STEM Ambassador Opportunities – June 2016 – Bristol, Bath and Somerset
Dear STEM Ambassadors,
Welcome to June’s STEM Ambassador Opportunities newsletter.
It’s a summer full of a wide range of different opportunities, so this month we have organised them by type of activity to help you see the variety of ways you can get involved. Follow the links to find out more:
- Events – all sorts of fairs and competitions, networking and training.
- Careers & Mentoring – ways you can work with young people to help them see their future through STEM
- STEM Clubs – one-off interactions or help with ongoing projects, usually after school.
- Curriculum support – support curriculum enrichment in lessons by working with pupils and their teachers.
- Workshops – help deliver STEM-themed interactive workshops, or deliver one of your own.
If you are interested in any of the opportunities on this newsletter then just reply to this email and we will be able to provide more info and put you in touch with the right people. Opportunities in Somerset & North Somerset are highlighted in red.
Give us your feedback!
If you’ve taken part in *any* STEM activity recently, regardless of whether it’s been organised through us or another route, then please click here to tell us how your activity went.
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Events
TRAINING EVENT - People Like Me: helping girls see their future in STEM ICIA The Edge, University of Bath,14th June, 2:30pm – 5pm. The People Like Me resources from WISE will equip you with materials that will help you show girls from a diverse range of backgrounds that, if they continue with at least one STEM subject post-16, they are likely to have better prospects and more career choice. STEM Ambassadors are able to access *free* training on the use of the People Like Me resources at our training event, however places are limited so sign up soon at
VOLUNTEERING EVENT - Broadlands Academy, Keynsham (BS31 2DY) – Tuesday 28th June, 3:30pm-5pm - End of Year Science Fair. Students will present their science club projectsand STEMAmbassadors willbe there to informally assess the projects and support students in their presentations.Get in touch for more information.
VOLUNTEERING EVENT - The Big Bang Fair South West 2016, Wednesday, 29th June 2016, University of Exeter, 8:30am – 3:30pm– The biggest celebration of STEM in the South West! Be a project judge for student projects, or volunteer with the National Space Academy Mega Class.
VOLUNTEERING EVENT - WellswaySchool,Keynsham (BS31 1PH) – Wednesday 29th June, 3:30pm-6:30pm – Key Stage 3 Science Fair. Students will present their projects completed in lessons and in Science Cluband STEM Ambassadors willbe there to judge the projects for prizes and support students in their presentations.Get in touch for more information.
NETWORKING EVENT - STEM Celebration 2016 -13th July 2016, 6pm, Bristol Zoo Gardens.Our annual STEM Celebration is a chance to celebrate and reward some of the greatest STEM goings-on from all across our region. Join us on the evening of the 13th July for some drinks and nibbles, speeches (short, we promise) and highlights of the last year in STEM. Register for free at
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Careers and Mentoring
CAREERS - Broadoak Mathematics and Computing College, Weston-super-Mare (BS23 4NP) - any Thursday (apart from 23/6& 7/7) between 12:25-3:00 - Tea with a Scientist with year 10 science students. Space and/or medicine preferred areas of expertise.
MENTORING - Taunton Academy and Court Fields School – applications from May, monthly, times negotiable – be a Raising Aspirations mentor. The Raising Aspirations programme, run by Somerset Community Foundation, pairs up mentors from the community with Year 7 students to help the students develop self-belief, confidence and aspirational life goals. STEM Ambassadors with an interest in mentoring and an ambition to develop a longer term relationship with these schools would find this a particularly rewarding opportunity. For more information, get in touch.
CAREERS - Woodlands Academy, Bristol(BS14 8DQ) – 10th June, 9.30-12.00 – Ablaze is running a Primary School Careers Fair and are looking for STEM Ambassadors to support the event by providing a fun and informal look at STEM careers, jobs and qualifications.
CAREERS - Bristol Brunel Academy, Bristol (BS15 1NU) - 10th June, 4pm - 6pm - STEM careers info for parents: The School is looking for Ambassadors to run workshops so that students/parents could choose a carousel of up to 4 workshops. The workshops should be in 20-30 minute slots.
