Passion for science sees teacher rocket to award
APASSIONATE and dedicated teacher will receive a prestigious award for his ‘incredible work in raising standards’.
Chris Lowe, assistant headteacher and science leader at Lowerplace Primary School in Rochdale, has been selected for the Primary Science Teacher Award by the Primary Science Teaching Trust (PSTT).
The award recognises teachers who ‘excel in tough conditions’ and go ‘above and beyond their teaching role’.
Chris will collect the accolade at the International Primary Science Education Conference in Edinburgh in June.
He will then become a PSTT Fellow with access to funding in excess of £500,000 to support primary school science projects.
Chris said: “I am thrilled with this award. I am really passionate about science and I want to pass on that passion to pupils as there are so many great opportunities for them in science professions.”
Rochdale council said through the support of The Ogden Trust, a charity dedicated to promoting the teaching and learning of physics, Chris has ‘put his school on the map through his innovative and all-engaging love of science’.
Last year he was awarded a coveted place by The Ogden Trust to visit CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research in Switzerland, and returned ‘full of enthusiasm to make physics lessons even more exciting for his pupils’.
He has also established a number of ‘firsts’ for the school, including a dedicated ‘Phiz Lab’, and organised a satellite event for a cluster of Ogden Trust Partnership Schools in the area for the national Great Science Share.
In December, he gathered 180 pupils from Years 5 and 6 in local schools to interest them in the creation of the universe, space and particle physics, and arranged for a scientist from CERN to send a video message to the children.
Chris has worked with students at the University of Manchester studying on the primary PGCE course, delivering lectures on science teaching as well as a live Skype lesson for students to watch.
Other projects he has contributed include the successful bid to bring ‘Dippy the Diplodocus’ to Rochdale in February 2020.
Councillor Kieran Heakin, cabinet member for Children’s services, said: “Chris’ passion and enthusiasm is infectious.
“We are so grateful for all he’s been doing. He thoroughly deserves this award for all the hard work he has put in.”