Why Is STEM Education Important for My Child?

What Does STEM Actually Mean?

STEM brings together four important areas of learning. Science helps children understand and investigate the world around them. Technology gives them tools to create, communicate and solve problems. Engineering encourages them to design, make, test and improve things. Mathematics helps them understand numbers, patterns, measurements, relationships and data.

Children already encounter these areas throughout their education. Science, maths, computing and design and technology all form part of England's primary curriculum. The real excitement comes when children begin bringing them together.

Give a group of children some cardboard and challenge them to build the tallest possible tower. They'll measure materials, explore different shapes, consider which structures are strongest, build their first attempt and then find ways to improve it. One activity can suddenly bring together maths, engineering, science, design, creativity and teamwork.

Why Is STEM So Valuable for Children?

STEM gives children opportunities to put their knowledge to work. A child might learn about measurement in maths. Ask them to design something that must be exactly 50 centimetres tall and suddenly that knowledge has a purpose.

They can also discover the value of experimenting. When a bridge collapses or a robot travels in the wrong direction, the experience creates another opportunity to ask why it happened and what they could try next. Children learn to investigate, adapt and keep exploring until they find a solution.

England's science curriculum itself places importance on children observing, asking questions, carrying out tests and using what they discover to develop answers. These habits of curiosity and problem-solving can become useful far beyond science or engineering.

Can STEM Help My Child Discover What They're Good At?

Absolutely. One of the great benefits of giving children a broad education is that it allows them to discover strengths they haven't encountered yet.

A child might love books and writing. Another might become completely absorbed when given something to design or construct. Another might love coding, numbers, experiments or understanding how machines work. STEM can involve drawing, designing, making, communicating, collaborating and imagining alongside scientific and mathematical thinking.

Your child doesn't need to have already shown a particular interest in science or maths. Experiencing STEM might be how they discover that interest in the first place. And whatever path they eventually choose, knowing how to approach a problem, explore possibilities and improve an idea can be enormously valuable.

Why Is STEM Becoming More Important in Education?

The world children are growing into is creating exciting new possibilities across science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The Government's current work on curriculum and assessment in England reflects the importance of preparing children for that changing world, while maintaining strong foundations in areas such as reading, writing and maths. There is also continued emphasis on science, computing, digital literacy, technology and STEM enrichment.

The Government's national Enrichment Framework, for example, directs schools towards opportunities including STEM Learning and the STEM Ambassadors programme, which connects education with thousands of people working across STEM fields.

Technology and AI make this particularly interesting. Children growing up today will have access to extraordinary tools for designing, analysing, programming, experimenting and creating. STEM gives them opportunities to understand the world around those tools and imagine what they could do with them.

How Can I Encourage STEM at Home?

Some brilliant STEM experiences can start with things you already have. Give your child some cardboard and challenge them to build a marble run. Build a bridge from paper and see how much weight it can carry. Grow something and measure its progress each week. Cook together and explore measurement, temperature and how ingredients change. You could also build several paper aeroplanes, measure how far they travel and investigate which design works best.

A brilliant question to introduce is, “What do you think would happen if we changed this?” Suddenly an activity becomes an experiment and your child begins predicting, testing and learning from the result.

You can also follow your child's existing interests. A football-loving child could explore statistics, ball trajectories or stadium design. An animal lover could investigate habitats and biology. A Minecraft fan might become fascinated by structures, design or coding. STEM can begin wherever your child's curiosity already is.

What STEM Products Can I Buy for My Child?

There are some fantastic products available if you'd like to introduce more STEM activities at home.

One we particularly like is Makedo. Its child-friendly tools and reusable connectors allow children to transform ordinary cardboard into their own creations. The open-ended nature of it is particularly valuable because your child can imagine something, design it, build it and then keep adapting it. Makedo also provides project ideas that can help children get started before they begin developing creations of their own.

Construction sets, robotics kits, electronics kits, coding toys and science experiment sets can all provide other ways into STEM. When you're choosing something, look for products that give your child plenty of opportunity to make decisions, experiment and create.

And remember that cardboard, paper, tape, string, recycled packaging and a child's imagination can provide some brilliant STEM challenges too.

What STEM Opportunities Are Available Around Huddersfield?

There are also opportunities to take STEM learning beyond home and school. Launchpad STEM is based in Huddersfield and provides hands-on STEM experiences for children through classes, events and holiday activities.

Families across Huddersfield and West Yorkshire can also explore museums, science centres, coding activities, engineering events and practical workshops. Places such as Eureka! in Halifax can provide another opportunity for children to encounter science and discovery through hands-on experiences.

The more varied the opportunities children experience, the greater the chance that something captures their imagination.

How We Think About STEM at The Mount

At The Mount, we want children to experience STEM as something practical, creative and genuinely exciting. That's why we've partnered with Launchpad STEM, Huddersfield's leading STEM provider, to bring specialist extracurricular STEM experiences to our children.

Our STEM after-school club takes place aboard our London bus, where children get opportunities to experiment, make, investigate and solve problems together. It has become an incredibly popular part of our after-school programme, and we love seeing what happens when children are given an interesting challenge and the freedom to explore it.

For one child, STEM might spark a fascination with engineering. Another might discover coding. Another may become captivated by science, robotics or designing and making things. For others, the greatest benefit may be developing greater confidence in solving problems and discovering that there can be several different ways to reach an answer.

That's why breadth matters so much to us. Children can only discover the things they love when they have opportunities to experience them, and STEM gives us another wonderful opportunity to open that door.