It's that time again - our Kick Start Grants are open for schools across the United Kingdom to help them prepare for British Science Week 2021. 

If you're looking for ideas and inspiration for your classroom, then read on to uncover some ideas from last year, and what the 2021 edition could feature.

A taste of the activities supported in 2020 

British Science Week is an annual celebration of science, technology, engineering, and maths that is coordinated by the British Science Association (BSA) and funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).  
 
Our purpose is to distribute grants of £150-£700 to schools in challenging circumstances to run events and activities during British Science Week.   
 
The fund is open to schools in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (including special schools, Early Years education providers and pupil referral units).

For British Science Week 2020, we awarded 511 grants to schools. There were 492 schools involved with some schools receiving two grants, one for youth events. The grants reached approximately 120,000 participants. 

We have produced a handy guide complete with examples from British Science Week 2020 to give you some ideas on how to incorporate the Week into your classroom.

Here are some other examples of how classrooms throughout the country celebrated British Science Week 2020:

Students researched influential scientists from diverse backgrounds and participated in enquiry- based learning linked to scientists’ work.  

Students took on the challenge of developing Curiosity Cases-STEM Satchels. These were bags with non-fiction STEM books creating a grid with Science/Technology/Engineering and Maths activities planning Early level family learning tasks to do at home. It helped to develop the school’s reading culture further across our settings with our STEM work- a launch of our with sharing them.  

With the help of a professional animation company, students developed a series of short animation films linked to the ‘Our diverse planet' theme. They proposed and structured the theme, develop a storyboard, create figures, learn about the technology required to photograph and edit the animation.  They learnt about how the brain is tricked into seeing smooth movement as the figures are filmed using a stop motion process.  

British Science Week 2021
We would like to support distance learning as part of our focus on the 2021 edition of British Science Week. We encourage online presentations from invited speakers or volunteers on science and/or engineering topics. 

Please visit our home-based activity packs for ideas on remote setting projects. A third of the grant money can be spent on large non-consumable equipment (e.g. purchasing microscopes or computers) and journal subscriptions.