Rivington Avenue, Platt Bridge, Wigan, Lancashire WN2 5NG

01942 487999

enquiries@plattbridge.cfat.org.uk

Platt Bridge Community School

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The Primary Science Quality Mark (PSQM)

11 March 2019 (by admin)

Dear parent/carer,

Platt Bridge Community School is pursuing an exciting opportunity to participate in a national research project during 2019-2021. The project is funded by the Educational Endowment Fund and the Welcome Trust and sets out to trial the effectiveness of The Primary Science Quality Mark (PSQM), a developmental accreditation programme. PSQM enables primary schools to improve science teaching and learning through effective science leadership and supported school self – evaluation.

Full details of the research project, provided by RAND Europe, independent evaluators, and the University of Hertfordshire, the PSQM delivery team, can be found here: http://redocuments.org/PSQM/Information_Sheet.pdf  

Our school’s involvement could be as part of an ‘intervention’ group or a ‘control’ group, allocated randomly. However, whichever group we are in, the project does require the sharing of pupil data as follows:

2018/19

Basic information for all current year 3 and 4 pupils: names, sex, date of birth, Free School Meal status, and Unique Pupil Numbers; all reporting will be anonymized.

 

2019/20

Children from one Y5 class will sit a brief science knowledge and science attitudes assessment; all reporting will be anonymized.

 

2020/21

Children from one Y5 class will sit a brief science knowledge and science attitudes assessment; all reporting will be anonymized. 

 

A report of the findings of the research will be published in 2022. No school, class or child will be identifiable. The privacy notice can be viewed here: http://redocuments.org/PSQM/Privacy_Notice_Parents.pdf

 

You have the option to withdraw son/daughter out of this research project. It is worth noting that should we be in the ‘intervention’ group, if you withdraw, your son/daughter would still experience the same science teaching and enrichment opportunities, but his/her data and results would not be shared or used as part of the research.

We hope you are happy to support us in this project but should you wish to opt out, please do return a paper withdrawal form to the school by http://redocuments.org/PSQM/Withdrawal.pdf or complete an online withdrawal https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/KP8W0/ by Friday 5th April 2019,

If you would like hard copies of the documentation and withdrawal form, they are available from the school office.

Yours sincerely,

Miss C Lomax

Science Lead