Kick Start Grants for British Science Week 2024

Apply now for a Kick Start grant and organise your own event during British Science Week 2024!

Kick Start grants provide funds for schools in challenging circumstances to organise their own events as part of British Science Week.

The deadline for Kick Start Grant applications is 6th November 2023.

“I have enjoyed working with As Creatives, they did excellent work for me for STEPS Engineers Week. They provided a professional service and were very supportive and helpful. They were incredibly thorough and always quick to respond. I am really satisfied with the fantastic educational resources that they developed including engineering trails, quizzes, and videos. The creativity and quality of the resources far exceeded my expectations, they are engaging and easy to use. I can’t say enough positive things about the experience, I recommend As Creatives and look forward to working with them again.” Engineers Ireland

Kick Start Grant Scheme 2024 now open!

If you would love to get your students and the wider school community involved in British Science Week 2023 but are on a tight budget, then Kick Start Grants of between £150 and £700 could be for you. These grants enable schools in challenging circumstances to devise and run their own events and activities as part of British Science Week, and show their pupils and students how wide-ranging science is; there’s something for everyone.

To help you prepare for 2024 applications, please make sure you read the detailed Kick Start Grants 2024 guidelines before you apply.

To be eligible for a grant, schools must meet at least one of the following criteria:

over 30% of pupils eligible for pupil premium, early years pupil premium or equivalent.
over 30% of pupils who are from minority ethnic backgrounds.
small school based in a remote and rural location.

Submit your application before 11.59 pm, 6th November 2023.

Applications will need to be submitted via the Kick Start Grant page at www.britishscienceweek.org/grants/kick-start-grant-scheme/

Book a Science Workshop

If you are interested in hosting an As Creative Science workshop as part of your British Science Week 2024 events please find information about all of our programmes below!

View all Primary Science Programmes here

"All staff have fed back to me about how impressed they were with the workshops, how well the children responded to them and how excellent Chris was as a presenter, making the sessions interactive, engaging and educational for the children. The workshops have helped support me with my mission to promote working scientifically and develop a love of science in the school." (Science Co-ordinator, Bursted Wood Primary School)

Time for Science! New for British Science Week 2024

British Science Week 2024 takes place during the 8 - 17 March 2024 and this year's theme is Time! we have delveloped a brand new programme "Time for Science" linking to this theme ...

Exploring the pivotal role that concepts of time play in scientific understanding, Time for Science! brings to life the centrality of time in a whole range of science strands – each carefully chosen to support areas that each year group will be investigating at some point in 2023/24. And the programme places science, engineering and technology firmly in context by directly relating content to our everyday lives and experiences.

A highly engaging, revelatory and thought provoking and informative whole-school programme, Time for Science can accommodate the whole of up to a two-form entry school in a single day, compromising …

An interactive assembly, The Science of Time, demonstrating what time ‘is”, how time began – and how it doesn’t always behave as we might expect!
Workshops (one per year group), exploring time in relation to particular science strands – and touching on the roles played in those areas by individual scientists, technologists and engineers – with a deliberate and conscious focus on diversity.

EYFS/P1 (Understanding My Body): Human Timelines … What happens as we grow from a baby to a child to a grown up to an old person? Why should we celebrate these changes?

Individual in Focus: Frederick Akbar Mohamed, a British doctor, among the first to recognise how individuals can extend their own life spans.

Year 1/P2 (Seasonal Changes): Seasonal Changes … How (and why) do the lengths of our days and nights change through the seasons? How does this help humanity?

Individual in Focus: Eunice Newton Foote, a 19^th century America scientist – amongst the first to foresee the effects of human activity on the global a climate.

Year 2/P3 (Animals, including Humans): The Lifespan Game … Why do different species of animals have such widely differing life spans? Can we relate this to life cycles?

Individual in Focus: Kitty Wilkinson, a Liverpool laundress who played a big part in increasing the life expectancy of working class people in Victorian times.

Year 3/P4 (Rocks): Geology Timelines … What is the “fossil record”? How can an understanding of the differences between igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks help us look back on Earth’s immense history?

Individual in Focus: Mary Anning, a British fossil collector whose discoveries changed our understanding of geological timelines.

Year 4/P5 (Electricity): Electricity Timelines … When did humans first start to work with electricity – and how did they do it? How has that led to the current and ongoing quest to create and manipulate electricity in sustainable ways?

Individual in Focus: Granville T Woods, an American inventor, who harnessed static electricity to invent the first ever system allowing moving trains to communicate with stations.

Year 5 /P6 (Earth and Space): Space Exploration … How – and why – did humans first start exploring space? How did we move from the Space Race to the Apollo Years, from the Apollo Years to an era of International Collaboration – and are we now moving towards an Age of Business?

Individual in Focus: Caroline Herschel, German-born, British astronomer who calculated comets paths – and discovered at least seven of the bodies!

Year 6/P7 (Evolution and Inheritance): Evolution … How can we use Darwin’s personal timeline as a metaphor for the evolutionary timeline that culminated in humankind.

