The Big Bang is the largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths for young people in the UK, aimed at showing young people (primarily aged 7-19) just how many exciting and rewarding opportunities there are out there for them with the right experience and qualifications.

Does your school need some Big Bang magic?  Why not host an inspiring STEM day filled Big Bang @ School day with amazing new activities.

Sentinus, is inviting you to tender an expression of interest in hosting a Big Bang @ School event in this current academic year.  There is a very limited number of places open to schools in Northern Ireland and a your school may be elligible for a Bursary to support the cost of organising the event.

Guidelines

This STEM initiative is targeted at Key Stage 3 students to encourage and facilitate them in getting involved in school-based problem-solving investigative work.  The aims and outcomes expected from participation are as follows;

  • You will run a Big Bang @ School event at some stage this current academic year.  This can be a one day event or it could be shorter periods over the duration of a week or longer.  The initiative must target Key Stage 3 students to encourage them to embark on a piece of investigative, problem-solving work.  The initiative should be as inclusive as possible and involve students, particularly those who would tend not to get involved in activities like this.  It is also hoped that the school will encourage students from different cultural backgrounds.  After the students have completed their investigative work they should have the opportunity to display it in their school and the top 3 projects from each school will be asked to attend the Big Bang National Event in 2023.
  • In order to kick start the investigative work,  the students can come up with their own ideas or avail of the extensive resources which are available on the NEON Website (https://neonfutures.org.uk/)  The funding you receive from EngineeringUK can be used to purchase resources and services from this website.  EngineeringUK very much encourage that you should use these resources and provide evidence of having used the ideas and activities on the website to kickstart discussion among the students and as a platform for the investigative work that they will carry out.
  • In short, the money from EngineeringUK should be used to fund investigative opportunities for KS3 students.  COVID has severely restricted practical activity in schools and from that perspective, this is a marvellous opportunity to get children doing project-based work in the STEM subjects.
  • After your event has taken place, EngineeringUK will require a short project report.

If you are interested in hosting a Big Bang @ School please complete the expression of interest form below.

Registration for the 2024/25 programme will go live soon.