Who Is the Person Running Your School Workshop? A Week in the Life of an Inventioneer
by Inventors & Makers
published 28 October 2026
When you book a visiting provider, the day usually follows a familiar pattern. Someone arrives with a bag of resources, delights your pupils and leaves again. What you rarely see is everything around it: who they are, how they prepare and what the rest of their week looks like.
So here's a look behind the scenes at a typical week for one of our Inventioneers, the qualified teachers who run Inventors & Makers workshops, clubs and nursery sessions in their local area.
Monday: Planning, Admin and a Bridge-Building Club
The week starts at my desk with a cup of tea, once my own children's school run is done. I email local schools and nurseries using templates provided by head office, update my booking and contacts tracker, plan the workshops I'm booked for and do a bit of admin. I also catch up with the central team about any questions or upcoming sessions.
Once a month, all the Inventioneers join a team call to share wins and hear updates from head office, like new workshops, improvements and anything happening across the network.
At 2:30pm I head out to my KS1 after-school club, where we're building bridges this week. The children bound in every week full of enthusiasm, and parents often tell me it's their child's favourite club.
Tuesday: Nursery Sessions
On Tuesday morning I'm at one of my regular nurseries, running two back-to-back sessions with different age groups. This month's theme is space, so I'm in my astronaut helmet and blasting off balloons. There's lots of hands-on learning and lots of little faces lighting up, and it's a joy to watch the children grow in confidence month by month.
Afterwards I head home, unpack from today, repack for tomorrow's school workshops and catch up on admin before the school pick-up.
Wednesday: In-School Workshops
Today I'm delivering our workshops on understanding artificial intelligence, which have quickly become one of our most popular topics and are often booked months ahead. Teachers tell me they learn a lot too.
I leave the school at 3:15pm, buzzing from the day and enjoying the novelty of walking out at the same time as the children after so many years as a class teacher myself. At home I follow up with the school (they loved the workshops, but written feedback is always welcome), check my inbox for new enquiries and chase up schools and nurseries I'm waiting to hear from. Schools often talk to each other, so a good workshop helps build my reputation locally, and many come back year after year.
Thursday: Inventions and Another Club
This morning I have a single workshop with a Year 5 class all about inventions. Their ideas are always brilliant. Some are wildly creative, some are genuinely believable, and all of them show how much potential children have when they're given time and space to explore.
I'm home by 11am, in plenty of time to answer emails and get ready for my KS2 after-school club later in the day. I'm back home by 4:30pm, and that's my working week done.
Friday: A Day Off
Friday is my day to recharge and enjoy my own time, something I never had in teaching. Many of our Inventioneers right now have chosen to work part-time, fitting their business around family life or other commitments.
The Support Behind the Scenes
Each Inventioneer runs their own business, but nobody starts from scratch. Behind every workshop is a team and a system, including:
- Step-by-step onboarding and training
- Ready-made, award-winning workshops, clubs and resources
- Marketing templates and year-round email campaigns
- Systems for taking bookings, tracking contacts and emailing schools and nurseries
- Regular 1:1 check-ins and team calls
- Tech support and a messaging platform to contact head office at any time
It's a big part of why the sessions your pupils experience are so well planned and consistent.
The Learning Curve
Every Inventioneer feels nervous at the start. For most teachers it's a leap into the unknown, especially the business side, but delivering brilliant sessions is the part they already know how to do. As one Inventioneer shared:
"After 14 years of teaching, starting my own business felt like a huge leap. I knew I could run the workshops, but I was nervous about everything else - business plans, invoicing, marketing, legal bits. But I needn't have worried. From day one, the support has been brilliant, with clear, purposeful training and help whenever I've needed it. Within a few weeks, I was set up with HMRC, insurance, a business account and bookkeeping software - things that seemed overwhelming before."
Another described the experience like this:
"Inventors & Makers has transformed my whole life. I love that I still get to do what I trained for and teach children, but I don't have any of the other stuff that drained the joy from the job. Coming onboard with Inventors & Makers was the best decision I ever made."
Want to Know More?
If you'd like to see what an Inventioneer could bring to your school, please use the form below.
And if this glimpse into a working week has you wondering whether it could be your own next chapter, you can find out more about becoming an Inventioneer and download our brochure here: https://inventorsandmakers.com/inventioneers
Make a school trip enquiry with Inventors & Makers
If you are interested in hearing a bit more about how Inventors & Makers can help you with planning your next school visit then why not get in touch here.
