Science wider opportunities during the pandemic

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are all well. I thought I would share some STEM visits/visitors accessible over the last few months as well as brilliant ways to engage pupils online.

Teaching during a pandemic has become something we are all now used to and have adjusted to. Sadly, getting our pupils out on inspiring visits and inviting role models, experts and other visitors in, is sadly off limits.

I have worked hard to engage our pupils- from Year 3 to Y6- with some amazing guests from across the Science/STEM field. There are some great people who have kindly offered their time free of charge, and also many resources and incentives out there that mean we can still offer our pupils some brilliant experiences. Some were already in action anyhow-for access to places further away- but have now, for the time being, taken the place of visits out of school. Hopefully indoor visits and visitors will be accessible soon.

I hope these help you to think about bringing more virtual visitors and links into your school to enhance the learning journey and engagement of your pupils. 

Megan Sutton
Megan is Acting Senior Editor at Cosmopolitan and truly inspired our pupils with her story of determination, risk taking and successes in journalism in London. A local woman (my daughter), the pupils were blown away by her achievements. 


Dr Lynne Bianchi, Great Science Share and 'Progressing to be an Engineer' @SEERIH

Being involved with Lynne and her team is fantastic. It has brought so many great opportunities for our pupils. They loved it when she visited us virtually to share her path into science and into being an author of 'Smart Pickings'. This is a book they love so they were very excited! 


Dr Mandy Hartley- author of DNA Detectives and Scientist in Genetics, broadcast a live webinar about the science behind her childrens' novel. The children were so interested to learn about DNA in a way appropriate for their age groups. Again, supporting a love of reading, this was a really engaging activity and STEM link.

Farmer Time is a brilliant way to find out more about the job of a farmer and much more about the many STEM links and future IT needed/used on the land.
Farmer Tom



Farmer Colin- Colin is the farmer associated with my school. He is flexible, co-operative and our pupils think he is brilliant. Meeting Colin is such an engaging way for them to link the science they are learning in school to their own needs and lives.

National Careers Website- an excellent online source of information regarding many various careers accessed by our pupils, particularly in Y6.

Challenger Learning Centre- USA- International links
We have enjoyed several live Trans-Atlantic links to learn more about the Moon, Mars and the future of space exploration.



BBC Bitesize- Careers excellent resource used by our pupils when undertaking Careers Education. There are a wealth of resources and actives regarding careers learning and highly recommended.

Skype a Scientist. Dr Bence Viola- University of Toronto. Paleantologist
We made connections with Bence whilst our Y6 children were learning about Evolution and Inheritance. This was a brilliant and really exciting way for them to learn more about his profession and also about fossils.

Charmouth Coast Heritage Centre
We made links recently whilst our Y3 children were learning about Rocks (during the lockdown).
They were so accommodating and our children loved their virtual visit.

Nature Friendly Schools/ 30 Days Wild

Check out our Burlington Juniors Twitter @burlingtonjnr to view all the amazing actives carried out in relation to Nature Friendly Schools and 30 Days Wild (in June). A huge well done to Mr Clark who is leading our NFS programme.

BBC Live lessons

These are ready to go lessons with great resources which are easily accessible to use in school. Our pupils really enjoy them. Printable resources are downloadable and the lessons are planned in conjunction with experts. 



Explorify is a brilliant resource used widely across our school. Go to their website to find out more. Our children have all really developed their observational skills. There are also great resources to use online for parents/children learning from home.

This one is my favourite!

Check out further information on our STEM Enthuse Partnership blog 
https://orstedpartnership.wordpress.com/2021/07/01/part-of-the-stem-enthuse-team/?theme_preview=true&iframe=true&frame-nonce=3405725ff5

Also, read my JES article 
https://www.ase.org.uk/system/files/Sutton.pdf
for more ideas and information including Primary Futures- another brilliant online learning opportunity.



Thank you. See you again soon.


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