Individual in Focus: Ibn Miskawayh, a 9th/10th century Islamic scholar who developed an early evolutionary theory that bears striking resemblances to the great breakthroughs of the Victorian era!

The Connection

The Connection places science, engineering and technology firmly in context by exploring the lives, achievements and legacies of individuals whose inventions and discoveries have affected all our lives! A highly engaging, thought provoking and informative whole-school programme, The Connection can accommodate the whole of up to a two-form entry school in a single day, compromising …

An interactive assembly, Connections and Causality - showing how the Stone Age discovery of ways of making and manipulating fire led to a whole series of scientific “moments” across the ages, culminating in the projected missions to send humans to Mars!

Workshops (one per year group), looking at the work of a particular scientist/technologist/engineer - and the connections between their work and everyday life. There is a deliberate and conscious focus on diversity - and clear connections, too, to science strands that each year group will be exploring at some point in the year!

EYFS/P1 (Exploring the World): Elijah McCoy, who changed the railways for ever, making possible the long journeys that make the world today a little smaller!

Year 1/P2: (Materials): Lyda Newman, who patented the first modern-day hairbrush by moving away from animal fibres and towards purpose-centred approaches.

Year 2/P3: (Living Things and their Habitats): Charles Henry Turner, and his work on ways in which termite colonies respond individually and collectively to changes in their environments.

Year 3/P4: (Forces): Sarah Goode, whose understanding of the ways in which different forces act was behind her invention of the world’s first fold-up bed!

Year 4/P5: (Animals, including Humans): Marie Curie, the double-Nobel winner whose work with radioactivity expanded our knowledge and understanding of the structure of the human body.

Year 5/P6: (Space): Katherine Johnson, whose groundbreaking work leading a team of NASA computer programmers allowed the Apollo missions to land humans on the moon.

Year 6/P7: (Circulatory System): Charles Richard Drew, whose early attempts to study at medical school were thwarted by racist authorities – but who went on to save millions of loves by revolutionising how we collect, store, transport and use blood products.

Every school booking The Connection will also receive a link to a package of downloadable follow-up resources.

Combatting Climate Change – By Growing for Gold! - (In-person / live streamed and digital resource pack options)

The theme for 2022 is “Growth” – and our programme, Growing for Gold, taps into the innate understanding children have of the peril that Planet Earth is in by exploring how we can all take steps to “grow” gold standard strategies designed to combat climate change. After a whole-school assembly looking at what climate change is, what it does and where it comes from, each year group will tackle its own question in a drama-based workshop – with a “virtual” Gold Medal going to the group with the best response!

EYFS /P1: What can we do at home to help save Planet Earth?
Year 1 / P2: How can what we wear help save Planet Earth?
Year 2 / P3: How can the way we travel help save Planet Earth?
Year 3 / P4: How can what we buy help combat climate change?
Year 4 / P5: How can what we eat help combat climate change?
Year 5 / P6: How can recycling help combat climate change?
Year 6 / P7: How can we persuade the world to combat climate change?

Seven Wonder's of the World - (In-person and live streamed options)

Seven Wonders of the World introduces pupils to some of the amazing lifeforms the Earth is home to – and reminds them of the crucial role that climate plays in maintaining diversity. This Big Science Day has three components …An interactive, whole-school opening assembly looking at (with the help of some of your pupils) the uniqueness of Earth (as far as we know!), some of the dangers posed to it by human activity – and what some ordinary people are doing to help …Tailored workshops for every year group, using age-appropriate drama-based techniques to explore the diverse lifeforms supported by particular habitats, some of the challenges posed to them – and what can be done to protect them. Where time allows, celebratory closing assembly, in which classes work through a structured approach to share what they have learnt with the rest of the school community.

Innovation and Beyond - (In-person / live streamed and digital resource pack options)

An exciting and engaging way to explore Seven Innovations That Have Changed the World – and some lesser sung heroes of innovation, including Mae Jemison (a medical doctor who became the first African American woman in space), Elijah McCoy (who revolutionised the railway industry) and Charles Richard Drew (whose work on blood plasma saved countless lives in WW2 – and is still being used today).This day starts with an assembly and comprises thematic, PowerPoint-based STEM quizzes for every year group from Reception to Year 6 - together with linked and age-differentiated maths and literacy activities!

Family Science: Top Tips for Saving the Planet (add-on activity) - (In-person / live streamed and digital resource pack options)

Complete with an introductory film and offering the whole family opportunities to both uncover the science we all use in our everyday lives and think about easy ways that we can all contribute to protecting Planet Earth!

The Engineering Trail - (Resource pack)

With opening and closing films and featuring engineering challenges using resources available in any school setting, differentiated into three age ranges: EYFS and KS1, Years 3 and 4 and Years 5 and 6.

"I would like to thank Ady again for delivering the workshops. His own enthusiasm for science shone through from the start to the end of day. The fact that the lessons were active and fun enabled the children to learn in a more physical way than that of the normal classroom based teaching of science. This has given some of the teachers ideas for their own way of teaching science for future lessons. I would definitely recommend As Creatives to fellow teachers." Heath Fields Primary

View all Primary Science Programmes here