EDUCAT ION
points out Dr Gareth Lloyd, principal at Stoke College. These “develop and demonstrate empathy, an appreciation of one another, a respect for our humanity in all its forms from the invincible to the vulnerable”, he says. “Ask any enlightened teacher, and they will argue for a balanced curriculum, where STEAM – the A representing the arts – will be central to a child’s positive education.” There’s also a practical benefit. “Studying subjects from that STEAM range often means that students have got a platform for their education that keeps a lot of doors open,” says Richard Morgan, assistant head at The Perse School. Just as well, too, he points out, given the propensity of young people to change their minds. “What they think they might be studying aged 13, or even 16, doesn’t always match up with what they end up studying at 19 or 20, when they’ve gone to university,” he points out. Increasingly, you’ll find STEAM subjects located close together in a physical sense, too. From September, the opening of the fabulous new Dyson Building at Gresham’s School will mean that every STEAM subject is under the same roof, courtesy of a generous donation from former pupil Sir James Dyson. It’s all about disrupting conventional thinking that forces children to make a
While it was efficient, it just wasn’t very exciting, explains Laura Davies, deputy head academic at St Faith’s. “Teaching subjects within their discrete areas that are like canisters or chunks of learning wasn’t having the desired effect,” she explains. “We weren’t having huge numbers of young people saying, ‘This is really for me,’ so it came from this sense of needing to galvanise these subjects.” It was also about ensuring that schools reflected what was going on in the outside world – something that could be all too easy to forget, says Ned Kittoe, head of science and physics at King’s Ely Senior. “It is very easy for teachers (and therefore students) to lose sight of what problem-solving and project design and management is like in the real world,” he comments. “Very rarely is any sort of project siloed into one academic area, let alone subject.” One way to do this was the ‘only connect’ approach – showing how all these areas related to real life. Bringing the arts into the mix – turning STEM into STEAM – added an extra dimension and immediately made it relevant to many more students, as well as widening their choice of subject areas further down the line. There’s also been an emerging recognition of the benefits of ‘softer skills’ within the curriculum over the past decade,
LEADING THEWAY Sir James Dyson donated £18.75 million to Gresham’s School for the creation of a new STEAM hub
ENGAGED The Leys (above) wants to integrate AR and VR tech. King’s Ely (right) after-school clubs are innovative
78 SEPTEMBER 2021 CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK
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