Di Clark: 'CREST shares our belief in the potential of young people'

Di Clark is the Mission Director at The Curiosity Box, an organisation that creates award-winning science and engineering boxes that contain everything a teacher or parent/carer needs to run the STEM activities inside.

The Curiosity Box works with the British Science Association as a fulfilment partner, to help produce and distribute CREST kit boxes.

Our boxes include all the instructions, materials and equipment needed to run eight Star or SuperStar CREST challenges, and 60 CREST Award certificates to reward children for their effort. Kit box roll outs are funded by various partners, and sent to teachers who are part of Engage Teacher Network.

Our mission is to inspire primary-aged children through high-quality, hands-on STEM experiences. We work with teachers, early years specialists, scientists and engineers to nurture curiosity and give children the confidence to explore their own ideas.

I always say that children are going to save the world—and I mean it. They are our future scientists, engineers and, crucially, innovators. We need to give them opportunities to question, create and discover today, so they have the confidence and imagination to tackle tomorrow’s challenges.

CREST shares our belief in the potential of young people. It gives children space to ask questions, experiment and find their own solutions, while recognising the value of their work. That recognition matters: it can be the moment a child starts to believe, “I can do this. My ideas matter.”

Through our work as a fulfilment partner for the British Science Association, we help bring those experiences into classrooms and turn curiosity into something children can hold, test and explore.

Curiosity, confidence and possibility. Curiosity is where discovery begins. Confidence helps children share an idea, try something unfamiliar and keep going when it doesn’t work first time. Possibility is what opens up when a child realises they could become a scientist, an engineer or an innovator, or create something none of us has imagined yet.

By combining our strengths and making sure opportunities reach children who might otherwise miss out. Schools need inspiring resources, practical support and people who listen to what works in their classrooms. Together, we can give more children the chance to discover what they are capable of. We cannot know where the next world-changing idea will come from, so we need to nurture curiosity and creativity in every child.

Whatever you can offer - expertise, funding or connections - you can help a young person see a future they might never have considered. For me, this is about more than delivering an activity or a box. It is about showing children that their questions are worth asking and their ideas are worth pursuing. If we believe children are going to save the world, we have a responsibility to give them the opportunities, encouragement and tools to do it.