Women in Science: Inspiring the Next Generation at RPPS

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Ad - At RPPS science provision is built on the belief that every child is a scientist in the making

Walk into the Science Laboratory at Ravenscourt Park Preparatory School on any given week and you will find children busy investigating: testing ideas, building models, solving problems and asking the kinds of questions that sit at the heart of science: why, how and what if?

Science at RPPS is hands-on, curious and ambitious. From their earliest years, pupils are encouraged to think like scientists: observing over time, classifying, conducting fair tests, researching, pattern-seeking and problem-solving their way through the enquiry cycle. Lessons begin with an enquiry question, and children decide for themselves which type of enquiry is best suited for them to collect evidence, explain their findings and answer the question. At RPPS this process is so deeply embedded in our provision that children leave able to confidently explore their own curiosities in secondary school and beyond.

Beyond the lab, learning spills out into Ravenscourt Park, where children use the natural world on our doorstep as a rich outdoor learning resource. Science also extends through trips to places such as the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, Kew Gardens, the Wetland Centre, Hobbledown, as well as through Science clubs, themed weeks, visiting shows and our annual Science Fair.

This year's fair, themed ‘Inventors Assemble’, drew in more than half of the Upper School and one third of the Lower School. Children designed inventions to tackle problems they had noticed in the world around them: a self-driving car for the visually impaired, an umbrella that stores and purifies rainwater, a smart bee feeder, an automatic braking system for e-bikes, apps that gamify tidying up or encourage healthy habits. What stood out was not just the ingenuity, but the thoughtfulness and enthusiasm with which children, boys and girls alike, engaged with real-world problems and imagined solutions.

That last point matters. For too long, science has been a field where girls have had to work harder to see themselves reflected. Women still make up a minority of the STEM workforce, and the messages children absorb in primary school about who "belongs" in a lab shape the choices they make years later. Representation matters because it helps children see that there is no single mould for a scientist; science is about curiosity, questioning, exploring ideas and knowing that your thinking has value.

At RPPS, we take this seriously. Our science provision is built on the belief that every child is a scientist in the making. Girls lead experiments, present their findings with clarity and take part fully in scientific discussion. We are proud that this year, 60% of Science Fair participants were girls, confidently pitching their inventions to panels of judges and seeing themselves as scientists, inventors and problem-solvers.

Through our STEAM Scholarship Booster group, we also prepare older pupils, girls and boys, to walk into competitive secondary school processes with confidence in their ideas and their voice. More widely, STEAM challenges are embedded throughout the curriculum, encouraging children to take risks, show resilience and apply their scientific knowledge creatively and collaboratively to solve problems.

This commitment runs through our school values. We nurture curiosity, encourage children to think critically, and ask them to take responsibility for the world they are inheriting. Our Eco Warriors, our partnerships with local environmental organisations, and the sustainability thread running through the curriculum all reflect our belief that science gives children the tools to understand real-world issues and think creatively about possible solutions.

The girls at RPPS today may go on to become the engineers, doctors, climate scientists and inventors of tomorrow. Some will. What we can promise is that, while they are with us, they will be taken seriously as thinkers and given the tools, skills and understanding of the enquiry process to investigate ideas with confidence. They will see themselves as capable scientists, inventors and problem-solvers: pupils whose questions are worth asking, whose ideas are worth exploring and whose contributions can make a difference.

Advertorial

May 8, 2026