The Building Bridges Partnership Project aims to boost students’ motivation, engagement and academic belonging, supporting the transition between primary and secondary science education. The project is a partnership between the University of Oxford’s Departments, Colleges, Gardens, Libraries and Museums, other Higher Education and third sector providers.
The project works directly with ‘hub’ secondary schools that have established links to primary schools in their local area. We prioritise working in areas with primary schools which have Free School Meal (FSM) percentages higher than their regional average.
In addition, selected schools may include an enrichment strand in their programme, which offers a sustained contact programme of activities and events on a specific theme in S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths). This year we are piloting our Into the Blue theme and our Outreach team will be running 19 ‘Death in a Victorian Drawing Room’ mystery workshops over this week. This new workshop will invite students to investigate an unexplained death through the collection of evidence from practical work and the use of analytical instruments. Having collated and evaluated their evidence, students are asked to put forward a supported argument as to what caused the demise of our art forger!
