Science Award

sponsored by Lab Systems Furniture
Awarded to the educational establishment that has excelled in the provision of a first class environment for teaching science subjects including biology, chemistry and physics.

2011 Winner: Pate’s Grammar School, Cheltenham

For the second successive year, Pate’s Grammar students led and won the UK Space Settlement Design Competition national final, which means they will represent the UK in the international final to be held at NASA in Houston, Texas. So it is just as well two of the 10 science labs have been extensively refurbished. Pate’s Science Department run Science Festival events for both visiting students and the school’s younger students, showcasing achievement. In Science and Engineering week – from bridge building to rat dissection – science thereby becomes more popular and engaging. That limitless attainment ethos is taking the Physics Department to Cern in Switzerland, to discover the excitement of fundamental research and to take a look behind the scenes of the world’s largest particle physics laboratory.

Commended

Sydenham School, London
Sydenham School’s profile was catapulted into the limelight in early 2011 with the national SSAT Award for Innovative and Effective Practice in STEM Education. Assessors were especially impressed by pupils’ enthusiastic focus. Such a bestowal rests on a firm vision of their specialism in STEM. They are committed to providing opportunities for the students through close links with Imperial College and via environmental and sustainable development work.
Imperial College Maths Summer school, taking part in a STEM deep learning day, visiting the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales with the Engineering Club, or becoming a Science Ambassador working with local primaries, is all essential to the learning achievement.

Cwmcarn Primary School, Newport, Wales
Cwmcarn Primary received the Rolls-Royce Science Prize Eden Award from the Eden Project in 2011 for its work based on their ‘science envoys’ concept: working with younger children to promote creative science at the school as a whole. Student winners met scientists to see some of the careers science could lead to. They also looked at Eden’s gardens and construction methods to gain inspiration for Cwmcarn’s own school grounds. Such experiences enrich science understanding, energising the ‘science envoy’ approach which included planning science projects for Year Four and Five pupils and producing a monthly magazine. The students took responsibility and a key role in negotiating with teachers, governors and students to direct their project – transferable skills essential for successful working life.

Cullercoats Primary School, North Tyneside
For Cullercoats Primary school the sciences have a special significance that was dramatically highlighted when Kate Ardron, who initially taught English, became national Primary Science Teacher of the Year 2011. The school’s national Primary PE Specialism pilot which had a direct impact on pupils’ understanding of healthy lifestyles, led to a positive effect on some subjects, especially science. In fact, science at Cullercoats is taught as part of everything around the pupils via songs, ICT, drama and literacy. Interest, clarity and novel approaches retain interest and involvement, making science relevant and accessible. The environment is designed to develop children’s independent skills, so they ask questions, know how to respond, and are curious. That creates memorable learning for tomorrow’s science endeavours.