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Hello SIP Ambassadors,

Welcome to the Summer Newsletter!

Firstly, I would like to use this opportunity to introduce myself. I am Helen Cattell, your new SIP Careers Manager, and I started at Cogent Skills at the end of July. I have a background both in industry and education. I started my career working for PZ Cussons then changed direction into teaching, my most recent position being Head of Chemistry at a large 11-18 high school. I am excited to be able to use my experiences to encourage more young people into careers within STEM industries and look forward to working together to promote this.

You will be hearing from me over the coming months with updates on how the SIP continues to support Careers in Science and news on the sector.

We’d also like to thank you for all of your support so far this year, on outreach events and other activities, and a big thank you for those who completed the SIP Ambassador survey in May this year. Your feedback is always helpful and we will be improving the resources over the next few months as a result.

Finally, please feel free to share your outreach experiences and news stories across the network by logging your activities via the online form. Below are some of the activities we have been involved in along with your help.
 

Enterprising Science Challenge Days engage over 1000 students on STEM 

We reported on the first Challenge Day in the Greater Manchester region in March, and since then we’ve successfully delivered another two – one in Kent and Medway, the other in Cheshire and Warrington. This project, funded by The Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC), is now completed with nearly 1200 students getting involved across the three regions.

The Kent and Medway region’s Challenge Day was held at Canterbury Christ Church University on 12th June and was attended by Towers School and Sixth Form Centre, The Hayesbrook School, St Simon Stock Catholic School, Sittingbourne Community College and Goodwin Academy. We were supported by 9 SIP Ambassadors on the day and Sittingbourne Community College won the ‘Science in a Box’ workshop, to be delivered in school by Pfizer Ambassadors in September.

At the Cheshire and Warrington’s Challenge Day, held at the Catalyst Discovery Centre in Widnes, we were joined by University Academy Warrington and Warrington UTC and part of the day included a trip to the Observatory to view science industries across the Cheshire skyline! We were supported by Ambassadors and three local employers – Whitfords Ltd, BYK Additives Ltd and Essar Oil (UK) Ltd.

Many, many thanks for all of your support in making these days informative, challenging and fun for the students.

Online School Lesson Plans set to support science lessons Yorkshire schools

We’ve recently completed a series of lesson plans for teachers in North Yorkshire and East Riding, which can be downloaded to support them in delivering science focussed lessons. The resources come complete with full instructions, challenges, and industry case studies, plus website suggestions for students to research organisations and career opportunities in their local area.

Feedback from teachers in the development stages was very positive as were the comments from teachers attending an Inspirations Event held at Elvington Air Museum at the end of June, where we soft-launched the new resources.
 

New opportunities for SIP Ambassadors

We have had a number of schools contacting us requesting support from September onwards, these include:

  • The King’s CE School in Wolverhampton has an event for KS3 (Year 8) and KS4 (Year 10) students on 21st September 2018 and more information, including who to contact to take part, can be found on our Discussion Board on Cogent Learn.

  • The Sefton Education Business Partnership will be holding a series of ‘Meet the Professional’ sessions in September (date TBC) in Sefton, Knowsley and Liverpool. They would like Ambassadors to support these sessions, and talk about the qualifications and qualities needed for their industry, and their own career path to date, and offer a wider perspective on the various job roles within their industry
  • Enquiries from schools across the country are being received asking for support for events and talks, and we’ll continue to post information as we receive it.

Please keep an eye on our Discussion Board for more opportunities.

Please get in touch if you’ve forgotten your password to access Cogent Learn

Log your SIP Ambassador Activity to help us celebrate outreach

We’d really appreciate it if you could log your activities on the online form.

At the end of the year, all SIP Ambassador activities will be turned into Ambassador Awards! We look forward to celebrating the success and the hardwork of the network.

SIP Ambassador Network continues to expand

We continue to expand the network of SIP Ambassadors across England, with a number of organisations planning Ambassador training in 2018. This includes two dates in October for the British Plastics Federation Ambassador members, with a further session yet to be booked.

If your company is interested in training further Ambassadors, please get in touch to discuss.
 

Science Fact of the Month

When Helium is cooled to almost absolute zero (-460°F or -273°C, the lowest temperature possible), it becomes a liquid with surprising properties: it can suddenly do things that other fluids can’t, like dribble through molecule-thin cracks, climb up and over the sides of a dish, and remain motionless when its container is spun.  No longer a mere liquid, the helium has become a superfluid — a liquid that flows without friction.

Science video of the month – RoboCup 2018!!

Now that we have all recovered from the football World Cup, how the RoboCup 2018.  This was held in Montreal, and brings together some of the finest minds in technology from around the world. Established in 1997, its mission is to create a team of robots capable of beating the human World Cup champions by 2050. Judging by this footage, they still have some way to go!  RoboCop 2018

Science Joke(s) of the Month

We had a few minutes in the office pulling these together, so thanks to the Membership Team for their support!

‘Never trust an Atom…. They make up everything!’

‘There are 10 types of people in the world. Those that understand binary notation, and those that don’t.’
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