Ask a STEM Ambassador to visit your school

A STEM Ambassador's involvement can engage and enthuse both students and teachers. If you are interested in asking a STEM Ambassador to visit your school you can make your request here or contact See Science directly here

Give us your Ambassador feedback

If an Ambassador has visited your school, or if you have met an Ambassador at an enrichment activity, we would be very grateful if you could fill in our teacher feedback form. Please encourage colleagues to respond.

A North Wales primary school has been announced as one of the winners of the NFU’s national STEM competition, Farmvention.
Dosbarth y Gleision – Ysgol Bro Idris were announced as one of nine primary schools to
have won a range of incredible Farmvention prizes including a fully-funded farm visit and a
chef to visit the school and help the children develop their ideas.
Pupils from the winning Dolgellau school will now be making plans to showcase their
designs at an exhibition at the House of Commons during British Science Week, where the overall champion will be decided.
The Farmvention competition, launched in September, asked children at primary schools to submit entries that solved  farming-related issues using Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths e.g.
• Design a tractor of the future
• Design an environment for a flock of 100 laying hens

Digital Day of success at Orbotech!

Aiming to raise their profile with local schools STEM Ambassadors from SPTS Orbotech have been offering a  variety of events from workshops  in Primary Schools, a Country Park family day and  a new site visit experience for local schools.
SPTS Technologies designs manufactures sells and supports advanced wafer-processing technologies for the semi conductor industries. These products are used by manufacturers of ‘Micro Electro Mechanical systems used in smart phones, tablets and game consoles. The site has ultra strict control of access due to contamination of their products so any site visit must be carefully managed.
St Julian’s Primary School  and Glasllwch Primary School pupils were treated to a fantastic experience and the pupils from  St Julian’s then made a blog video of the day, which speaks for itself!
http://www.stjuliansprimary.com/digital-leader-visit-to-spts-orbotech/
Following Health and Safety training the 60 visitors were taken on a tour of the manufacturing areas – a very relevant product introduction given the popularity of gaming and mobile technology.
Mini Clean Room suits were available for the pupils, STEM Ambassadors Nick Simmons, Andrew Evans, Anthony Roberts and Carolyn Short also demonstrated vacuum chamber experiments with marshmallows – fun and
effective. Pupils had the chance to use ultra powerful microscopes to look at a fly, a
screw and pennies.

‘The event was a major success with all pupils and teachers enjoying the experience and taking part in activities’ Dr Carolyn Short
‘We’re now going to tell everyone in our school about the visit and hopefully encourage pupils to learn more about science and technology. Who knows, some of our pupils may end up working at STPS when they’re older! A big, gigantic thank you to the staff at SPTS who showed us around and gave up their time to talk to us.’
Pupils from St Julian’s Primary School

Cardiff Science Festival 

The evening network meeting on February 11th welcomed teachers from local schools together with STEM Ambassadors and Big Ideas Wales who are based in Cardiff.

STEM Ambassador Emma Yhnell - Cardiff School of Neurosciences delivered a short session on  her role as as an ambassador and selection of activities on how she presents her career to public and school audiences  and the STEM Ambassador Hub  demonstrated practical activities  and resources which could be used in a  STEM Club. The session focussed on a discussion of local employment skills, specific needs in the area and how to access ideas for engagement and resources. The second event focused on the Torfaen and Newport area  where Alan Reid - Project Manager Specialist and Project Bloodhound and Andy Hudson IBM UK demonstrated how to present cyber security to a varied audience. Feedback from the event was excellent with both teachers and Ambassadors commenting how much they had benefited from the session particularly  the networking with other attendees.

Rhiwbina Beavers earn their Badges with STEM Ambassadors!

ASE Teachmeet - The New Curriculum Thursday, 21 March 2019, Techniquest Glyndŵr, Wrexham. 16:30 – 18:30 

Come and share some ideas about how the new Welsh curriculum can be implemented in an informal setting - an opportunity to ask questions and discuss with colleagues

Pioneer Schools will be invited to share ideas that are being piloted during this academic year and we will also look at the white paper :https://beta.gov.wales/our-national-mission-transformational-curriculumwhich is open for consultation until 25 March.

There will be time to discuss and ask questions.

Please let us know if you have anything you feel you could contribute or specific questions you wish addressing.

Refreshments will be provided free of charge.

To book a place click here. 

Biochemical Society scientific outreach grants (UK)

The Biochemical Society outreach grants programme is now open for applications. Grants of up to £1,000 are available to increase participation in the molecular biosciences at school level and beyond through engagement activities.

Applications for funding are invited to assist with the direct costs associated with an event and expenses incurred. The type of events funded could include:

• Activities for a science club
• Workshops for students or teachers
• Lectures from research scientists

More here.

STEM Learning 2019 ENTHUSE Celebration Awards open for nominations

The ENTHUSE Celebration Awards recognise teachers, technicians, support staff, ENTHUSE Partnerships and schools and colleges who have shown commitment to continuing professional development (CPD), which in turn, has improved young people’s achievements and progression in STEM.

The ENTHUSE Celebration Awards consist of four regional celebrations with the winners of the regional awards going on to a national celebration on 20 June 2019. Attended by inspiring educators from across the UK, the national celebration will take place at the Royal Society in London, the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence.

You can nominate yourself or someone you know.

Details here.