News: Primary school pupils go to college!

Nottingham College has hosted a science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) day for 60 gifted and talented Year 4 pupils from Nottingham primary schools at its Basford campus.

The event was designed to engage the pupils in STEM subjects and raise aspirations for the future. Nottingham College Level 3 Science students used their skills to support the activities.

The visitors were from local primary schools: Hempshill Hall, Ambleside, Rosslyn Park, Old Basford, and Heathfield, which are all part of the Primary 6 Education Improvement Partnership.

Pupils watched STEM demonstrations that were designed to be exciting and educational, and took part in dynamic experiments to discover more about science.



Abigail Chambers, Science Work Experience Co-ordinator at Nottingham College, said: “Our science students gained experience of supporting and leading groups of inspired children, helping them get hands on in a laboratory.

“The students said that the event helped improve their confidence and communication skills and they felt they really benefitted from the experience.”

Some of the demonstrations and experiments on the day included making a very messy ‘elephant toothpaste’, creating bath bombs and finding out how to make ‘instant smoothies’.

Heidi Shewell-Cooper, Primary 6 Partnership Manager, said: “We have really enjoyed working in partnership with Nottingham College this year by providing work experience for students and through visits to their Basford campus.

“Our pupils have thoroughly enjoyed meeting older students and the excitement of scientific investigations in real laboratories. We look forward to more joint work next year and our continuing relationship.”

Primary schools who are interested in arranging similar STEM experiences for their pupils can contact Abigail Chambers, Nottingham College Science Work Experience Co-ordinator, at abigail.chambers@nottinghamcollege.ac.uk.

If you are interested in science, technology, engineering or maths courses at Nottingham college visit our course pages.

For more information on Primary 6 Partnership visit the city council's school partnerships page.