The World Around Us and STEM Education

The World Around Us is an Area of Learning in the primary curriculum. It encourages our children’s natural curiosity and answers some of their questions about the world from the perspectives of Geography, History, and Science and Technology.

The World Around Us can support the future success of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) primary education. The provision of STEM education more than any area needs to be flexible to meet the changing demands of technology in society and the workplace.

The Junior Entrepreneur Programme (JEP) gives our P7s the opportunity to experience practical, real-life business learning. The programme runs over a 12-16 week period and nurtures creativity, independence and problem-solving.

Under their teacher’s guidance, and with the inspiration of local entrepreneurs, our P7s discover their strengths as individuals and as part of a team. Together, they choose, invest in and produce their own product or service from scratch, all the way to selling it at a school-hosted JEP Showcase Day. They then enjoy the profits of their labour at the end! Last year, the winning product was Sip-A-Sweet and the profits went towards a self-funded pizza party and new resources for the classroom which the children chose.

Our WAU Learning Leader is working with primary and post primary schools in the local area, using shared funding dedicated to promoting STEM subjects within a designated class. This is a three-year programme which began at the end of last academic year and will track the current P6 class until the end of their P7 year.