Offering lots of different ways to think, explore and learn is an important part of our learning toolkit, and what better opportunity than STEAM week to engage our children in new and creative experiments?

The Dame Bradbury's timetable was transformed for the week with STEAM activities driving learning opportunities, resulting in an immersive week of exploration and discovery. 

Tapping into our staff's creative planning and boundless energy, visiting local attractions and having professionals visit us, as well as making excellent use of 'Parent Power' to help deliver workshops and talks during the week, added up to a inspiring week of activity.

Highlights of the week included...

• Transforming our costume cupboard into a dark room and making pinhole cameras out of coke cans! The children developed their own photos with pleasing results.
• Some of our older pupils experiencing a pit firing on the field to explore how combustable materials left colour stamps on their pottery. 
• An open air cinema experience on our top field, with over 300 children and parents setting camp watching 'E.T the Extra Terrestrial' under a star-studded sky. 

We were also lucky to hear from parents and local professionals as part of our year-long programme of talks designed to help our pupils understand how the professional world works, as well as providing an insight into the possibilities that are out there for when they do reach working age. 

Talks this STEAM week included fraud prevention, product design and marketing, and running a catering business, and they were very well attended by the children. We know our learners are young, but we believe it is crucial that they starting thinking about next steps before they find themselves taking them! 

The week was thoroughly enjoyed by all and has particularly helped to raise the profile of the STEM subjects with our pupils. Well done and thank you to everyone who got involved.