STEM

Intent

Our STEM programme acquaints our students to the developing world around them and grows their love of STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), ensuring they leave Kingswood Academy with an array of positive memories and experiences.

On top of the world class subject specific learning our students experience, we are committed to ensuring that our students are aware of the STEM careers available to them and that they recognise these as exciting and achievable career choices after their time at Kingswood.

By offering students the opportunity to engage with various STEM events we give them the chance to make real life links between their classroom-based learning, the world around them and potential future careers. We aim to deepen their understanding of the STEM curriculum; inspiring and creating pathways for them to follow into post-secondary education.

UK Mathematics Challenge (UKMT)


Each academic year, students in Year 7 and Year 8 compete in the UK Mathematics Trust National Junior Challenge. Our students took part remotely in the most recent challenge in 2022.


Siney in Year 7 became the first ever Kingswood Academy student to successfully progress through to the UKMT Junior Kangaroo round with a Gold Award! 

Every year Kingswood also send a team of two Year 8 and two Year 9 students to compete in the UK Mathematics Trust Team challenge regional finals. The team take part in four rounds including a variety of mathematical challenges ranging from mathematical relay races to team cross numbers designed to test their mathematical reasoning skills as well as team work to a high level.  Kingswood pupils are regularly praised for their resilience and team work at these events, demonstrating our key drivers. We are always exceptionally proud of their achievements.

Student Podcast

The podcast has two permanent fixtures, which are a ‘Desert Island Discs’ and a Kingswood Quiz section. The third segment has varied from sporting bulletins, to sneak peaks into upcoming school productions and conversations with alumni on their post-Kingswood direction.

In ‘Desert Island Discs’, staff are asked to choose two songs which are particularly meaningful to them and explain the backstory before inevitably being asked who in their department they would most like to be stranded with. The Kingswood Quiz tests staff and students on facts about Kingswood and Hull alongside the much loved ‘things students know and their teachers really should’. This final round in particular has thrown up a few glaring holes in contestants’ knowledge!

University Experience Day

In the final few weeks of each academic year we take all of our Y9 and Y10 students to different universities across the country. Last time we visited: The University of Oxford, Durham University, Newcastle University, University of Leicester and the University of Lincoln. The purpose of the day is to show students the incredible opportunities that university can offer them and give them an idea of the possibilities available to them after Kingswood Academy.

In a few years’ time, we want our students to be in a position where they can make informed decisions about Higher Education on leaving Kingswood Academy and completing college courses or apprenticeships. We wish to inspire the pupils to consider universities in different cities and hence selected a range of universities across the country, including some of the best in the world. 

Whilst at the universities students took part in campus tours, taster lecture sessions, talks and workshops on Student Finance and how to budget through university, as well as sessions on what student life would be like at university. At The University of Oxford students enjoyed mini problem solving sessions including some Maths and Philosophy debates. Students found the day incredibly insightful and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to visit a university campus and get a taster of higher education first hand. 

AMSP Maths Feast 

Every year, four of our Year 10 students take part in a Maths Feast hosted by the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme (AMSP). This is a day of Maths challenges and problem solving tasks that increase in difficulty as you move from your starter to your main, to your mathematical dessert. This year our students did exceptionally well and came out with certificates for their consistently high scores and their brilliant team working skills, a quality that Kingswood Academy Student’s consistently display. These students modelled one of our key drivers ‘Never Give Up’ by training for this challenge from November to sit the Challenge in March, giving up their own time to represent Kingswood Academy in this challenge. 

STEM Careers Fair

As part of our ongoing commitment to ensure that students are made aware of the STEM careers available to them, we take all of our Year 9 students to a STEM careers fair, every year. The Big Bang UK Young Scientist and Engineers Fair is the largest STEM event in the UK. Students get a chance to speak to people in industry and seek advice for the relevant pathways needed to pursue their possible STEM Careers. The STEM Fair gives students a chance to get hands on with tasks and job roles that they perhaps never knew existed, broadening their horizons and putting all their curriculum content into context.

Strategy 

Every Wednesday lunchtime in the Maths department you will find large groups of students taking part in our weekly enrichment club ‘Strategy’. Strategy is a weekly STEM enrichment club, focusing on the skills of reasoning, problem solving, strategy, teamwork and communication skills. Strategy is a student favourite around the academy and is another example of our ongoing commitment to students having a love of STEM learning.

KS3 Science Club - Lab Rats

At Lab Rats we give students the opportunity to plan, take part in, and conduct exciting Scientific Investigations.

 For Example:

Step into the NHS Project

Last year we introduced the students to the Step into the NHS project. Students across KS3 and KS4 were invited to participate in the national competition, competing against other schools, if they had an interest in a career in the NHS. Students had to research careers in the NHS and create a job description and an advert that represented their chosen career. Our students worked incredibly hard and had shown the highest expectations during the 6 week challenge. They produced a board game where each different pathway took you down a different career. At the centre of the board game was Kingswood Academy, the starting point at which students start making their choices for their future.


The 6 students who attended the Step into the NHS project last year did a fantastic job and came within the top 10 schools across the UK."

Race to the Line Competition

The Race to the Line competition allows students to explore how race cars are designed to move as quickly as possible around the race track. They are looking at the science behind why race cars are designed the way they are and how this will benefit the car when moving around the track. From this, the student will then be tasked with designing and building their own polystyrene car that will be entered into a national competition, and will compete against other schools to see who has designed and built the quickest car.