Year 8 STEM project

This year, we have been invited to Bath University to take part in a STEM project.

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) is a hot topic at the moment, because fewer school leavers are continuing studies of them into higher education, which might lead to a shortage of professionals in STEM industries in the future. Bath University have funding for five schools to participate in their STEM project this year and I am really pleased we are going to be one of them.

The project is open to eight year 8 students, along with two mentors from the sixth form. It needed to be a STEM-based focus which will help to improve this school. This year, we are looking at ways to improve the school's energy efficiency and so I have picked that as the theme for our project. As well as doing research on improving the way we use resources in school, pupils will be monitoring our energy usage and producing advice for staff and pupils on what they can do to make a difference.

The launch for this will take place at Bath University on November 24th. On this day, the students will participate in team-building activities to develop the skills they will need to move their project forward. They will also be given advice on how to get started, and how they can measure their success.

Students will then have until June to complete their study. They will be working with myself, Miss Drewitt, the school bursar Mrs Woollard, and the sixth form mentors. During this time, student ambassadors will also be visiting the school to help us stay on track, and to give workshops on presentation skills ready for the celebration day at Bath University on June 28th. At this point, students will present their projects and prizes will be awarded for Best Presentation and Best Overall Study.

Students will need to be available for both the launch day in November and the presentation day in June. In addition, work on the project will be taking place out of school hours and pupils must be prepared to attend regular sessions after school and possibly at lunch time. I am looking for enthusiastic people who are not afraid of hard work and are willing to put them time and effort in to make a difference in school - and, of course, to win the prize!

Because of the nature of this project, I have offered it to both the core AGT group in year 8 and to those students who have been identified as Gifted in Science. Competition for places is likely to be fierce and I am taking people on a first come, first served basis, so please get those slips in if you're interested!

Extra-curricular events this year

Above, you should see a new calendar of events, on which I intend to publish everything available to AGT students at Matravers this year. I will back this up with announcements about letters going out here, and on the school website.

Here is a list of what is planned for this year so far, with venues, and charges where applicable.

KS3:
24th November: Launch date for Y8 STEM project at Bath University
13th-15th March: Murder Mystery Weekend at Braeside, approx. £90 (all KS3)
5th July (provisional date): West Wilts Federation Y8 Challenge Day, Climbing Centre, Bristol
7th-8th July (provisional date): West Wilts Federation Y9 Conference, provisionally Queen's College, Oxford

KS4:
5th November: Y11 Study Skills Day, Melksham Oak
3rd-5th December: Crystal Maze weekend at Braeside, approx. £90 (all KS4)
February: Y11: Launch of West Wilts Federation International Leadership Conference to Malaysia. This trip will run November 2011 but we will be taking applications from Y11 in the spring.

Parent Survey

Every year, I canvass the opinions of parents of AGT students at Matravers to identify gaps in our provision and where our particular strengths lie. This is usually done as a paper questionnaire, completed at an evening meeting. Here is the blog post I made by way of feedback from last year's questionnaires.

This year, as we try to embrace all things technological at Matravers, I am providing the questionnaire as an online form. This will allow you to complete it in your own time and at your own speed, and will also allow me to collate the results and action them more quickly.

I would be extremely grateful if you would take some time to complete this with your child/children, ideally by the end of October.

Parent questionnaire

Welcome back!

We've now been back at school for four weeks and I've been busy planning lots of events for the coming year. These will be posted on a Google Calendar, which is currently displayed above. If you already use Google Calendar, you can subscribe to this calendar by clicking on the link at the bottom of the widget and following the instructions.

I am currently adding to this and preparing an online questionnaire for students and parents to complete this year, so watch this space!