Noel-Baker Academy supports primary schools to provide a gold standard of physics education
Noel-Baker Academy in Derby has been awarded funding to support local primary schools to enhance their teaching of physics.
The academy received a grant of £2,500 from science charity, The Ogden Trust, as part of the School Partnerships programme. The funding has also supported the academy to boost their curriculum and expand the physics initiatives on offer to students.
The Alvaston-based academy has used the funding to provide £250 worth of equipment to primary schools for their pupils to use as part of their physics education.
To help further drum up excitement for physics, the academy launched a photography competition for their own students, as well as local primary pupils. The competition aimed to capture ‘physics in the real world’, with the opportunity to win prizes such as a model of the solar system and rockets.
Staff were delighted with the range of creative submissions, including a rainbow showcasing how sun rays split into different colours and a pupil using static electricity to bend water. The academy is also launching a Science Ambassadors programme for students to be given the opportunity to help primary school pupils build and use their own rockets.
One of the academy’s science teachers will also be visiting local primary schools to support them to develop their science curriculums and to start a physics library. As part of this, Noel-Baker Academy will be providing new books to the library, supported by funding from The Ogden Trust, and is looking forward to developing this for pupils to use to learn more about physics.
Looking forward, the academy’s science teachers will be working to further utilise the funding to maximise their impact for all students and pupils locally.
Kate Richardson, Headteacher at Noel-Baker Academy, said:
“It is a privilege to have been awarded funding by The Ogden Trust which supports our goals to enhance our physics curriculum and to continue to provide excellent STEM education to all our students.
“We are equally delighted to be able to continue to work with our local primary schools and support younger pupils to realise their potential in physics from an early age.”