Dr Mbekeani's Science Club, North Yorkshire, England, UK (exciting new Children's science club in the centre of Harrogate)

About the Club

Each session is unique and can sometimes be described as a journey of discovery. Some of our favourite topics are:

Dinosaurs, Density and DNA
Water, Waves and Watts
Oval Osmosis and Oscillations
Sunny Summer Solar village
Running Robots and Rovers

I am extremely excited to be a science communicator to primary school children aged 6-12, having past experience of working with both Secondary and University students. I believe scientific experiments directly carried out by children and not by simply by demonstration allow children to develop their creativity, resilience, imagination and collaboration skills, all whilst learning from the basics of physics, biology, chemistry, engineering and mathematics.

My Background

Dr. Alison J. Mbekeani, BSc (Hons.) MSc PhD

Dr. Mbekeani is a qualified scientist with a background in Medical Biochemistry (BSc Hons.), Infection and Immunology (MSc) and Biological Sciences (PhD) who now delivers hand-ons science sessions as a science communicator for 5-12 year olds spanning all areas of Science, Technology and Engineering.

Alison obtained her doctorate at Durham University in 2020, specifically in the area of infectious diseases having previously had an active lab-based research career, spanning both the public and private sector, including scientific research positions at Imperial College, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pal International Ltd and secondment to the UK Ebola Task Force serving in Sierra Leone.

She has significant technical scientific experience, having previously trained on the internationally renown Biology of Parasitism (BOP) course at the Marine Biology Lab, Woods Hole, USA (2017, scholarship awardee) and the UK Government's scientific facilities at Porton Down (Public Health England).

Due to her scientific experience and skill-set, she was twice called-up and deployed to serve overseas by the UK Government (DFID/DCDO) as part of UK Ebola Task Force operating on the front-line of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa (Sierra Leone, 2014-2016). For her service she was awarded Ebola Medal for Service in West Africa by HM Queen Elizabeth II (2015).

Within her research career she collaborated with leading researchers at University of Oxford, University of Glasgow and Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Germany), served as a council member of the British Society of Parasitology (2016-2020) and authored over a dozen peer-reviewed scientific publications.

Returning to her first passion as a scientific communicator, and building on her early-career experience in science communication both with her undergraduate alma mater (University of Leicester) and internationally at the University of Malawi, Alison now leverages her extensive scientific experience to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.

Our Sessions

Full-day sessions run from 9.30am - 15.30pm with snacks and sandwich lunch provided, with chargeable late pick-up to 5.00 pm.
Saturday sessions run from 9:30am - 12:30pm with snacks and sandwich lunch provided.
Field-trip days are priced and timetabled separately, with snacks and sandwich lunch provided.
After school sessions run from 4.00pm - 5.00pm with snacks provided.
Sandwich lunch provided on all full-day summer sessions and Saturday sessions. Please inform us of any allergies at time of booking.
All our staff including Dr Mbekeani have enhanced DBS checks and we always have first aid trained staff on the premises.
We have a very high instructor/child ratio during all Harrogate science sessions days (1:5) and a 1:3 ratio on our excursions days.
All of our STEM experiments are fully risk assessed.
We have frequent breaks with outdoor activities in the venue grounds (weather permitting). In poor weather we have an interactive “fun facts” and indoor games will be available.
Lunch time discussions are the most popular where children have the option to ask the lead scientist anything about science. A very engaging conversation over lunch indeed!

All sessions are subject to our standard Booking Terms & Conditions

Booking a Place

Jump to: [ After School | Saturday Mornings | October Half Term | Xmas Holidays ]

For booking enquiries please email: Dr. Alison J. Mbekeani (dr.aj@mbekeani.com)

After School Science Sessions - Autumn Term 2024, Highfield:

Autumn Saturday Morning Science Sessions - ages 5-7:

School Half-Term Holiday Sessions, October 2024:

School Christmas Holiday Sessions, December 2024:

School Summer Holiday Sessions, July 2024 - ages 8-12:

Dr. Mbekeani's Science Club - 4 Days (23rd-26th July 2024) - SOLD OUT

Dr. Mbekeani's Science Club - Wonders of CO₂ Full-Day Session (23rd July only) - SOLD OUT

Dr. Mbekeani's Science Club - Summer Solar Village Full-Day Session (24th July only) - SOLD OUT

Dr. Mbekeani's Science Club - Summer Robotics Full-Day + Field-trip Day (Durham University) Sessions - 2 days (25th / 26th July 2024) - SOLD OUT

All bookings are subject to our standard Booking Terms & Conditions

What people say ...

You're amazing. She LOVED it! Chatted my ear off the entire drive home. What an incredible opportunity you're giving our children. What an amazing mentor you are to my girls. Women in science!

Class got a 9/10 and 10/10 from my 2 kids!

Z.. was so excited to tell us about seeing DNA.

You’re the best Dr. Alison!

