Engaging Year 10 students through Particle Physics Workshop Activities

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The aim of this project is to inspire GCSE-level students, especially those from under-represented groups, to pursue A-level choices and potentially careers in physics. We will develop hands-on workshop activities and live demonstrations showcasing aspects of our STFC funded experimental neutrino physics research. A large focus will be on the accessibility and availability of the resources to allow us to extend the reach and long-term usability of these materials and build up a strong network of engaged schools. We will develop a public website that will serve as the main platform for sharing and marketing the materials, and we will work closely with existing partner, King's Maths School (KCLMS) to improve guidance and resources for teachers, including teacher training workshops to empower teachers to deliver our workshop activities independently. We will use existing networks and contacts and targeted advertising to extend the reach of the workshop resources, offering visits from our research group members across the London area. Our existing collaboration with KCLMS already provides a framework to engage with a large audience of year 10 girls (~180 per year), through their annual summer school programme. Furthermore, we aim to quantify impact, and identify aspects of best practise, through their follow up surveys and recruitment programme. The main impact performance indicators will be the number of school pupils and teachers engaging with our resources and a reported increase in enthusiasm for studying physics and maths beyond GCSE from surveys of pupils attending the activities.