The first CPD session of Science & STEM in Early Years on 7th September had 43 practitioners attending for a mix of practical work and sharing good practice.
At this session we looked at the Early Years benchmarks and discussed activities we already do with pupils – these tried and tested ideas can be found at:
Early Level Benchmarks with Ideas for Activities
Session 2 on 16th November will be Fun with Forces with Aberdeen Science Centre!
The first two sessions of Moray Primary Science Mentor training took place in August & September. This is the start of a year-long programme for twenty Primary teachers from across Moray who want to build on their skills and knowledge of the Primary Science curriculum while developing key leadership skills.
These teachers will then be able to support and mentor their peers in their schools and ASGs.
To date 27 Primary Schools and 8 Secondary Schools plus Moray SEBN Pinefield Campus have taken part in the full day training event led by Primary Engineer. The Primary teacher training was Structures and Mechanisms with Basic Electrics (with a simple car for younger Early/First level and a Motorised Car for First/Second level pupils) and for Secondary teachers was Fluid Power Challenge (Hydraulic Crane).
At the training teachers were introduced to their linked engineer who will provide support and visit the school during the project.
In both instances the training empowered teachers to deliver a practical engineering project with their pupils. Teachers were provided with the required kit and access to a Virtual Learning Environment of support materials.
In Moray this project has been linked to the Engineering Sector of the Moray Skills Pathway and Activity Overview Guides produced and given to teachers along with a strategic document highlighting the links to the Career Education Standards. I envision teachers using these additional materials to embed this IDL STEM project into their curriculum as part of developing pupil skills for life, learning and work.
Cohort 1 and 2 schools are invited to the Celebration Event hosted by Moray College as part of their Science week. This will take place on Thursday 1st March from 9.30-12.30. In the afternoon Moray College have planned some additional STEM workshops for pupils. If you want to stay on for this additional session, please let me know so that they can get an idea of numbers for workshops.
While we would love everyone to be able to attend the Celebration event there is a limit on numbers. Currently each Primary School can send TWO teams – teams may be from the same level of project or one from each of the two Primary projects. Each Secondary School can send ONE team.
This means that you should realistically be looking to complete your project by the end of January and have a mini celebration/competition in your schools to select pupils to go forward to the regional heat in March.
What are the next steps for schools?
There are some very exciting opportunities coming up in Session 2017/18.
Primary Science Mentor Training is a year long programme based on the SSERC Primary Cluster Programme. It has been extended to include more opportunities to develop leadership skills and to look at the wider context of science within STEM and DYW.
Creating a network of Primary Science Mentors across Moray will help to support sustainable and long-term improvements to science education in primary schools in Moray. The mentors will be taking forward peer training at school, ASG and Local Authority level over the year as they develop their skills.
This programme is open to all early years practitioners and primary teachers in Moray and applications can be made through Gateway CPD as normal. The first session will take place on Thursday 24th August 2017.
There will be individual CPD sessions for primary teachers over the course of the year – if there is any aspect of the curriculum that you would like covered, do get in touch (janey.irving@moray.gov.uk)
In addition to this there will be a series of CPD sessions specifically for Early Years Practitioners; looking at developing practical skills and knowledge of the Early Years Science Curriculum.
As a school/ASG if there are any specific science/STEM CPD that you require that you would like me to organise for your school/ASG let me know!
I look forward to working with you in session 2017-18.
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