Solent Academies trust have teamed up with STEM Enthuse partnerships for schools. The exciting initiative will improve young people’s engagement in STEM subjects. STEM explores Science, Technology, Engineering, and associated Maths skills to develop awareness and skills for lifelong learning.

We have 8 schools in total in our STEM cluster, both within the Trust and schools outside of the trust. The partnership of STEM ambassadors across the team have developed a tailored two-year bursary supported plan. The plan includes teacher CPD, quality-assured resources and STEM clubs to engage young people to inspire their own passion and curiosity for developing practical skills.

STEM ambassadors took part in LEGO^® Learning System CPD which explored the use of inclusive highly adaptive hands-on learning Lego. LEGO^® Education SPIKE^™ boxes ignite pupils’ passion through playful problem solving and story telling activities. We are very excited to launch these across the cluster of schools.

Building on ICT is highlighted as one of our main targets. Young people are in an ever-growing world of technology, and we want to ensure the best opportunities are available for our pupils. We have invested in some Sphero and Indi Robots to inspire creative learning using code with iPad and computers.

Enrichment visits are a great way to engage pupils in STEM careers. One enrichment event was held at The Mary Rose Museum. The Mary Rose Museum is celebrating 40 years since the tutor icon was returned to the city. This made the museum the perfect location to host the 'Water' themed 5PARK activity. The pupils had an opportunity to explore the ship and museum, take part in the STEM activity with free resources to take away and have ago at a 4-D dive experience.

Next for the partnership is to provide more enrichment visits, build-on technology used in the classroom and continue to develop SEND STEM experts.