British Science Week 2026 Kick Start Grant guidelines

Eligibility

If your school meets all of the following eligibility criteria, we encourage you to apply:

1. The organisation is a school, college, or Ofsted-registered Early Years nursery or preschool.
2. The school is in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
3. The school is a state-funded school. Registered Independent Special schools and Alternative Provision settings that receive local authority funding for pupil places are also eligible.
4. The school is not academically selective.
5. The young people taking part in the activity/event are aged between 3 and 19.
6. The school meets at least one of the following additional eligibility criteria:
   • A minimum of 30% of pupils are eligible for Free School Meals, or equivalent*
   • A minimum of 30% of pupils are from ethnic minority backgrounds**
   • The school is based in a remote and rural location***

*Not including where FSM are provided as standard as part of a universal policy. In Scotland, the equivalent is a minimum of 30% of students in SIMD quintile 1. In England Pupil Premium may be used as an equivalent.
**Ethnic minority backgrounds include all pupils who don’t self-describe as White British. It includes Irish, except in Northern Ireland.
***Remote and rural schools are in postcodes listed as ‘rural’ under the Government’s Rural Urban classification system. You can look up your school’s classification at www.ukpostcodecheck.com.

The Kick Start funding is only available for schools, however non-school organisations may be eligible for the Community Grants.

Our priorities

Events that align with our priorities are most likely to be funded. These include activities that:

• involve children supported by Free School Meals, from ethnic minority backgrounds, with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) or from any other groups of young people more likely to be underrepresented in STEM
• support girls to develop their STEM skills, understanding and passions
• engage children who wouldn’t normally choose to participate in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) activities
• are embedded in your local community and involve the wider community as a core audience
• challenge stereotypes about science
• make science relatable by connecting it young people’s personal experiences and interests, local environments, and community
• support children and young people to take initiative and actively lead activities
• are cross-curricular and include teachers, professionals or organisations from outside STEM
• raise awareness of the diverse range of careers that studying STEM subjects can lead to
• have an impact on STEM activities throughout the year, e.g., staff CPD or launching a new STEM initiative in your school.

In your application, be sure to demonstrate how your planned activities meet some or all of these priorities and highlight how your school would make excellent use of the Kick Start Grant.

Review the FAQs for full details on planning your British Science Week event and submitting a Kick Start Grant application. It contains a summary of the eligibility requirements, priorities, the full terms and conditions of the grant, and much more.