Our Specialist Day Camps

Northwood

Our camps are structured by Vanessa McSween. A Design, Technology and Engineering specialist, with over 24 years of experience of teaching children of all ages and a wide range of subjects. She believes strongly in hands on, engaging learning and is passionate about the importance of STEM in preparing our young people for life in a modern and developing world.

 

We have a friendly team of teachers and assistants who know that to get the best out of the children, they have to be happy, safe and confident to have a go, even if things do not go according to plan the first or tenth time. Pastoral care is important to us.

 

In addition to our dedicated teaching staff, we have a huge number of young people who are passionate about STEM Den. They have loved coming to classes when they were younger and now want to share their expertise by supporting our classes. We are hugely grateful for the time, inspiration and confidence they give as they support us.

 

We are Ofsted registered and were last inspected in December 2023. All our staff are DBS checked. We comply fully to standards for First Aid Training. All our staff are safeguarding trained.

 

TO PLACE A BOOKING CLICK HERE

 

December 2024

 

Tuesday 17th December - Time and Tide wait for no man

Learn from expert clockmakers about different ways of recording time throughout the ages. Design and make your own clock to take home. Compete against other teams in a fun ‘Back to the Future based’ time challenge. 

 

Wednesday 18th December - Skill builder day

Enjoy choosing the Christmas craft activities you’d like to do while developing your skills using tools and equipment. As part of our day, you could choose to enter the ‘If you were an engineer, what would you do?’ competition. Optional choice to take part in Science based activities with materials scientist, Inigo Stratton based around snow, ice and snowflakes. Find out the answer to questions such as, 'Why do snowflakes have six sides?' 'Why do we use grit to melt ice and snow?' Brr!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

 

Thursday 19th December

KS1 - Festive STEM based challenges to develop skills such as cutting and joining and finishing with different materials.

KS 2 and above - Learn about animatronics and the work of expert designer, Rick Lazzarini. Work in teams to program your own character to come to life using Crumble kits. Use your character to film a Christmas advert using IPads.

 

 

TO PLACE A BOOKING CLICK HERE

 

 

CLASS AGE RESTRICTIONS - Please do not be offended if your child can not attend a class because they are not old enough... yet! We want the children to be safe, sometimes the activities are only suitable for older children. We are not insured for children under the age of 5 years. We want the children to be successful as well as independent. There are classes aimed for 5 & 6 year olds every day. These classes have teachers with experience of KS1, more helpers, the right height of furniture, shorter activities which change more frequently and break out activities such as Lego, painting and train tracks. We hope you understand.

 

WAITING LISTS - In the case that we are fully booked you can ask to be placed on a waiting list.

Please email: stemdennorthwood@gmail.com

In the subject heading put your child's surname and the week number you are looking for. In the body of the email please specify the dates you are looking for, as well as your child's full name. You will be emailed from this address if a place becomes available, make sure our mail does not end up in the junk.

 

USING TOOLS - One of the reasons STEM Den is so special is that we teach children to use tools to help them build, innovate and problem solve. The tools we use can cause injury if used incorrectly. All of our children are taught to use the equpiment safely and they are supervised when using the tools. Children are expected to behave appropriately when using tools. Parents/guardians who take up a place at STEM Den understand and agree to their children using the tools and equipment for each activity. There are risks involved, which are outweighed by the many benefits. If you have any concerns, please talk to us.

For further information please read our terms and conditions.