2 Events - 9 Schools - 100 Young Scientists: Real Science in Schools Symposium 2024

Wow, what another brilliant edition of the annual Real Science in Schools Symposium, part of the Nottingham Festival of Science and Curiosity!  We had such a wonderful day at the Council House celebrating the pupil-led research completed by young people from Nottingham and further afield, learning from the pupils themselves and exploring an exciting showcase of demonstrations and experiments.  Yet again, we are so proud of all the young scientists involved in the RSISS and just loved seeing them take ownership and engaging with their scientific interests that stretch beyond the curriculum.  

This year, we ran two events, including one specifically tailored to young people who attend SEN/D schools, and one for pupils who attend mainstream primary schools, and had over 100 participants over the course of the day.  A huge thank you to all the pupils from Carlton Digby School, Woodlands Academy, Rosehill School, Newark Orchard School, Nottingham High Juniors, Old Basford Primary, Irchester Community Primary, Henry Whipple Primary, Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, and Edna G Olds Academy who took part in the event.  

Another big thank you goes to the researchers studying electron microscopy and 3D printing from the University of Nottingham and the team from the National Education Nature Parks for bringing along lots of fun, interactive activities for everyone to get involved with too.  

It is extremely important to us that every child and young person can be curious, ask questions, seek answers and have fun with science in an environment that allows them to thrive.  For this reason, we had a dedicated session in the morning for young people from SEN/D schools to showcase their projects and explore the work of other schools in a quieter and more focused environment in the Council House.    

We were thrilled to welcome 35 young people from Nottingham SEN/D schools who braced the snow to join us and showcase their science projects. Many of the schools had been working with chemistry students from Nottingham Trent University through a project funded by the Royal Society for Chemistry and brought along their favourite activities from the project, including homemade lava lamps, colour wheels created from Skittles, plant mazes and magnet experiments.  It was great to hear from the students about how the different experiments worked and to watch them demonstrate their projects to their peers from other schools.  

We also brought along our science-busking kits which provided different sensory experiences for the students who loved hearing distorted sounds and having their hands feel like marshmallows.  It was lots of fun and we loved answering their questions and hearing the students tell us why they thought certain sounds and sights happened! 

In the afternoon, we moved into the large Ballroom and were joined by four schools from Nottingham as well as Irchester Community Primary School who came all the way from Wellingborough to take part in the RSISS.  The room was buzzing as the schools arrived and began setting up their science projects ready to showcase and share!  Again, many of the pupils had been working with computer scientists, physics and architects to develop their projects and brought along a fascinating selection of STEM from sustainable building designs, robotics, light experiments, codebreaking, and even lemon volcanoes!

It was incredible to watch the young scientists representing their schools pushing outside of their comfort zones to exhibit their projects and tell new people all about the research they had conducted.  We heard some amazing explanations and watched brilliant demonstrations from each school and it was clear that the students were proud of their projects.  It’s safe to say that everyone learned something new and went home with new inspirations for investigations and experiments to do. 

If your school would like to get involved in the Real Science in Schools Symposium in February 2025, please email catriona@ignitefutures.org.uk to register your interest.  You can find out more about the Real Science in Schools Symposium here.  

This event was generously supported by Koyani Education Ltd.