Mad Science enrichment programme - any experiences?

[TunipTheHollowVegemalLantern]

There's a course/Science Club being laid on at my dcs' school.

It's v pricey - £48 for 6 1 hr sessions, and I have 2 dcs. But they are very keen to do it after the Mad Scientist came to their school and did an assembly.
My kids are Y1 and Y3, but the Y1 is quite interested in science and good at grasping scientific concepts.

Does anyone have any experiences, good or bad?
I know it's a local franchise so I'd be particularly interested in any experiences in Yorkshire as that's where we are, but I'd be interested to know what anyone else thought of them. It just seems like such a lot of money!

If anyone's dcs did this a few years ago does it seem worth it in retrospect, or has it all been forgotten?

Thanks.

[user12785]

Hi, my dd did this at her school a couple of years back. She really enjoyed it, they did the "cool" stuff like volcanos, flight, space etc. I don't know whether there were any long term educational benefits, but she had fun! PS my dh is a scientist, and he looked at all the handouts etc and said they all looked pretty sound.

[Lavenderhoney]

We have it where we live and it's great, well worth the money. Stick around if you can:) You can hire them for parties too.

[TunipTheHollowVegemalLantern]

Thank you

I would trust the handouts etc anyway, with it being a franchise - that's the sort of thing where it's easy to keep the quality up.

[Biscuitsneeded]

My son did it and loved it in Y 1. However, at our school they seem to come back each year so you could always say no for this year if money's tight but keep it as an option for another year if they are still keen...

[TunipTheHollowVegemalLantern]

We're tight, rather than money being tight - we can afford it but don't want to unless it's value for money!

TBH I would be surprised if they got many takers - people in my area aren't generally too keen on splashing money around. So I don't want to count on them coming back.

[Fuzzymum1]

People in my village are usually reluctant to part with their cash but when this was offered at our school it was so over-subscribed they had to run two groups in different sessions! My DS2 did it and still talks about it 4 years later.

[IslaValargeone]

My dc did it a few years ago, she loved it at the time, but I wouldn't say it has been remembered?
She wasn't left with a burning desire to become the next Brian Cox or whatever his name is?

[DameFanny]

DS did it in year 1 and absolutely loved it. There were more wanting to do it than places though, and they haven't been back since.

[StarsGhostTail]

Depends on the teacher you get, DDs was useless and they didn't do half what they were supposed to.other groups seem to have had more fun.

My Dh is a mad scientist ( i'm just a slightly bonkers one) so DDs probably didn;t do anything they haven't already done

[TunipTheHollowVegemalLantern]

Thank you everyone.
I've signed them both up, whilst wincing at size of cheque. Fingers crossed the local person will be good.