UKAT Partnership Development Programme

Term 6 has been a great term for the Partnership Development Programme, as we have delivered a wide range of programmes to primary school children.

The free Medway Test (11+) Tuition workshops took place via webinar at the end of May 2022. The final webinar of this series will take place at the beginning of August. Due to popular demand, we have marketed this webinar to other primary schools in Medway as well.

Our latest Super Saturdays with the University of Kent (UoK) was delivered by their Computer Science department in June 2022 and superbly supported by a host of UoK Ambassadors. Year 4 and Year 5 students were given the opportunity to programme their own LEGO robots. The students mastered the programming and were great at planning routes, including obstacles, and were really excited about competing in the team races!

We have visited Year 6 students at our partnership schools to deliver the Who's Who Mentoring Programme. Russ from Career Guidance Charts superbly delivered an interactive World of Careers workshop to each class. The session was then followed by a short talk from an inspirational speaker about their career journey.

Tunbury Primary School provided the following feedback:

The World of Careers workshop was engaging and thought provoking for all our Year 6 students. The presentation sparked an important conversation about the sheer range of careers out there as well as the existing demand in a range of sectors (in healthcare for example). Students participated actively in the discussion and games which helped dispel misconceptions and develop a more secure understanding of what a particular job might involve.

The personality quiz allowed students to reflect on their current strengths/passions and to look ahead towards jobs/careers that might suit their interests. All in all, it was a very positive session and students responded enthusiastically.

The talk with Chris (BBC Sound Supervisor) was also much appreciated as Chris was able to share his unique experiences working at the BBC and show the children a career path that they may not have considered! I thought it was perfectly pitched and it is great the children got to take away a booklet to peruse also - I've noticed some children getting them out during their quiet reading time. Thank you for the excellent morning!

Year 5 students were given the opportunity to take part in their own Stings and Things Interactive Science Workshop on 11th or 13th July 2022 at Chatham Grammar. The entire Year 5 cohort were able to participate along with their teaching and support staff. Dr Emma Hargreaves from the University of Kent's (UoK) Bioscience Department delivered the workshop, ably supported by UoK Ambassadors.

The students learnt about some of nature's stings and the PH scale, as well as discovering and understanding what kinds of substances in their own environments are acidic and alkaline. The students were keen to get investigating, including mixing alkaline and acidic substances to create gradients of colour!

For further information about the Partnership Development Programme, please click on the link below:

https://www.chathamgrammar.org.uk/ukatpartnershipdevelopmentprogramme-1