Crawley school wins Rolls-Royce schools prize for science & technology

Milton Mount primary school won the prestigious Rolls-Royce schools prize for their STEM work.
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The Rolls-Royce Schools Prize for Science & Technology is an annual awards programme that helps teachers increase science, mathematics, and technology engagement in their schools and colleges.

The initiative can focus on any area of science, mathematics, or technology. Each year up to 50 schools are awarded a £1,000 Special Merit Award (SMA) for STEM teaching in school.

Children at Milton Mount primary school having fun with STEMChildren at Milton Mount primary school having fun with STEM
Children at Milton Mount primary school having fun with STEM
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The school’s project was called ‘STEM outdoor investigation stations’ and the aim of their project was to develop a range of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) challenge stations around their school grounds.

This would provide opportunities for their pupils to have first-hand practical experiences of real world science and maths.

Milton Mount primary school set up physics, chemistry, biology and maths stations inside their school woodland and around the rest of the school site which children have access to during Forest School sessions, break times and lessons.

The activity stations outside encourage students to engage moreThe activity stations outside encourage students to engage more
The activity stations outside encourage students to engage more
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They are set up in a way that allows pupils to explore their natural curiosity about the world around them as well as providing prompt questions to make them think more deeply about what is happening and why.

The same challenge stations are also used in practical lessons by class teachers where the focus is on improving pupils’ science and maths investigation skills.

Some of the stations are: building a Di Vinci self-supporting bridge, building a giant marble run, digging for rocks and gems, digging for bones and building a human skeleton, minibeast hunting kits, pond dipping kits, a giant graph building set, pulleys, seesaws and a giant construction set.

Clare Harrison and her pupilsClare Harrison and her pupils
Clare Harrison and her pupils
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On Wednesday 8th December, the school took part in a virtual awards ceremony to see if they won a prize. Having already won £1000 for being in the top 50 projects and a further £5000 for being in the top 6 projects, they were very excited to see what the judges thought of the school’s entry.

Milton Mount primary school were ecstatic to be announced as the winners of the Eden Award for most sustainable project (chosen by the Eden Project) as well as the Employee Choice award (voted for by Rolls-Royce employees)! This has won the school another £5000 to spend on science, technology, engineering and maths.

Teacher and Project Lead Clare Harrison said: “It has been great to introduce our STEM investigation stations into the school grounds.

“The children have shown a huge enthusiasm for the project and have really enjoyed experiencing concepts such as levers, pulleys, bridge building and graphs on a large scale.”

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Teacher Yvonne Swinson said: “Children’s learning, as a result of taking it outside, is just so much more memorable and active. They really understand ideas better and remember more so that when we go back inside to work on their books, we see a higher level of success.”

Year 4 pupil said: “Whilst constructing the self-supporting bridge, I learnt how important it is to listen to each other and work as a team.”

Year 5 pupil George Laker said: “I found that learning outside in the fresh air is so much better than learning inside as it is easier to remember what we are being taught.”

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