Dovecote Primary School Lab 13 created
The first Lab 13 has been created at Dovecote Primary School, Nottingham. Lab 13 is one of the most exciting and significant developments of Ignition*; a space devoted to experiment and curiosity that is managed by young people themselves.
In October a team of experts visited three schools in Nottingham who had expressed an interest in hosting a Lab 13, and after a long discussion decided to offer the first Lab 13 to Dovecote Primary School in Clifton, Nottingham.
The idea for Lab 13 comes from the art room in Fort William Scotland, known as Room 13. Ignition* has agreed with the management team of Room 13 that a STEM based version could be developed as a space where young people decide the experiments and activities, with the help from a scientist or engineer or inventor in residence. Nottingham was chosen as the local authority where the first Lab 13 would be based because of its status as a science city.
The team visiting the schools, engineer and cartoonist Tim Hunkin, microscopy lab director Susan Anderson, Ignite! Director of Programmes Rick Hall, Director of Creative Partnerships Nottingham Hugh James, and Ignition* Programme Director Fiona Ord-Shrimpton were impressed by the commitment of young people to the idea. In the end Dovecote Primary was the unanimous choice.
Following 5 months of hard work, choosing the Management Team and seeing the Lab become a reality, it is ready to launch! The first Lab 13 will be officially opened on Friday 3rd April 2009.
As the Management Team explain "It shows that kids can really run something instead of adults running everything. Kids can finally step up and do something helpful!"
Lab 13 has also featured in the March edition of the emda newsletter. Please click the link below to find out more!
www.emda.org.uk/news/newsreturn.asp?fileno=3583
