Entrant's address and contact details

School name:	Marlwood School
School/college address:	Marlwood School Vattingstone Lane Alveston Gloucestershire BS35 3LA England
School phone number:	01454 862525
Number of pupils in school(s) - male:	665
Number of pupils in school(s) - female:	589
Number of staff in school(s):	129

Our team leader and our team

Name	Position (e.g. Headteacher, parent, etc.)	Organisation
Miss Katie Redstone	Teacher of Science	Marlwood School
Mrs Charlotte Seymour	Teacher of Science, Enrichment Coordinator	Marlwood School
Mr Jon Gallop	Assistant Head, Science College Manager	Marlwood School
Mr Mel Jeffries	Science College Officer	Marlwood School
Mr Paul Benson	Teacher of ICT	Marlwood School
Ms Malorie Newbold	Teacher of Media Studies	Marlwood School

The key skills, strengths and roles of each team member are: (200 words)

Katie Redstone

Science Teacher. An enthusiastic, creative teacher with excellent management skills and experience in animation. Wishes to combine interest in science and arts to create accessible resource bank for pupils and staff.

Charlotte Seymour

Science Teacher. An innovative teacher who has plenty of experience in creating accessible media with pupils to illustrate scientific concepts. Has organised a number of events associated with gifted and talented pupils, currently runs the science club, and coordinates community enrichment activities.

Jon Gallop

Assistant Head. Science College Manager for three years. Involved in various Community Projects, has adapted practice in other schools within LEA. Has incorporated science into various subjects and has facilitated the use of ICT within classes.

Mel Jeffries

Science College Officer. Forges science-based links with the community, including visits to local industry, scout groups and primary schools.

Paul Benson Head of ICT. Conversant with PC and Mac. Has revised ICT schemes, introduced new areas to the website and launched podcasts as a learning tool.

Malorie Newbold

Media Studies Teacher. Has vast experience in teaching of art and media, and in the use of Macs to create films and animations and has worked with primary schools as part of the enrichment programme.

Our proposal

Topic area of proposal: Generic Issues - Cross-curricular

Briefly, the aim of our proposal is: (50 words)

The aim of our project is to demonstrate to both community and pupils, the use and benefits of science today and to enthuse them about the subject by encouraging them to wonder about how the world in which we live works. We will do this by providing a website, run by a pupil club, which will allow people to ask scientific questions and see them answered by the pupils, through media such as animation. The website will also provide hyperlinks to businesses which make regular use of science, with potential blogs being provided by these businesses.

Pupil type to benefit: All

Age range to benefit from proposal: 11-16

Learning outcomes from our proposal: (50 words)

Pupils will:

• Appreciate the role that science plays in various businesses.
• If involved in the science club, learn how to research and present scientific information.
• Understand how science can be used to explain how things that we encounter everyday work.

Our reasons for developing this particular proposal: (100 words)

Pupil interview results indicate that enjoyment of science lies in investigation and appreciation of its relevance. We attempt to cater for these within lessons and, for the former, within a science club. The latter of these, however, is catered for only within class time.

Our website will enable pupils to explore any aspect of science and its practical relevance. The content of the answers provided on the website will also support the key themes of the new KS3 strategy and ‘How Science Works’ model, in terms of understanding such concepts as how scientific theories change and the implications of science.

Detailed description of our proposal: (300 words)

The project will begin with the establishment of a club, mostly of pupils, and the website. The website will then be advertised within school, with facilities for both staff and pupils to post questions, much in the theme of the questions posted in the New Scientist books.

The club, meanwhile, will be trained in how to research and present information using software, such as IcanAnimate, Microsoft PowerPoint and iMovie - these will be used to present answers to questions on the website.

Meanwhile, Mel Jeffries will be strengthening links with local businesses, encouraging them to take over an area of the website where they can provide information, blogs and forums on the workings of their business.

Once trained, the club can start responding to questions through such mediums as animation, podcasts and PowerPoint presentations. The website will subsequently be introduced to our local primary schools and community, via already established clubs such as the ‘Silver Surfers’, the aforementioned businesses and the school newsletter.

Once established the website will be relatively simple to maintain, with twice weekly club meetings, one lunchtime being used for the selection and researching of questions and one after-school session being used to prepare the answers.

Teachers in all subjects, will be encouraged to utilise the website in supporting their teaching with any relevant science-based material.

The website will thus enable pupils and the community to find out how science can explain the functions of our world, using popular and accessible mediums, and it will allow them the opportunity to appreciate the importance of science in the functioning of businesses.

Pupils involved in the club will develop skills in research and introduce them to new mediums for learning, using kinaesthetic activities, such as creating stop-motion animations, and through auditory and visual activities, through podcasts and presentations respectively.

Putting our proposal into practice

Outline of how our team would implement our proposal over a period of not more than 24 weeks: (300 words, bulleted lists accepted)

Week 1

• Project diary completed.
• Begin to set up website. (KR, PB)
• Collect names for club through science teachers.
• Meeting to organise pitch to local businesses and select the businesses. (CS, MJ, JG)

Week 2

• First club meeting to organise how website will be advertised to pupils and teachers within school. (pupil-led)

Week 3

• Advertise website to pupils and teachers within school through tutor periods etc, encouraging them to post questions.
• Begin software training in club meeting.
• Finalise pitch for businesses.

Week 4

• Start to pitch to chosen local businesses. (MJ)
• Continue software training.

Week 5

• Basic, useable website completed.
• Club research and answer their first questions.

Week 6-16

• Polish website.
• Club to build up question and answer bank.
• Businesses begin to post their information etc on the website.

Week 17-19

• Website advertised to primary schools and their feedback received.
• Pupils questioned within tutor time on their use of and opinions on the website.
• Meeting to organise how to promote website to community.

Week 21-23

• Website advertised to community.
• Business sections of website completed.
• Possible: business members come in to talk at school.

Week 24

• Contact local press.
• Launch party with businesses involved, team members and any members of the community.
• Diary completed.

Monitoring and evaluation

The monitoring procedures we will use during the project are: (200 words, bulleted lists accepted)

• Two-weekly review meetings on progress. (JG, CS, KR, MJ)
• Action-plan checklist, present on the school network, to be constantly updated with progress.
• Continuous monitoring of website hits.
• Online questionnaire posted in weeks 17–19 as well as feedback through tutor periods.
• Regular review meetings and discussion with club on how to improve the website.
• Ongoing online monitoring of website-users' enjoyment by science college coordinator.

The evaluation procedures we will use at the end of the 25 weeks to check the effectiveness of our project are: (200 words, bulleted lists accepted)

• Anonymous questionnaires to teachers concerning their use of the website; potential inset time to introduce teachers to the benefit of the website depending on the results of this monitoring.
• Consistent oral monitoring and observation of the science club members’ enjoyment and learning.
• Oral and written questioning to school pupils on their use of the website and what would encourage them to use it more.
• Online questionnaire provided for external users of the website on their enjoyment and ideas for improvement.
• Pupil interviews done by MJ to encourage more open and fuller answers.

Budget

Itemised costs of putting your proposal into practice within a maximum budget of £5,000 or equivalent in Euros:

Budget Item	Cost (GBP)
Administration/Operating Expenses, icananimate software licensing	700
Programme support, Training, Manuals, DV tapes, photocopying of storyboards	450
miniDV camera with tripod, 4 imac, computers, wire armatures and plasticine	3400
Possible fees to website host for placing work onto organisations' websites	200
TOTAL	4750