Are you still visiting schools?
Yes, we are currently visiting school in person and offering virtual workshops and online resources.. 

How is COVID-19 affecting students at Newcastle University?
For information and advice for current university students, please refer to the COVID-19 FAQs. 

Are online workshops live or pre-recorded?
Workshops are usually live but we can offer pre-recorded sessions if preferred.  

Which platform do you use for your online workshops?
We usually use Teams or Zoom for our online sessions but are happy to use whichever channel works best for you and your students.  

How much do your workshops cost?
All of our workshops and events are free of charge. If you are visiting us on campus, you can even apply for a visit bursary to help cover travel costs.

Do the workshops occur during school hours?
Yes, we deliver workshops in school hours and most are one hour long to easily fit in with your school timetable.

Can I book a full day of activities?
We encourage schools to make the most of our services and book activities for a full day to accommodate as many students in your school as possible.

What is the largest class size you can work with?
This varies but most of our workshops have a maximum capacity of 40. Our presentations can be delivered to however big an audience can fit in your school hall. For full details of the capacity of all our activities – take a look at our events pages.

Can multiple sessions run simultaneously?
For most of our workshops, we have sufficient resources to run two sessions simultaneously. We have two Graduate Ambassadors, three Outreach Officers and a team of student Street Scientists capable of delivering sessions so we can deliver multiple sessions to different classes simultaneously, but this is subject to staff availability. If you have specific requirements or time constraints please call us on 0191 208 4950 to discuss.

Is there a limit to how many workshops I can book?
We are currently in high demand as we offer our workshops to schools across the country. We encourage schools to think efficiently and make the most of our services, for example organising full days of activities rather than just a single one hour workshop, although this will be influenced by your school’s timetable and your students’ area(s) of interest.

What happens if I need to cancel a workshop?
We recognise that there are some occasions where cancelling a workshop is unavoidable. In the event of a cancellation, we will do our best to reschedule workshops on an alternative, mutually-convenient day. We just ask you to give us as much advance notice as possible to avoid us incurring unnecessary costs. In the event of a last-minute cancellation, we reserve the right to pass this cost on to your school.

Do you come into our school or do we go to the university?
Either! Our workshops are designed to be delivered in classrooms at schools but we can also deliver them on campus if you would like to visit us. We can also offer campus and facilities tours if you’d like to look around the University whilst you’re here.

Throughout the year we organise on-campus events for schools and colleges. If you’re thinking of visiting, take a look at our upcoming events to see if there’s anything suitable for your students.

Funds are available to support the costs associated with bringing students from your school or college to events on campus. These funds can be used towards transport or staff cover costs incurred by your students or the school/college when visiting Newcastle University campus. For more information or to apply for support click here.

Can you run workshops for our brownies/scouts/guides group?
Currently, we aren’t able to extend our services to brownies, scouts, guides or other uniformed groups. This is partly due to funding restrictions and partly due to difficulties with data collection. The STEM Outreach Team work mainly with schools and colleges and have to prioritise how we allocate our staff resources very carefully – as such we are working on an annual badge event for uniformed groups. Please keep an eye on our events page for more details.

Can you run a workshop at our after-school science club?
We prefer to run our workshops during school lesson time rather than after school or during lunchtime so all students are able to engage with our workshops. If you have specific requirements or time constraints please call us on 0191 208 4950 to discuss.

Do you have any workshops suitable for children in Year 4 and younger?
Our Young Scientists workshop is suitable for children in Year 3 and 4 and covers a range of STEM topics. Unfortunately, we don’t currently offer any workshops suitable for KS1.

Do you offer CPD/training sessions for teachers?
Yes, we offer a range of CPD sessions for teachers, you can find more information about all of these here.

Is lunch provided?
Unfortunately, we cannot provide lunch but will provide a comfortable place for your students to eat, and will be able to direct you to where you and your class can buy lunch on or near campus if required. We recommend bringing a packed lunch where possible, particularly for large groups and younger children.

Is the campus accessible?
Our campus is wheelchair accessible. If there is a student attending an event with specific accessibility requirements, please let us know in an advance so we can ensure appropriate provisions are in place.

Do I need to bring a certain number of adults to my group’s workshop?
Due to the varied range of workshops we offer it is tricky to offer a one-size-fits-all adult to student ratio. However, we always recommend that a qualified adult is on hand in case of disciplinary or behavioural issues. For details of recommended levels of adult supervision please take a look at our activities pages. 

Do your staff have DBS certificates?
Yes, all our staff and students that work with children and young people have current, Enhanced DBS checks. They do not carry their certificates with them but we can provide you with their DBS numbers and issue dates upon request.

Does each workshop come with a Risk Assessment?
All of our activities and events are fully risk assessed, and this can be made available to anyone taking part.

If you can’t find the answer you’re looking for here, please feel free to get in touch with us, we would be happy to help. You can email us at outreach@ncl.ac.uk or call 0191 208 4950.