British Science Week 2016

We recently took part in events to celebrate British Science Week, which this year took place over a ten day period from 11th – 20th March. British Science Week is an annual celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM subjects), with events taking place across the UK for people of all ages. It is supported by the British Science Association, and many of our local schools in the Worcestershire area were keen to take part and run science-based activities to inspire and enthuse their students. With our pool of enthusiastic STEM Ambassadors, Malvern Instruments was in high demand! That week also coincided with two careers fairs at local schools, and our own open evening for the parents of potential apprentices to come in and see what working at Malvern Instruments is like. It all certainly kept us busy!

Our Science Week kicked off on Monday 14^th March with a visit to Cradley Primary School, where our STEM Ambassadors helped them to hold a day of space-themed activities, inspired by British astronaut Tim Peake’s adventures on the International Space Station. In the evening three of our apprentices (and STEM Ambassadors) welcomed the parents of potential new apprentices into Malvern’s head office to show them around and talk about our Engineering Apprenticeship Scheme. Over the course of the following week, we attended the two aforementioned school careers fairs at the Royal Grammar School in Worcester and King Charles I High School in Kidderminster and encouraged students to consider a career in science or engineering, did a STEM-related careers talk for Year 8 pupils at The Chantry School in Martley, and one of our Ambassadors volunteered at The Big Bang Fair in Birmingham, the largest single celebration of science and engineering for young people in the UK.

Overall, although hectic, it was a fantastic couple of weeks and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! Offering our support to events such as these is very important because these young people are our employees of the future, and with the skills gap looming the more people we can encourage into careers related to the STEM subjects the better! As mentioned in my previous blog listed below, we were recently nominated for a national award for our work in this area, and we are keeping up the momentum this year to inspire a future generation of scientists and engineers.

Previously

• STEMNET Award Nomination
• Malvern plants the seeds for STEM