Kick Start Grant 24/25 Application Form

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The British Science Association's (BSA) vision is a future where science is more relevant, representative and connected to society.

British Science Week is an annual celebration of science, technology, engineering, and maths that is coordinated by the British Science Association (BSA) and funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).  

The Kick Start Grant is £400 for schools in challenging circumstances to run events during British Science Week 2025 (7 - 16 March 2025). Successful Kick Start applicants who do CREST projects in their school will also be able to get up to £350 of CREST Awards for free.

If you have any questions, please get in touch at bsw@britishscienceassociation.org.

Data submitted via this form will only be used for the administration of this grant programme, except where you explicitly sign up for additional communications from us. Read our privacy policy for more information about how we use and store your data.
BEFORE completing this application
2. Check you are eligible to apply 
3. Plan a British Science Week activity that responds to our priorities

(Optional) Download an outline application here, to plan or draft your answers offline.
Application process
Please note the following:
  • Applications must be submitted before 5 pm on 05 November 2024.
  • This application has 8 pages.
  • You will not be able to save your application and return to complete it at a later date.
  • Please ensure you press 'submit' at the end of your application. 
  • You will receive an email in December 2024 to advise you of the outcome of your application. 
  • Unfortunately, we will be unable to provide detailed feedback if the funding application is unsuccessful.
  • We will only accept one Kick Start Grant application per school. To avoid duplication, we recommend you check with other staff and senior leaders at your school before applying. 

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Contact Information

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Eligibility

*Independent Special Schools that receive local authority funding for pupil places are also eligible.
We cannot accept applications from non-school organisations or from private schools. Read more about the eligibility criteria here. 
In order to be eligible for a Kick Start Grant, your school or organisation must also meet at least one of the following criteria:
This criteria applies to your school or organisation if:
- In England, you have 30% of pupils, or above, that are eligible for pupil premium;
- In Wales, you have 30% of pupils, or above, that are eligible for free school meals;
- In Scotland, over 30% of your pupils are living in the top 20% most deprived areas according to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation;
- In Northern Ireland, you have 30% of pupils, or above, that are eligible for free school meals.
Number only
Minority ethnic backgrounds include all pupils who don’t self-describe as White British. It includes Irish, except in Northern Ireland.
Number only
This criteria applies to your school or organisation if it is located in a remote and rural location. You can look up whether your school's postcode classifies as rural via this link: www.ukpostcodecheck.com
Please note: Only schools that meet at least one of the three criteria above are eligible to apply for a Kick Start Grant.

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If you change your mind, you can unsubscribe at any time. Your details will not be used for any purposes other than this.  Please see our privacy policy for more information on how we use and store your data.

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School Details
Address




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Event Details
Only events during this period are applicable to receive grants
About your funded activities

Please provide a general description of your event or activity. How does it fit with the BSA's priorities?

Please outline what you hope to achieve from your event in terms of engaging students from underrepresented audiences, changing attitudes to science, and challenging stereotypes. Please note that this does not equate to your school's learning objectives. For more information, please read through our grant guidelines. 

Budget

Please provide a rough outline (ideally in bullet points) of budgeted costs associated with the event or activity and how the grant money will be used.

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Financial Details

Please provide the details of your school's bank account. This will be the account that we will pay the grant funding into if your application is successful. 

If you are unsuccessful, we will delete your financial data after a year. Please read our privacy policy for more details.


Please note: The account must be a school, LEA or Academy group bank account. The account name must match exactly with the bank account sort code and bank account number. If details are incorrect, this will significantly delay the payment of your grant or may result in the grant offer being withdrawn.

Bank Details
The Account Name used must match those of the account holder, in line with the records held by your Bank. NOTE: This is not the institution name (e.g. not 'Barclays' or 'Lloyd's')
We strongly encourage you to include information you would like shown on your Remittance Advice, in order to help your Finance team/council/Academy to identify and correctly allocate our payment. This could be an internal reference, the name of a teacher, department, or school. 
If you have put in details for your Local Authority or council, please input your school name. 
Building Society Details
The Account Name used must match those of the account holder, in line with the records held by your Building Society. NOTE: This is not the institution name (e.g. not 'Nationwide' )
This field must be completed with the correct Roll/Reference Number in order for payment to be allocated to your account. Failure to give correct details will result in a delay in our payment reaching you.
We strongly encourage you to include information you would like shown on your Remittance Advice, in order to help your Finance team/council/Academy to identify and correctly allocate our payment. This could be an internal reference, the name of a teacher, department, or school.
If you have put in details for your Local Authority or council, please input your school name. 
Contacts for remittance advice
Finance contact details
Bursar/Local Authority Contact Information
Building Society Contact Information

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CREST Star and Superstar kit box offer

Education Newsletter

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Terms & Conditions
1. By submitting an application to the British Science Association, the organisation named in the application (referred to as ‘you’ in these Terms and Conditions) agrees, if awarded a grant, to:

