EDUCATION CORNER PODCAST
EDUCATION CORNER PODCAST WITH THE SCIENCE LEAD
Mrs. Maren Kelly FROM ST CATHERINE’S PREP SCHOOL, BRAMLEY
Mrs. Maren Kelly speaks about how science is an integral part of the curriculum for the Prep and Senior schools, the many STEM-based clubs they offer, the importance of teaching science to girls and recently being awarded the Primary Science Quality Mark. Would you like to begin by telling us how science is incorporated into daily life at St Catherine’s Prep and through to the Seniors?
It’s lovely to be able to talk to you today about how St Catherine’s Prep is inspiring the next generation of women scientists. In the Prep School, we have a really dedicated space called ‘The Wonder Lab’, which teaches science throughout the Prep School. The space is a really small version of a Senior School lab, with gas and electricity connection on each of the spaces within the lab. The seating spaces are around four of these different pods, which are dotted around the room, encouraging group work and discussion, which is really important and valuable when teaching science. Each year group takes all science lessons in this lab, and we are really fortunate to have some lovely outdoor space around St Catherine’s Prep School, which includes a cottage garden and little woods where we can teach practical topics such as habitat and plant life. Science is a hands-on subject, and 30 | EDUCATION CHOICES MAGAZINE | S P R I N G 2 02 3
with many opportunities for our girls to learn about their world around them, it is lovely to have these opportunities and different spaces in and around the Prep School for this. We also have extracurricular clubs, which are a really important part of the education programme at St Catherine’s. We have a number of great STEMbased clubs on offer. In total, we have over thirty clubs on offer for the girls, with the majority running over lunchtime. Some of the new STEM provision clubs this term include an Upcycling Club, Construction Club and an Empowering Women Club, where the girls have been discussing and researching women in science. I have teamed up with the Head of IT this year, and we are offering a Pioneer of Science Club, which is a Girls’ School Association led competition, combining science with IT skills. We also have an annual Royal Society panel at our school, which, again, is teamwork between me and our Head Librarian - we are looking with the girls at the shortlisted Science Books of the Year, which have been chosen by the Royal Society. We are then discussing these with the girls and choosing our own winner. As you can see, the girls have lots of opportunities in and out of lessons to learn and to build on their love of science.
