The OPEN Learning Partnership - STEM Boxes

The OPEN Learning Partnership STEM Boxes have been used by over 700 children throughout Michaelmas Term.

The STEM Boxes programme provides a ‘library’ of resources to be borrowed by schools for up to 2 weeks at a time. Up to 30 boxes are available containing subject specific apparatus, pupil resources and information sheets for teachers. Topics covered include software development, engineering, anatomy, and electronics as well as 30 VR Headsets linked to the Google Expeditions programme.

Aims

The aim is to offer quality resources that schools would not be able to purchase alone and to support non-specialist teachers in making effective use of these. 

Resources are hosted in 3 Hubs (Kettering, Oundle and Peterborough) with each Hub holding around 1/3 of the boxes each term and rotating thereafter.

Background

In 2018 we became a founding member of the Oundle, Peterborough and East Northants (OPEN) Learning Partnership. Alongside Laxton Junior School and four schools from the maintained sector (Thomas Deacon Academy, Kettering Buccleuch Academy, Prince William School and Oundle CE Primary School), the OPEN Learning Partnership aims to increase opportunity, raise aspirations and allow the sharing of best practice between schools.

Impact

"The STEM box initiative has been a great way to allow students to access the curriculum in a practical way. This has been particularly useful with primary schools, which sometimes do not have specialist equipment to demonstrate scientific concepts. The contents of the boxes offer students many opportunities to have hands-on science lessons, and teachers value the minimal planning required to deliver high-quality lessons." - Imperial College London Outreach Fellow