Nurturing the future of Science provision
by Educate Magazine July 17, 2015 · Blog
Tim Alderman, the headteacher at St Julie’s Catholic High School, shares the school’s latest Science initiative with Educate magazine and discusses why nurturing the future of Science provision from primary to secondary school is so important.
We are in the final week of the school term now and, reflecting on our involvement in The Liverpool Physics Festival which ran for the whole of last week, it gave us the opportunity to demonstrate the talent and flair our young people have for enquiry as well as the opportunity to highlight the passion and quality of teaching at St. Julie’s Catholic High School.
Acting Assistant Headteacher (KS3) Miss Doran is a very fine example of this. As Coordinator for the Liverpool Ogden Trust Schools Partnership she led a number of activities, workshops and visits throughout the Festival and has delivered INSET training to over 40 Key Stage 1 and 2 non-specialists. Due to demand from our primary colleagues Miss Doran has also set up an online learning community via Edmondo. That community is now fully established with 25 primary school teachers regularly downloading resources and sharing best practice. This is just one example of how we are committed to nurturing the future of Science provision from primary to secondary school.
Funding for the Liverpool Physics Festival was received via the Ogden Trust for which Miss Doran is now a Teacher Fellow. She is currently working in partnership with Our Lady’s Bishop Eton Catholic Primary School to set up a new Primary Ogden Trust partnership to focus specifically on the needs of our non-specialists, providing outstanding CPD and experiences that will inspire the next generation of Scientists.
21st century Science education is about giving teachers the freedom to evolve and deliver personalised experiences to all students, Miss Doran, who has now become Acting Assistant Headteacher Key Stage 3 at our school, is a very fine example of this. She is just one of a very coveted pool of teaching talent we have here at St Julie’s Catholic High School.
Given all of this, plus the recent great news about planning permission for our new school, we can look back on the 2014/2015 academic year feeling proud and look forward to a very bright future indeed.
