Super science fair
The official launch of the Ogden Wallasey Partnership.
Published: 14 November 2022
No fireworks were needed to celebrate the official launch of the Ogden Wallasey Partnership on November 5. Instead, there was a phenomenal science fair, attended by more than 700 people!
There are eight local schools in the Wallasey Partnership – five primary and three secondary – and they all had a part to play in the science fair. Each primary and secondary school were represented by a team of inspiring science buskers who wowed visitors with their science knowledge. The super scientists demonstrated ‘tricks’ with electricity, magnetic attraction, convection, bending light, optical illusions, forces, launching rockets and even creating fossils.
When asked what they had enjoyed about being part of the event, science buskers from West Kirby Grammar said “It has been brilliant to interact and engage with other schools and be able to see such young children enjoying science, I wish that we had had this opportunity when I was at primary school.” Children from all of the school communities visited the event along with invited guests from the Ogden Trust. Paul Sapple, Ogden Trust Programme Manager for the North West was at the event. “Thank you all so much for coming together and making today such a special, joyful day which has undoubtedly had positive impact. I’ve gone home buzzing! It was great to see the pupils all so engaged and so keen to talk to everyone about science – on their Saturday too!”
The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) brought an infrared camera to the fair, allowing visitors to explore thermal energy with some amazing images. STFC were also able to bring Lego Mindstorms to give visitors the opportunity to enter the world of programming. The charity 4wardfutures was also on hand to help visitors explore how they can survive on Mars!
Local industries were in attendance to give an insight into the appliance of science – they shared some fantastic career possibilities, including green energy, opportunities within the NHS, aerospace and medical physics, to mention just a few of the job areas being showcased. Green screen technology was used to inspire visitors to reflect on future career opportunities and VR was available to allow visitors to explore inside the human body, power plants and even step inside a computer.
“This event was a fantastic way to officially launch our partnership,” says co-ordinator Sally Kisby who brought together this fantastic fair. “We wanted to inspire and encourage our partnership communities to engage in the world of science and really hope that this event has done that!”
“As a partnership, we want to raise the profile of physics with our primary and secondary schools, ensuring our students are aware of the purpose of physics and the opportunities it can lead to,” continues Sally. “I am looking forward to working with our partner schools so we can continue to develop our physics teaching and learning, with CPD to support teachers and enrichment to inspire our learners.”
All visitors left the event with a little bag of science, which was full of experiments, science activities and more opportunities to inspire the children. A visiting guest summed the event up by saying “those children really give me hope for the future. The science buskers knew so much about their experiments, and you could see the enjoyment they were getting from teaching us too.”
Bernie Cassidy, Headteacher of host school St George’s Primary was delighted by the outcome of the event, “it has been a privilege for St George’s to host this event in collaboration with so many other schools and institutions. We hope the partnership will provide high quality physics and science education opportunities for Wirral children. We hope today is a launch pad for an inspiring journey for our schools and community.”
School partnerships
The School Partnerships programme offers funding and support to groups of schools that are committed to enhancing physics teaching and learning. The programme works with local clusters of schools and established collaborations.
Partnership schools work together to plan and deliver a programme of activities to enhance physics teaching and learning. The schools’ development of primary science and secondary physics is supported by Ogden funding, CPD opportunities and guidance from Ogden consultants and expert practitioners.
Each partnership has a dedicated hub school and co-ordinator who is the main point of contact with the Trust; co-ordinators are awarded a limited time buy out to give them time away from their teaching commitments to establish and develop their partnership.
Applications for new partnerships open annually between September and February. Visit our partnership pages to find out more about the programme and the opportunities available.
Our partnership scheme is suitable for both local clusters of schools (groups of local schools wanting to collaborate on the teaching and learning of physics), and established collaborations (partnerships where there is already an existing formal relationship between schools (e.g., through a multi-academy trust).