Russet House School, a special school in Enfield which teaches autistic children aged 3-11 – received a Kick Start Grant to help fund their events and activities for British Science Week 2024.
We spoke to Niamh Minster, a class teacher at Russet House, about what it meant for them to receive the grant, the activities they ran, and the special assemblies they held at the end of the Week to celebrate the children’s achievements.
Niamh talks about how important it was to Russet House, as a school which teaches children with SEND, to be able take part in British Science Week along with other schools around the UK.
She explains that often, as a school for autistic children, Russet House isn’t eligible for grants similar to the Kick Start Grant as their methods and topics for science learning don’t fit the criteria. She appreciated that British Science Week is different.
“Being able to have the freedom, and the knowledge, and my own expertise of how children with autism learn was really beneficial I think for our children because it meant we could tailor it exactly how they needed.”
Niamh also shared how much it meant for Russet House to able to part of a celebration that happens in all kinds of schools across the UK.
“Being able to match it to our learners was perfect and being able to take part in something that everyone else was taking part in was so great. It’s really nice that British Science Week are trying to be inclusive and we really appreciate that.”
Watch below to hear more from Niamh on why being given funding to celebrate British Science Week meant so much:
Having received the Kick Start Grant, Niamh told us about the activities the pupils took part in, including gardening, using attention-grabbing toys and working with butterfly kits.
She described how the sensory learners got hands-on with nature and developed skills they can carry through life.
“They took part in sensory activities related to growing plants, they explored soil, they were maybe learning how to use a tool, how to use a shovel or a watering can to water plants and build their learning that way.”
Some of the older children at Russet House learn from curriculum, Niamh shared the types of activities they did which fit in with the British Science Week 2024 theme of ‘Time’, including learning about the effect of heating and freezing, and lifecycles.
“Some of our children we bought butterfly kits for, when you get the caterpillars and they were measuring how long it took for the caterpillars to grow into their chrysalis and then how long it took the chrysalis to turn into butterflies and they looked at the lifecycle of butterflies.”
Watch below to hear more from Niamh about the activities children of all ages took part in:
As well as activities during lesson time, teachers at Russet House made the most of British Science as an opportunity to bring different classes together – something they don’t get to do all that often. They brought the pupils together through assemblies, for the younger end of the school, and the higher. The assemblies were at the end of the Week, so the children could share how they had celebrated and what they’d learned.
“In the upper end of the school at Key Stage 2 they all shared what they did for British Science Week which is massive, for children with autism to be able to stand up in front of a group of children…If they had something to show like a picture or some work…For our verbal children they were able to say what they had done that Week.”
Watch below to hear more from Niamh about the British Science Week assemblies:
Our last question to Niamh was if she would recommend to other schools similar to Russet House to apply for a Kick Start Grant. The answer was an unequivocal ‘yes’.
She described being inspired by a case study from a previous year (watch it here) from Nether Hall School – also a school for children with SEND – and how she hopes her case study will inspire others.
“Being able to…make things sensory and break it down for our children’s needs. Any other school that has children with autism or speech and language needs, and needs to break things down for them, doesn’t mean they can’t take part in British Science Week it just means we need to think about the resources we’re getting.”
The activities that took place at Russet House and Niamh’s advice will of course be particularly pertinent to special schools and staff members who work with children with SEND.
However, every school and teacher can be inspired to use British Science Week as an opportunity to allow pupils to see science in a different way, run hands-on, sensory activities and bring the whole school together to share an celebrate.
Head to YouTube to see more clips from our interview with Niamh, and other teachers, and look out for them on our social media channels!