The School Gate SET FAQ

School Gate SET FAQ from Jan Peters on Vimeo.

Don't have time to watch the recording? Questions and answers are summarised below...

"Why are you focusing on Primary Schools, rather than Secondary?"
Parents tend to develop a closer relationship with their children's primary school. There are more events that parents are invited to participate in and more calls for help (e.g. supervising class trips, listening to readers, fundraising etc). We want to make it much more common to extend this help to science, technology and maths. Primary school teachers need to have knowledge of a wide range of subjects, but many of them do not come from a STEM background and can really appreciate extra support in these areas. Finally, the primary school years are when mothers, in particular, are more likely to be on a career break or working part time and so have time to get involved during the school day.

 "I want to help out in my nephew/grandaughter's school. Is the School Gate SET only for parents?"
Of course not! The important thing is that you have the time and energy to build an ongoing relationship with the school. You might also be interested in signing up to the STEM ambassadors program. They will arrange a DBS (criminal record) check which will allow you to work with and inspire young people across a number of schools. 

"My daughter is only in nursery.  There’s not much I can do to help such little ones. "
We hope that the school will want to take advantage of expert help across all year-groups, not just your child’s class.  For example, we have had a Mum whose child is in reception giving Forensic Science workshops to Year 5 & 6.  

"I work full time for an engineering company but I’d really like to help..."
Does your employer support the STEM ambassador program?  Many companies are aware of the looming STEM "skills gap" and are keen to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. They may give you time off to work in a local school.

"Does it matter what kind of STEM background I have?"
Not at all. It's important for children to be aware of the wide range of careers available to them and to realise that science, engineering and, of course, technology underpin so much of modern life. For example, a parent who works in graphic design ran a very popular after-school club teaching computer animation. Please be aware, though, that to take part in the Ingenious workshops, funded by the RAE, we do have to give priority to parents with a background in engineering.  

"Does it matter where I live?"
No, we want the School Gate SET to be a nationwide project. We are very active on social media; post all our news and activity ideas online; and are happy to chat via Skype or e-mail. Note, though, for Ingenious funded training workshops we have a very limited budget for travel, so these will be taking place in and around Hertfordshire and Dorset.

"What will I be expected to do?  I’m very out of touch with my science background!"
It's important to talk to the school about how you can adapt your interests and skills to the school’s needs. We can provide plenty of ideas and advice for that initial conversation. It's not necessary to stand up in front of a whole class of children: you could administer the school website/computing equipment; suggest activities to extend and enrich the curriculum; or help with the paperwork for, e.g., the Primary Science Quality Mark.

"What is the commitment if you join up?"
Our School Gate SET members are all volunteers, so any time you can spare we are grateful for. We hope that you will want to become a STEM Ambassador and develop an ongoing relationship with your school.  For the Ingenious workshops there will be one training day (confined to school hours) and delivery of at least one activity for the school. 

"What is the Ingenious training? When and where will it happen?"
The training will focus on confidence building and Strengths assessment; tips for working in schools; and the opportunity to practice delivering a specific engineering activity. We anticipate that the workshops will run in October 2016 so that you will be ready to go into schools to support "Tomorrow's Engineers" week between the 7th and 11th of November.

"Strengths" assessment...?
We will be using the Gallup Strengths Finder tool, a personality-type tool which helps to identify what your unique skills are and how they enable you to work best and relate to others. This can be particularly important if you are thinking of getting back into the workplace after a career break, but is also really useful for working in schools as you can recognise the children's different learning styles and adjust your approach to engage meaningfully with them. 

"How do I keep in touch?  I don’t do Facebook or Twitter."
Keep an eye on this blog and/or sign up for our newsletter. Don't worry, we won't bombard you with e-mails: just an update once or twice a term plus any really exciting news we have to share!

Got any more questions? Ask us in the comments...

Webinar - Beyond listening to readers

School Gate SET - Beyond listening to readers from Jan Peters on Vimeo.

Here's the recording of our first webinar, recorded on 29 June 2016.

Grab a coffee and find out how Kate Bellingham and Jan Peters started helping with STEM in their children's schools, and why they are now leading the School Gate SET to get more parents and schools involved.

Webinar 2 is here.

But what can I do?

There are plenty of organisations keen to see more STEM activity in primary schools.  While much of it is, not surprisingly, aimed at teachers, here’s a list of websites you might find interesting or useful. 

Remember that School Gate SET is here to support you and we’ve had personal experience of engaging with schools.  So whether you are looking for specific advice or just someone to be a sounding board, please keep in touch.

1) STEM Clubs  and also take a look at the Teach Primary article with practical hints for setting up a club in a primary school.

2) Code Club is a very easy way to get involved – the materials are provided, and it is specifically aimed at 9-11 year olds.  They are currently trying to recruit more parents to get involved, so will love to hear from you.

