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...

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.

What is STEM?

What is STEM? 

STEM is simply an acronym to cover science, technology, engineering and maths.  However, there can be confusion as it has been adopted by different groups to mean different things. It is worth making sure you are talking about the same thing.

- Some people may use the term as shorthand their local STEMNET contact, eg, we had STEM in last week to do some activities with the children, or do you work for STEM?

- In some cases the description of STEM is very broad, including subjects from medicine to astronomy, engineering to IT.  In others it can be much narrower:  A few years ago the HE STEM project looking at STEM in universities put the focus on chemistry, physics and engineering as 'shortage subjects'.  Initially, the National STEM Centre only considered 'Design and Technology' to be in their Technology section, due to funding obligations, but now it is much broader, including  ICT or Computing.

- STEMM? New acronyms keep popping up.  STEMM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and Medicine, and is mostly seen at university level. 

- STEAM is a relatively new acronym which has A for Arts. This has cropped up in various guises in the US, such as STEMtoSTEAM and STEAM-notSTEM where the concern is to ensure creativity is still valued.  In the UK, especially in primary school, this may be less of an issue, as creativity and design are seen to play and important part in engineering and technology in particular.

- Meanwhile British Science Week has rebranded back to 'science' avoiding STEM although it covers technology, engineering and maths as well.  It was seen to be too clumsy. 

The conclusion is that, as with any acronym, it is worth checking not just what it stands for, but the context in which it is being used!