Terms & Conditions

Please ensure you read and fully understand these terms and conditions. If anything is unclear, please contact me so we can explain in further detail to avoid any misunderstandings.

All bookings are subject to the following terms and conditions:

Behaviour

The club organiser uses effective behaviour management strategies to promote the welfare and enjoyment of children attending the club. Working in partnership with parents, we aim to manage behaviour using clear, consistent and positive strategies. The session rules are clearly discussed at the start of every session.
No refunds will be given for any child asked to leave the course due to bad behaviour.

Allergies, Illness and Absences

All known child Allergies for those attending sessions must be declared at time of registration by the parent. The club organiser cannot be held responsible for undeclared or hitherto unknown allergies of attendees.
A child suffering from any contagious disease is not permitted to attend a club session. This includes, but is not limited to, sickness, diarrhoea or impetigo.
If a child is absent from a session for any reason, no refund will be issued.

Loss and Damages

Children are advised not to bring in any of their own possessions, including but not limited to toys, mobile phones, game consoles and music players, to the club sessions. In the event that such items are brought in by a child, the club organiser and venue accepts no liability for any loss or damage that may occur.

Ofsted Registration and Childcare Vouchers

As the club organiser is an activity provider offering specific experiences to help children improve their scientific skills and understanding, they are exempt from being Ofsted registered and are therefore unfortunately unable to accept childcare vouchers.

Cancellation

The club organiser reserves the right to cancel the club if the minimum required registrations is not reached 5 days from the beginning date of the club.
Full refunds will only be given for written cancellations made 30 days prior to course commencing for which there may be a £5.00 administration fee.
The club organiser shall inform the customer as soon as possible of any changes to hours or sessions. Once a club course has started, if a session is cancelled due to unforseen circumstances, a replacement session will be arranged, but no refunds for this session will be given.
In the occurence of organising staff illness, full refunds will be offered as an alternative to the offer of any replacement session that will arranged at a future date/time.
In the event that the club organiser has to cancel one of the sessions, we will give the parents as much notice as possible and will also contact the parents of the participants to inform them. The organisers will work with parents to reschedule the session as quickly and as conveniently as possible.
Where the club session is cancelled by the venue for whatever reason (e.g. emergency works at the venue or adverse weather conditions) it is at the discretion of the club organisers to reschedule the session and/or offer a refund to participants.

During Club Sessions ...

Club sessions will take place at the predetermined dates/times, as booked by the parents.
The club organiser will arrive before the club start time, will hold a DBS certificate and will be fully trained on the session content.
The club organiser will follow the safeguarding and fire or emergency evacuation policies of the hosting venue. This includes contact details for designated safeguarding officer, the on duty first aider and fire marshall.
Complementary snacks will be provided at regular intervals. All children are to bring a bottle of water with them to sessions and may also bring snacks of their own.
Parents are responsible for the children until the club organiser arrives at the venue, and the session has commenced.
The club organisers will be responsible for the safeguarding and protection of the children from the start to the finish of each session, until the responsibility has been handed over to the designated responsible adult collecting the children from the session, e.g. parent or carer.
The club organiser will wait until all children have been handed into the care of the agreed responsible adult (including after school care).
In the circumstance where a child may require medical attention, including first aid, the science club organiers will seek support from the designated first aid trained member of staff at the hosting venue.
The club organisers have the right to work in a safe environment without fear or threat of violence. The organisers can reasonably request that any child that is causing a disturbance, a danger, or disruption is controlled or removed. If this does not happen the instructor may cease the club session until the situation is resolved or if the situation calls for it, may terminate the club session.

Privacy Policy

This privacy notice tells you what to expect us to do with your personal information.

Contact details

dr.aj @ mbekeani.com

What information we collect, use, and why

We collect or use the following information to provide services:

Parental names and contact details
Payment details (including card or bank information for transfers and direct debits)
Child's first name and age
Child's allegies

Lawful bases

Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information to provide services and goods are:

Consent
Legitimate interest:
- To ensure materials are relevant to the age of the participants.
- To ensure materials are safe for the participants to interact with.
- To facilitate contact with the parents of participants for the purposes of session bookings, behaviour management and emergency contact.

Where we get personal information from

People directly

How long we keep information

3 years

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, you have rights including:

Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal data.

Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to rectify personal data you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.

Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to erase your personal data in certain circumstances.

Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances.

Your right to object to processing - You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances.

Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal data you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.

Your right to withdraw consent – When we use consent as our lawful basis you have the right to withdraw your consent.

You don’t usually need to pay a fee to exercise your rights. If you make a request, we have one calendar month to respond to you.

To make a data protection rights request, please contact us using the contact details at the top of this privacy notice.

How to complain

If you have any concerns about our use of your personal data, you can make a complaint to us using the contact details at the top of this privacy notice.

If you remain unhappy with how we’ve used your data after raising a complaint with us, you can also complain to the ICO.

The ICO’s address:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

Website: https://www.ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint