Learning about liquid nitrogen, star-gazing, climbing to new heights, searching for mini beasts, practising for Wimbledon ...

The Warwick Summer Scheme pilot is now halfway through, having opened its doors to the first group of children on 22 July 2013, and will welcome over 100 children at some point during the six weeks of its run throughout the school summer holidays.

The Registrar encouraged the establishment of a Warwick Summer Scheme as a pilot this year, thanks to an overwhelmingly positive response from staff and students to the idea of a summer holiday scheme for children at Warwick, and support received from staff across a range of departments and campus services.

This year, children and dependants of University staff and students aged 5-11 (primary school age), plus partner organisations on campus and the University of Warwick Science Park, are eligible to participate in the Summer Scheme. Day to day operations of the Scheme are lead by a Summer Scheme Manager and an Education and Welfare Officer, supported by a team of talented and enthusiastic postgraduate and undergraduate students working with the children, and encouraging and supporting them in activities.

The 5-11 year olds attending have already experienced a wide range of exciting activities designed to challenge, entertain and enthuse, and have been making the most of the fantastic resources available on campus. Activities in the programme include:

• environment/nature-related activities outdoors,
• a range of sports and games (including coach-led sessions such as tennis, cardio fitness, climbing etc),
• fun academic related sessions such as Physics and Spanish,
• performance/ theatre/ visual arts workshops,
• dance and music workshops,
• art, design and crafts,
• day trips and much more.

In the first three weeks they have loved watching flowers being immersed in liquid nitrogen (thanks to the Department of Physics), getting close to nature at Forest School, tackling the climbing wall, developing their tennis skills, getting creative with lantern-making, and exploring the University’s sculpture trail.

Other highlights so far have included a visit from the StarDome (a portable planetarium from the National Space Centre), a trip out to the Coventry Transport Museum and Herbert Art Gallery (which all the children loved!), and a Lego-building workshop (which all the staff were envious of!).

Children on the Summer Scheme experience a balance of physical and creative/intellectual activities each day, as well as Summer Scheme staff-led sessions and free play. During August, Mad Science (an educational science provider) also joins the Summer Scheme to run a programme alongside our general programme, enabling children to touch, see, hear, smell and taste what science is really all about.

A Summer Scheme member of staff added:

We have enjoyed seeing the enthusiasm with which the children have engaged with the activities in the programme, many of which they have never experienced before. It has also been wonderful to see the children tackle new challenges and grow in confidence – in particular, their proficiency on the climbing wall continues to impress!"

The Summer Scheme will be running until 30 August, and there are a limited number of places available on the general programme and Mad Science for some dates. For further details and programme and booking information, please go to the Summer Scheme website.

Your feedback

The Warwick Summer Scheme Team would like to receive feedback about the Scheme, which will inform future decision making as to what, if any, type of programme is run in future. Please do submit comment via the feedback form.

For further information please contact the Summer Scheme Team by emailing summerscheme at warwick dot ac dot uk.