School Grants Scheme application guidance notes

Size of Grants
Grants of up to £500 may be awarded.

Eligibility
The scheme is open to all UK educational institutions (schools and colleges) catering for pupils/students in the age range 5-19.  Applications from home school groups will also be considered.

Applications must be submitted by the educational institution and not by any partners involved with the project. 

Normally, schools will be limited to one grant per academic year.

Applications
Applicants should complete the application form (PDF, 715 KB) electronically and submit it by email to schoolgrants@iop.org. Applications will only be accepted by email. All sections of the application form should be completed; any incomplete applications received will be rejected.

Selection
A selection group considers each project. The selection group consists of representatives from the IOP, STFC and IET.

Feedback will not be offered to applicants.

Successful applications will meet some or all of these criteria:

  • Promotion of greater interest in/understanding of physics or engineering
  • Cost effectiveness
  • Innovative projects
  • Activities proven to interest young people in the physical sciences
  • Links to current research and/or the research community are encouraged
  • Links to STFC-funded areas of science or technology (broadly Particle Physics, Astronomy, Space and Nuclear Physics) are encouraged and roughly half of the funds are reserved for such projects
  • Activities related to engineering in areas such as energy, transport, information & communications, design & production or the built environment are encouraged
  • Bids for bought in activities or shows will be strengthened if integrated with a wider project

Applications which will not normally be funded:

  • Costs normally met from school budgets (e.g. the purchase of text books or standard equipment)
  • Projects that the referees judge would proceed regardless of a grant award.
  • Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for teachers
  • Annual subscriptions
  • Projects requiring more than £500 where sources of additional funding are not stated

Grants may be used for the following project-related purposes:

  • Supply cover
  • Materials/resources
  • Transport
  • Marketing and publicity
  • Other purposes deemed appropriate by the judges

Please note
Applications must be specific to the school and students taking part in the activity. Applications where content appears to have been written by a third party (e.g. the activity provider) or where the majority of the content appears to have been copied from a provider’s publicity material (e.g. website, brochure) are unlikely to be funded. 

Financial
Please provide full details of the costs involved in the project, including sources of additional funding if the total exceeds £500.

The Institute will disburse grants to successful applicants immediately following approval of applications.

Reporting, Monitoring and Evaluation
On completion of a funded project, applicants are required to produce a simple report and evaluation by filling in the evaluation form following the same procedure as for the application form.

Completion of the evaluation form is a condition for further funding and the quality of the evaluation will be considered when judging future applications.

Your evaluation should aim to:

  • Establish whether the objectives of your project have been met
  • Determine the impact your project has had
  • Identify how the project could have been more effective
  • Identify whether there have been unintended outcomes and what these were

Further Information
For further information about the School Grants Scheme please contact the education department:

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7470 4800
Email: schoolgrants@iop.org