, the friendly outreach team are very excited to share these resources with you.

Please do join us !

Book here.
 

National Events

Mars Day. 5th March 2024

Join us for this exciting free virtual event adventure for everyone, presented by the UK Space Education Office (ESERO-UK) at STEM Learning and in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the UK Space Agency.

Once again Mars Day has an out-of-this-world programme of live link-ups, activities and resources, talks and live Q&A with space stars as well as career discussions with hidden heroes of the UK space industry. 
 

Beam in on Tuesday 5th March and explore Mars, the Moon - and beyond. Our last mission to Mars (Day) in 2023 had an audience of over 120,000!
 

Explore a sky full of guest speakers and stars in our programme below. Land on your favourite Mars and Moon topics, book for a session or two, take part in Mars Hour activities, or join in for the whole day. Embark on a solo mission, join in with friends, family or your class at school.
 

Register in advance and plan your own Mars (Day) mission.

Read more

Read Your Way this World Book Day 2024

Exciting events, activities and partnerships will encourage more children to enjoy reading, however they choose to!

The charity World Book Day® is holding its annual celebration on Thursday 7th March right across the UK and Ireland.

Reading for pleasure improves children’s life chances across a range of social, educational and well-being measures. However, research from National Literacy Trust found that fewer than 1 in 2 (47.8%) children now say they enjoy reading , this is the lowest level since 2005, and reading enjoyment is lowest among children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
 

Read Your Way calls on everyone to let go of pressure and expectations, giving children a choice – and a chance – to enjoy reading.

One million children in the UK currently do not have a single book of their own at home, and World Book Day’s £1/€1.50 books are often the first book many children will own.

An exclusive title will be available for young readers in Wales. The Welsh Language book supported by the Books Council of Wales, will be Ffeithiau Ffiaidd: Y Corff  written and illustrated by Kev Payne and adapted into Welsh by Mari George, which is published by Rily Publications.

There are numerous resources available here for you to run your own activity in a school or centre  near you 

At the core of the World Book Day’s work to change lives through reading is the opportunity for all children to have a book of their own. 

Competitions
University of South Wales CES Outreach STEM Competition: Design a Mobile

Showcase your passion for STEM!

To celebrate the opening of the CES STEM Outreach Room we are inviting young people (Year 3 to Year 9) to design a STEM themed mobile that will be used to decorate the room.

Prizes for individuals and schools.

Closing date for submissions, Friday 8th March.

For more information and to register, contact CESSTEM@southwales.ac.uk

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If you were an Engineer what would you do?

A UK wide engineering competition for school pupils aged 3 to 19.

Are you looking for a way of bringing engineering into the classroom, but don’t know where to start? This competitions is one of our flagship STEM programmes that invites pupils of all ages in both primary and secondary schools to imagine if they were an engineer, what problem would they most like to solve? They do this by interviewing professionals from the engineering field to help inspire them to create their own design of a solution to a real-world problem through an annotated illustration detailing their invention. As well as annotation, they will put their formal English writing skills into practice by creating their own letters of purpose, detailing and explaining their ideas, using persuasive techniques to appeal to our engineer judges – a thoroughly engaging and immersive experience for pupils, teachers and engineers alike. 

Closing date March 22.

Details here.

Read more

As Great Science Share for Schools joins the celebrations for The University of Manchester’s Bicentenary, we are raising the profile of science by shouting about what you think is important.

This brand new enrichment task for all ages invites you to write and share a letter with us in order to make a great noise about why science is important in our lives.

The aim is to make a noise about why asking-investigating and sharing science is important to all our futures.
Send your letters by 11th June 2024 to have your voice heard!
You can email your letters as
photos or scanned in to:

greatscishare@manchester.ac.uk
Or post to Great Science Share for Schools, University of Manchester, Engineering Building A, Floor 6/Core 1 Oxford Road, Manchester M24 1WH
 

Grants

Funding for School Climate & Biodiversity Projects 

The Royal Society is inviting applications to their Tomorrow's Climate Scientists Programme to give students across the UK the opportunity to take action to address climate and biodiversity issues.

Grants of up to £3,000 are available to UK primary or secondary schools to run a STEM investigation project for students aged between 5 and 18. There needs to be two project partners to the scheme with the lead applicant being a school and the second partner being a STEM professional from academia or industry. Funding should predominantly be used to buy equipment. 

The next application round opens in February 2024. 

Details here.
 

Your local STEM Ambassadors Partner

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ambassadors@see-science.co.uk
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