3) Young Engineers have activities suitable for clubs, classrooms or one off events.  They are very experienced at supporting ongoing engineering activities and competitions in schools.

4) The Bloodhound Project is using a 1000mph world land speed record attempt as STEM inspiration. 

5) British Science Association are behind CREST Star activities, British Science Week and some excellent packs full of ideas for things to do.  You can dip into these, or do themed activities – eg Spaces for Science: Science in Spaces, Move It, Colour Chaos, Cracking Chemistry,  Accidental Discoveries.  They also have Super Science which has accessible activities and investigations adapted for children who have difficulty following instructions given purely in text or find it hard to remember verbal instructions.

6) First Lego League is run in the UK by the IET.  In 2016 they are launching Junior FLL for 6-9 year olds.  (Free entry for the first year …)

7) NRich has a wealth of fascinating and engaging maths enrichment ideas and activities.  Also take a look at wild.maths.org

8) Primary Engineer  is a well supported high quality programme with activities mapped to the curriculum introducing ‘STEM by Stealth’  which inspire and enthuse children.  They also run the STEM leaders award programme for age 5 upwards. 

9) Practical Action have a series of challenges for schools. Their website includes descriptions of how the resources were used in schools, eg Beat the Flood and the popular Squashed Tomato challenge. 

10) Your local STEMnet contact – they are likely to know what is going on in your area, for example SETPointHerts.  Also check out their STEMNetworking pages for STEM Ambassadors.

Thank you ...

Thank you for visiting the School Gate SET  blog!

We are an online network for parents, teachers and other interested in science and technology for primary children.  Read on to find out how you can help your child’s school by doing something you love or even just by publicising School Gate SET.

Our aim is to see more parents with experience in science, technology or engineering acting as embedded STEM Ambassadors in primary schools, supporting teachers, sharing their love of science and tech, and gaining useful skills and experience, especially if they are looking to go back to work or progress in their current role.

Not you?  Please read on and share via facebook, twitter or just over a mug of coffee.  We know that the best way to reach people is word of mouth.

Why do we need School Gate SET?  Surely parents with time during the school day can just go and offer to help?  We have found that many parents really don’t know what to offer and many teachers don’t really know what to ask for.  However, we have also found a number of parents who have developed a good long term relationship supporting their school in STEM and they are happy to be our School Gate SET Mentors.  The advice on the website, facebook and twitter is available to all – no need to register.

We are currently looking for 15 volunteers linked to 10 or more schools to take part in our pilot project funded by the IET and IMechE. The parents can decide how much time they can give and then discuss with the teachers what they can offer – all we ask is that they commit to developing and ongoing relationship with the school giving at least an hour a week . 

So what sort of things could you find yourself doing?  How about:

-       Setting up and running an one hour activity for British Science Week in March for your child’s class?

-       Helping run the after school science club once a week?

-       Looking after the equipment used in technology lessons throughout the school?

-       Helping the Design and Technology Coordinator plan working with external groups such as Primary Engineer and Young Engineers, or bring guest STEM Ambassadors to the school to give practical demonstrations?

-       Setting up a Saturday coding club for children and parents?

-       Advising the school on achieving the Primary Science Quality Mark?

The most important thing is that you enjoy using your skills and experience, and that the school (and therefore the children) can benefit from them.  Just get in touch and we will help you choose what to start with and guide you through the resources and opportunities available.  We can give on-going mentoring advice and support – we’ve been there so we know what the challenges are!

Interested?  Please email schoolgateset@gmail.com and we’ll get things up and running for you as soon as we can. 

Get Involved with the School Gate SET

Parent? Teacher? STEM enthusiast? Here’s how you can get involved with School Gate SET.

Hello 2016! Exciting times for School Gate SET as we’ve got funding from the IET/IMechE for an initial 3 month pilot programme and we are looking for:

• 15 parents with free time during the school day who are willing to help with STEM in their children’s primary school. We are particularly interested in working with parents with STEM qualifications and experience and, due to the nature of the funding, we are very keen to find part-time/career-break engineers.
• Additional mentors who can support them through the School Gate SET social media and giving one-to-one advice. These could be other parents who have already helped in primary school, teachers, or from organisations who provide teaching & learning resources.
• New followers for our facebook page and twitter feed – please spread the word!

By the end of March, we would like children in at least 10 schools to have had a engineering-related insight instigated or lead by one of our School Gate SET parents. We can give lots of advice and support in how to do this, mentoring and guiding the parent, and the school if necessary, so that it is a great experience for the parent, the children and the teacher.

If you don’t fit these exact criteria, don’t worry. We’d still love to hear from you - we have plans for how School Gate SET will develop in the longer term and it would be great to have many more parents, teachers, schools and STEM enthusiasts involved.

British Science Week is from 11-20 March – loads of resources are available, so let’s see how many School Gate SET parents we can get involved. Share your ideas and experience on Facebook, Twitter and blog sites and be part of our online community.