Last month, we helped celebrate and showcase the work by pupils involved in Ignition*. This is a four year programme of creative approaches to the learning and teaching of STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths), involving teachers, students, parents, artists, scientists, inventors, designers, engineers, film-makers, writers and journalists. Ignition* is being delivered by Ignite! in collaboration with The Mighty Creatives, and funded by the East Midlands Development Agency (emda).September brought the final event under the Ignition* banner; a celebration event, to bring together all the strands, the people we’ve worked with and the fantastic STEM work that has been achieved over the last four years.
The event lasted three days, and involved over 400 people. On Sunday 11th September, we brought all the Creative Sparks back together, including the original Ignite! Creative Sparks, for a reunion, and future planning day. Joined by Sian Prime and Kate Andrews, along with the Creative Sparks mentors, all the Sparks shared their recent creative STEM based work, and this was followed by sessions on utilising social media by Kate Andrews, and developing a business model, by Sian Prime. It was a fantastic day, and reinforced to all who attended the importance of the Creative Sparks community, and how it must be maintained and used to its full advantage to continue the creativity and innovation that comes from this inspiring group of young people.
Monday was a day to celebrate the involvement of the regions schools, who have participated in Come Alive with Science, Invent and Sci Art Fusions. 12 schools brought along presentations to show what impact Ignition* has made to their STEM learning. These presentations included films, displays and PowerPoint’s, and all showed a huge variety of fantastic STEM learning, and involvement of lots of pupils. Pupils who attended were also invited to take part in a number of drop in workshops, which included building an Alien Robot, and contributing to a Wall of Mouths! It was a fantastic celebration of the hard work and efforts the schools who have worked with Ignition*, and a fun day for all involved!
For the final day of the Celebration Event, we hosted an East Midlands STEM Partnership Forum Event. With keynote speeches from Simon Collins from Caterpillar, and Graham Legg from Harry Carlton School, the audience and panellists discussed STEM in education and business, and bridging the gap effectively. Following the Forum Event, Tuesday afternoon was taken up with our Lab 13 showcase event, where all our six Lab 13’s attended, with most bringing things to show or demonstrate. Our original Lab 13, Dovecote Primary school, kicked off the afternoon with a demonstration (and audience participation!) of a human ice cream machine, followed by a quiz on ice cream! Other Lab 13’s invited guests to come and see their displays, and explain about their own Lab, and what happens in it. Tuesday afternoon was a fantastically busy afternoon, with lots of children handing out their own business cards, leading in science experiments, and networking with each other!
The Celebration Event was a fantastic collection of some of the great achievements that have come from Ignition*, and it was a pleasure to celebrate with the schools and young people who have been involved, some from the very beginning.
Elizabeth Woodville School (EWS) – Lab 13 launch
Earlier this month saw the launch of a new Lab 13 at the Elizabeth Woodville School (formerly Kingsbrook College). The Lab 13 at EWS is the sixth Lab 13, and will be the final Lab 13 under the Ignition* programme. The launch day was fantastic, and we were joined by some local primary pupils, and other students from the school, who all took part in various STEM related activities; making bath bombs, analysing bacteria on fingertips, and creating an erupting volcano, to mention a few!
The Lab 13 is new for the school this year, and so the Management Team are just getting started with their responsibilities and development of the Lab. We are really excited to see how the Lab develops, and we’re very pleased to welcome EWS to the Lab 13 family!
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