Encouraging young scientists

The Syngenta Young Scientists Project is a competition that aims to encourage schoolchildren to take up and enjoy science. The well-established event is open to children from primary and secondary schools in the Berkshire and Surrey areas.

Young Scientists Guide packs are sent out at the start of the Spring term to encourage teachers to include one of our twelve project ideas in their lesson timetable. Staff from our Jealott's Hill International Research Centre in Berkshire are available to provide advice and resources, including some laboratory equipment, to help teaching staff with the projects. Syngenta also provides up to £60 worth of materials to schools that enter and a £50 contribution towards expenses is available to teams attending the Final Display & Awards Event. Teams from the schools have until the end of June to develop experimental ideas, carry out experiments and develop presentation materials for the final.

At the final, held at Jealott's Hill, children present their projects to an expert panel of judges that include representatives from the company and education advisers. Each project is evaluated for:

Rosettes are awarded to teams that demonstrate outstanding examples in these areas. All pupils taking part receive commemorative awards and the winners in the infant, junior and secondary school categories receive cash prizes. The winning secondary school is entered for the British Association Youth Science Fair in London.

The Syngenta Young Scientists Project materials can be accessed online on this website. Currently the competition is only open to primary and secondary schools local to our sites at Jealott's Hill and Guildford but schools across the UK can get involved by using the project ideas in class or in science clubs. The twelve projects, six for key stages 1/2 and six for key stages 3/4, have been designed primarily to make learning fun.

For more information about the British Association please visit
www.the-ba.net