COVER STORY


doing it well takes both money and time, which is challenging given that the curriculum is ‘so packed that creative, exploratory work goes out the window. But what you don’t want’ he adds, ‘is to walk into a Year 11 class and ask: “What’s the purpose of science? What is maths? Why are you? What’s this for?” And have them just shrug.’


Equipping staff St Margaret’s Junior School in


Leamington Spa places a strong emphasis on STEM education, recognising that collaboration, innovation, teamwork and problem- solving skills are becoming increasingly important as technology develops and jobs evolve. Assistant headteacher Ryan


Collier stresses that the biggest hurdle today is funding. Limited financial resources impact staffing levels and make it increasingly difficult to offer enriching experiences for children. In addition, insufficient funding creates challenges in delivering quality STEM education for the growing number of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Staff confidence also plays a role,


says Ryan. ‘Often, new teachers, or even experienced teachers, feel they don’t have the right skills. So STEM training and CPD [continuing professional development] are invaluable because they equip teachers with the confidence to do things like lead a club or manage practical activities. Overseeing pupils using things like saws, wire cutters and so on can be daunting. But you don’t want to wrap them up in cotton wool so much that, for example, they aren’t experiencing the challenges they would actually face as engineers.’ In recent years, St Margaret’s has


participated in an Enthuse Partnership aimed at increasing interest and performance in STEM subjects while raising awareness of STEM careers. They have partnered with the Ogden Trust to improve physics education by developing


‘Our eco hub sparks conversations’ Rebecca Major is headteacher at Coddington CofE Primary and Nursery School in Nottinghamshire (383 pupils)


When we decided to install an outdoor classroom at our school, we were keen to use the opportunity to build a space that would boost the children’s STEM learning in a really hands-on way. We worked with The Hideout House Company to create an ‘eco hub’ with its own renewable energy system, which we could use to teach the children about sustainability and climate change. The design features a 150w wind turbine on a pole, a 200w solar panel on the roof, and a kinetic energy bike that the children can pedal to generate power. Inside the building there’s a wall-mounted board with a digital data display that shows how much power is coming in from each energy source and how much energy is in the battery, and then the children can use that energy to power a CD player or a laptop. It’s all very visual, so even our


youngest learners who are only three can understand where the energy is coming from and see it going down on the battery as it’s being used. The design really sparks the


children’s imaginations and they’ve started having conversations about topics like how the weather


conditions are affecting the amount of energy being collected by the solar panels or the wind turbine on a particular day. They start thinking about what happens if we run out of energy, which is a powerful question, and it’s made them so much more aware of energy use. For me, the most important thing


is it’s made sustainability and renewable energy part of our normal, everyday conversations, rather than consigning those issues to a one-off lesson. The build cost £22,000, and we


created a friendship garden around the outdoor classroom which cost a further £4,000. It was a very ambitious target, but our PTA, Friends of Coddington School, were amazing. It took them 18 months to raise the money through discos, raffles, ice cream sales, Christmas fairs and pre-loved uniform sales plus Newark and Sherwood District Council agreed to match-fund us through their community grant scheme, which brought in £9,000. A parent who works for Bupa also managed to get us a £2,000 grant through the Bupa Foundation. The children have responded to the outdoor classroom really positively. All the pupils access it and enjoy going out there and learning. It’s a way of drip-feeding those messages about climate change and sustainability, no matter what subject they’re doing.


School Fundraising SPRING 2026 17


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60