1.1 hold the grant on trust for the British Science Association (referred to as ‘we’ or ‘us’) and use it only for your event/activity as described in your application or otherwise agreed with us, and only for expenditure incurred after the date of the grant award;

1.2 hold your event/activity (or at least one of your events/activities) within British Science Week (7 to 16 March 2025). If for whatever reason you are not able to run your events/activities during this time, the grant money will have to be returned to the British Science Association. For these reasons, you will have contingency plans in case of illness or unforeseen circumstances;

1.3 complete an organiser feedback survey (provided by the British Science Association) after British Science Week and contribute to any programme evaluation conducted by or on behalf of the British Science Association, including but not limited to participating in an interview or focus group;

1.4 distribute a short feedback form (provided by the British Science Association) to your event/activity participants and return the completed forms to the British Science Association head office after the event/activity;

1.5 act lawfully in carrying out your event/activity, in accordance with best practice and guidance from your regulators, and follow any guidelines issued by us about the event/activity or use of the grant;

1.6 correctly acknowledge UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), British Science Week and the British Science Association in any press releases or marketing material. Please contact the British Science Association for additional information.

1.7 use the British Science Week logo on any marketing materials produced, either in print or online. Downloadable logos can be found on the British Science Week website;

1.8 hold the grant in a UK based bank or building society account which satisfies our requirements as set out in our guidelines;

1.9 immediately return any part of the grant that is not used for your event/activity or constitutes unlawful state aid;

1.10 where your event/activity involves working with children, young people or adults at risk, adopt and implement an appropriate written safeguarding policy, obtain written consent from legal carers or guardians and carry out background checks for all employees, volunteers, trustees or contractors as required by law;

1.11 comply with data protection laws and obtain the consent of your beneficiaries for us and you to receive and process their personal information and contact them;

1.12 keep accurate and comprehensive records about your event/activity both during the event/activity and for seven years afterwards and provide us on request with copies of those records and evidence of expenditure of the grant, such as original receipts and bank statements;

1.13 allow us reasonable access to your premises and systems to inspect event/activity and grant records;

1.14 the British Science Association publicising and sharing information about you and your event/activity including your name and images of event/activities. You hereby grant us a royalty free licence to reproduce and publish any event/activity information you give us. You will let us know when you provide the information if you don’t have permission for us to use it in this way;
                                                                                                                                                                   
1.15 you, or someone from your organisation, will inform us immediately of any safeguarding incident or allegation involving a member of your organisation project staff, volunteers or agents which occurs within the project. You will inform us immediately in the event of an investigation against your organisation or a staff member or volunteer by the police or a regulatory body which relates to the grant funded project. 
                                                                                                                                                                       
2. You acknowledge that we are entitled to suspend or terminate the grant and/or require you to repay all or any of the grant in any of the following situations. You must let us know if any of these situations have occurred or are likely to occur:

2.1 You use the grant in any way other than as approved by us or fail to comply with any of these Terms and Conditions.

2.2 You fail to complete the feedback forms or your activity/event differs greatly to that outlined in your application.

2.3 You have match funding for the project withdrawn or receive duplicate funding for the same project costs as funded by the grant.

2.4 You provide us with false or misleading information either on application or after award of the grant. In relation to the grant funded project, you or your organisation act dishonestly or are under investigation by us, a regulatory body or the police, fail to inform us about a safeguarding incident or external investigation, or if we consider for any other reason that public funds are at risk or you do anything to bring the British Science Association or UK Research and Innovation into disrepute.

2.5 You enter into, or in our view are likely to enter into, administration, liquidation, receivership or dissolution.

3. You acknowledge that:

3.1 the grant is for your use only and we may require you to pay us a share of any proceeds from disposal of assets purchased or enhanced with the grant;

3.2 we will not increase the grant if you spend more than the agreed budget;

3.3 if the provided bank account details including account name, account number and sort code, are incorrect, your grant payment may be significantly delayed or your grant offer may be withdrawn;

3.4 the grant is not consideration for any taxable supply for VAT purposes;

3.5 we have no liability for any costs or consequences incurred by you or third parties that arise directly or indirectly from the project, nor from non‑payment or withdrawal of the grant, save to the extent required by law;

3.6 the British Science Association will not be held responsible or liable for any consequences, whether direct or indirect to any loss or damage, personal or otherwise, injury or death however arising in grant-funded events and activities. Grant recipients are responsible for taking out any public liability or other insurance necessary to cover the activities;

3.7 these Terms and Conditions will continue to apply for one year after the grant is paid or until the project has been completed, whichever is later. Clauses 1.6, 1.7, 1.9, 1.12, 1.13, 1.14, 3.5 and 3.6 shall survive expiry of these Terms and Conditions; and

3.8 if the application and grant award are made electronically, the agreement between us shall be deemed to be in writing and your online acceptance of these Terms and Conditions shall be deemed to be a signature of that agreement.