Impact
The first year of our Space Camp project has been a great success. We were very fortunate to have a very enthusiastic and committed involvement from the Astronomy department at Warwick University. This element has really allowed us to create a very unique and high quality educational experience for all of our children. Over 95% of children in our school have attended a Mini Space Camp, two days and one night – jam packed with a variety of exciting, creative and stimulating activities to develop their understanding of Space. All children involved have developed their knowledge in this area of the curriculum well beyond age related expectations – showing a great curiosity and love of learning. A further 10% of our children spent a week camping in Warwickshire in Space Camp Max where they completed the Mission X Challenge, participated in a Challenger Mission at the National Space Centre and had further opportunities to develop their astronomical observation skills.
Our school has historically struggled with getting parents in and engaged with their children’s learning. The Space Camp programme has been a highly effective programme to engage all parents, with parents coming to settle children into their Space Shuttles (tents) and returning the next day for the celebratory assembly where the children have shared their learning and experiences. We have used electronic questionnaires to seek the opinion of as many parents as possible (see the chart below) – parental opinion not only helps us measure the success of the programme but also they have been very helpful in suggesting ways in which the programme can be improved in the future. The comments to the right are some of the comments that were made and below is a chart to summarise findings of the survey.
Our school has historically struggled with getting parents in and engaged with their children’s learning. The Space Camp programme has been a highly effective programme to engage all parents, with parents coming to settle children into their Space Shuttles (tents) and returning the next day for the celebratory assembly where the children have shared their learning and experiences. We have used electronic questionnaires to seek the opinion of as many parents as possible (see the chart below) – parental opinion not only helps us measure the success of the programme but also they have been very helpful in suggesting ways in which the programme can be improved in the future. The comments to the right are some of the comments that were made and below is a chart to summarise findings of the survey.
Initial reviews of pupil’s attitudes to Astronomy and Space Science show the positive impact of the Space Camp programme. There has been a measureable shift in pupils understanding of the Universe which has been judged through teacher assessment –we are currently working on collecting more quantitative data to measure this acquisition of new knowledge.
To the left you can see a selection of the very positive feedback that have have received from our pupils. As we have moved into our second year of the project the children have been counting down the days to their camp and approached activities with even more enthusiasm.
The chart below summarises the thoughts of the 180 children who participated in the first year of Space Camps.
To the left you can see a selection of the very positive feedback that have have received from our pupils. As we have moved into our second year of the project the children have been counting down the days to their camp and approached activities with even more enthusiasm.
The chart below summarises the thoughts of the 180 children who participated in the first year of Space Camps.
The idea of Space Camp has grown more than we ever expected and begun to influence more aspects of our small learning community. Virtually every member of staff has participated in the camps in some way with many volunteering their time to sleep over and lead activities. It has been a great programme to bring everyone together from the cleaners who very kindly organise breakfast for every camp, the admin team who have all camped and are always keen to help out with the logistics and making sure we have the correct ratio of adults to children and of course the Teachers, Teaching Assistants and leadership team.
The project has directly influenced our Science curriculum with 50% of learning now being taught through Space Science themes. It has lead to extraordinary CPD opportunities for us and fantastic opportunities for our pupils particularly related to the Tim Peake Principia Mission. Space Science has a significant cross-curricular place at our school and recognition for this was given when our school was award the Gold Science Education Quality Mark.
The most important thing to say is that we all love what we are doing with the Space Camp programme; teaching staff, pupils and parents. We are excited about learning together and collectively participating in some extraordinary experiences - we hope through setting up this website and working with schools we can spread the "Space Love".
The project has directly influenced our Science curriculum with 50% of learning now being taught through Space Science themes. It has lead to extraordinary CPD opportunities for us and fantastic opportunities for our pupils particularly related to the Tim Peake Principia Mission. Space Science has a significant cross-curricular place at our school and recognition for this was given when our school was award the Gold Science Education Quality Mark.
The most important thing to say is that we all love what we are doing with the Space Camp programme; teaching staff, pupils and parents. We are excited about learning together and collectively participating in some extraordinary experiences - we hope through setting up this website and working with schools we can spread the "Space Love".
