Lab_13 Irchester
- United Kingdom,Irchester, Northants
- 2011
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The “Lab_13” is a space dedicated entirely to investigation, innovation and creativity, external from curriculum pressures. A Management Committee, a group of eight year 5 and 6 students, is established in the lab. They, along with our scientist-in-residence, have the responsibility of the management - from recruitment to resources.
Committee members take science onto the playground each lunch time and engage interested children with fun tasks. Children are able to ask their own questions and the scientist-in-residence guides them to find the answers. They also plan activities for community events such as Parents Evenings, School Fairs and coffee mornings for adults and children alike.
Lab_13: a space dedicated entirely to investigation, innovation and creativity, external from curriculum pressures,
A Management Committee is established in the lab; a group of eight year 5 and 6 students who, along with our scientist-in-residence, have the responsibility of the management - from recruitment to resources..
Our ‘scientist-in-residence’ is a dedicated adult to assist with investigations, ensures the children are conducting experiments safely, and lends a hand where needed.
Children are able to ask their own questions and the S-I-R guides them (along with a group of class mates) to find the answers. Questions can be asked directly by posting a note on the Lab Question board, or we also encourage children to ask questions based ontheir class learning in lessons - some of these are also taken into the lab.
Committee members take science onto the playground each lunch time and engage interested children with fun tasks. They also plan activities for community events such as Parents Evenings, School Fairs and coffee mornings for adults and children alike.
Our scientist-in-residence is employed and funded by the school. Fees are charged for holiday clubs and places are offered to all local primary schools.
We now promote and value children's curiosity throughout the whole school. At first, it was just the lab, however, our S-I-R was having all the fun so the Lab approach was rolled out to classes.
We have had a high proportion of children with SEND becoming very successful committee members. Being on the committee is all about management and organisation, e.g. writing BLOGS, communicating and planning, with minimal time doing science, however we have had many children with dyslexia, behavioral challenges and other learning difficulties excelling in their role.
Science has a very high profile both in and out of school in Irchester. We have held a Primary Science Quality Mark for the last six years - first Silver award, then Gold and recently we gained PSQM Outreach. This recognizes effective:
Science Leadership - vision and value, development goals, monitoring and professional development for subject leadership;
Science Teaching - CPD, teaching strategies, resources; Science Learning - science enquiry, assessment, science capital;
Wider Opportunities – linking science with other subjects and whole school initiatives, curriculum enrichment. And also the schools' impact on science in other schools, communities and organisations.
Children are the key in this approach. We take time to find out what they already know (or think they know), we ask them what they would like to know and value their curiosity.
The methods class teacher finds out about children's prior knowledge and understanding, misconceptions and questions.
Lab_13 committee is comprised of eight children - four of whom are changed every two terms but this is staggered so there are always four experienced committee members to initiate the new ones. There is a continuous injection of new blood and new ideas of how to run the lab and how to keep the science profile raised.
Time in the lab is monitored to ensure all children have access however, sometimes the S-I-R will spend time with key groups, such and SEN boys, to help them in certain areas of science enquiry and make them see science is for them even if they struggle with other areas of the curriculum.
We have had a high proportion of our committee members with SEND
Children's questions can lead anywhere! We sometimes have to call on experts to help us out.
All of our science is co-operative and collaborative and is done in groups or teams, with groups and teams sharing and discussing results with others. Teams and groups are usually 3-4 children which we have found to be the optimal number for effective working together, mixed ability, with group roles if needed to ensure all have a focus and important part to play.
We also collaborate with external sources such as universities, STEM ambassadors, parents/careers centers too.
We use the local environment - our school grounds and Irchester Country Park as much as possible for many studies/research/questions.
We link topics to local interests - materials were based around shoes as we have a strong history of shoe making in the area.
We are currently taking part in Louise Archer's Science Capital research project and bringing much more home life into our science learning via links to jobs, interests, practices and inviting in family members to talk about how their life is influenced by the topic.
We do not have formal partners but we have been successfully running our lab for nearly 9 years now with the help of a range of external 'partners' - firstly funded by Ignite!, then funded by the school as senior leaders and governors recognised the positive influence it was having on pupils and families in school . It demonstrates great quality.
To provide exciting learning experiences for our school children including advice, resources, challenges, contacts and activities. These are not formal partners - they are people we can call on as and when needed.
range of communication skills, curiosity, our place in the world around us and our responsibilities within, reliable researching.