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A FREE celebration of science and technology at Snibston
Posted on 27/02/2010
Community Services
School children across Leicestershire, Leicester and the East Midlands are invited to an exciting celebration of science and technology at Snibston Discovery Museum for a fortnight of free and inspiring shows, workshops and challenges during March. The events will tie in with, and support National Science and Engineering Week, which runs from 12 to 21 March 2010.
Working with a range of partners including Loughborough University, the East Midlands Science Learning Centre and the Leicestershire Education Business Company, Snibston has put together a fantastic programme of free activities to inspire young people to continue with or choose science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects at school. The events programme is supported by the Leicester and Leicestershire Leadership Board.
The activities for primary school children will be delivered by ‘Mad Science’ a provider of educational, entertaining and hands-on fun science for children aged 5 – 11. Their exciting, interactive activities promise to spellbind their young audience with cool experiments in physics and chemistry, from volcanic reactions to spinning centrifugal force demonstrations!
Secondary school students can choose from inspiring activities that will have input from expert academics and business professionals who work in a variety of STEM roles. Snibston’s science, engineering and technology collections will also be on show to encourage more young people into further and higher education in key skills areas relating to STEM subjects.
All events will take place at Snibston between 15 and 29 March. A further week of activities is planned for June. Anyone requiring more information or to book should telephone 01530 278444 email snibston@leics.gov.uk or see online at www.snibston.com/nsew
David Sprason, Cabinet Member for Adults and Communities said: “I am delighted that we are able to offer interested young people the opportunity to meet the experts and find out what it’s really like to work in science today.
“We are particularly grateful for the funding from the East Midlands Development Agency and the support from our partner organisations, and are keen to build on Snibston’s reputation as a recognised East Midlands’ centre for science learning.“
As part of the programme Snibston will also work with the Aim Higher network to target individual students who for a number of reasons would not normally consider a career in higher or further education. Snibston is also offering a series of ‘Meet the Expert’ talks for adults and older students – for more details see online at www.snibston.com/nsew
Andrew Morgan, Skills and Communities Director at East Midlands Development Agency (emda), added: "This is a great project which will encourage young people in the area to push their learning beyond the curriculum. We’re pleased to support Leicestershire County Council in helping the region’s future workforce to embrace science and hopefully choose it as a future career which will help the region to flourish over the long term.”
EndsNotes to the Editor
Contact details
For further information on National Science and Engineering Week at Snibston and the ‘Meet the Expert’ activities, please contact Teresa Patrick on 0116 305 3424.
Background to Snibston
Snibston is set on the site of a former colliery and consists of a multi-award-winning interactive museum, colliery buildings of national significance, the Century Theatre, a country park and nature reserve.
The museum displays a rich and diverse collection of objects, telling the story of technology and design and how it has affected everyday life from the past to the present and into the future.
In 2008/9 Snibston achieved 98,043 paying visitors, and almost 30,000 visitors to the country park and free exhibitions, and this year to date has seen a 4% increase in visitors. Year on year, since 2005 there has been a 37.6% increase in paid admissions.
Over the last two years Snibston has already worked with all the partners mentioned and this programme would enable the development of a more substantial, sustainable and cohesive partnership together with a much more effective offer to schools. Snibston has been recognised as a ‘Satellite Centre’ for the East Midlands Science Learning Centre since November 2008.
Renaissance East Midlands Flagships Programme
Snibston has been successful in its application to the programme as a Flagship Visitor Attraction – confirmed on Friday 4 December, 2009. It is also a key player in Leicestershire County Council’s two other applications which focus on Volunteering and Learning. The Flagships Programme is part of the Renaissance East Midlands 2009-2011 Business Plan designed to help museums share experiences, raise standards and excellence in three areas - Learning Providers, Volunteering and Visitor Attractions.
About emda
East Midlands Development Agency (emda) is one of nine Regional Development Agencies in England, set up in 1999 to bring a regional focus to economic development.
Ten years on, independent evaluation shows emda has:
- Had a significant impact on the region's economy
- Generated economic benefits that substantially outweigh its overall costs
- Put back over £9 of economic output (or GVA) into the regional economy for every £1 it spends
- Produced more than £1 billion in economic benefits per year
- A wider impact on people, places and businesses in the East Midlands that cannot be captured by figures alone.
emda is committed to supporting the region through the current downturn and has put in place a range of measures to provide real help during these challenging times.
Over the long term, emda's aim is to deliver the 2006 Regional Economic Strategy (RES) by working in partnership with public, private and voluntary organisations. The RES highlights the themes of productivity, sustainability and equality and sets out key priorities until 2020 to ensure the vision for 'a flourishing region' can be achieved. For more details visit www.emda.org.uk