CAREERS - Somervale School, Radstock (BA3 2JD) – 13th or 20th June, 3.30-4.30pm – Take part in a Speed Networking event for high-ability Year 10 science students.
MENTORING - The Blue School, Wells (BA5 2NR) – 4th July – Year 8 Enterprise Day. Be a mentor for a group of students developing and marketing a product, be a Dragon in the Dragon’s Den final for those productsOR take part in mock interviews with Year 9 students. Support materials will be provided.
CAREERS - The Blue School, Wells (BA5 2NR) – 5th & 6th July – Hold 10 min mock interviews and provide feedback for Year 12 students as part of their Futures event.
CAREERS - North Somerset Enterprise and Technology College, Weston-super-Mare (BS22 8NL) – Wednesdays, 3.30-5pm – The school host regular careers seminars for their students and are looking to increase the number of seminars about STEM Careers. You could give a talk, run an activity or show a demo to help explain what you do in your career. The session wouldn’t need to be the full 1 ½ hours and dates are flexible.
CAREERS - Merchant’s Academy, Bristol (BS13 9AJ) – Wednesdays, 2.30-4.30pm – Support activities for girls-only STEM enrichment. You could run your own activity, help out with an activity the school are running, give a short talk about your work or host a site visit. You don’t need to commit to more than one week – get in touch if you have some ideas. The school are particularly keen to have support from people working in industry and female role models.
MENTORING - Be an Enterprise Advisor - The Enterprise Advisor initiative has been established by the Careers and Enterprise Company to help create connections between local businesses and the schools and colleges in their area. Enterprise Advisers are volunteers from businesses who will work directly with the leadership team of a school to develop effective employer engagement plans. Each Enterprise Advisor will be allocated one school or college and will be supported by the Enterprise Coordinator based with the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership. To enquire about becoming an Enterprise Advisor, please get in touch.
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STEM Clubs
Docklands Youth Centre, Bristol (BS2 8UA) – From May, Tuesday evenings, 6 pm - 7pm. Code Club are looking for mentors for this club so if there are any STEM Ambassadors in the area that would be interested that'd be awesome.
Hayesfield Girls’ School, Bath (BA2 3LA) – ongoing – The school run a Tech Club for Girls and are looking for female role models to run tech/coding projects (either a one-off or ongoing).
Redland Green School, Bristol (BS6 7EH) – ongoing – The school’s science club are looking for projects they can do and then enter into the National Science + Engineering Competition. If you have an idea for a project you could help launch, get in touch.
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Curriculum Support
Shield Road Primary School, Bristol (BS7 0RR) – Dates flexible – The school are looking for ambassadors who could support theirscience lessonson climate, renewable and non-renewable energy.
Oasis Academy Longcross Primary, Bristol (BS11 0LP) – ongoing – The school is looking for Ambassadors to help enrich of the following science topics: simple forces, incl. magnetism (Yr3), sound (Yr4), gravity, the sun & moon (Yr5) and light & the eye (Yr6). This is to help teach these topics but also to enthuse their pupils about science.
Patchway Community College (BS32 4AJ) and Winterbourne International Academy (BS36 1JL) have expressed an interest in STEM Ambassador support for their BBC Micro:bits. If you would be interest in supporting either school please get in touch.
Hayesfield Girls’ School, Bath (BA2 3LA) – ongoing – The school are looking for someone to run some Teacher CPD to help teachers learn python. If you have ideas for projects they can run in school that would be a bonus!
Blaise Primary School, Bristol (BS10 7EJ) – ongoing – The school is looking for people who would like to run activities about materials, e.g. comparing materials based on simple physical properties, changing the shape of solid objects, thinking about suitability of everyday materials for tasks, etc. This is to help teach these topics but also to enthuse pupils about science. Dates/times negotiable.
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Workshops
SUPPORT A WORKSHOP -Chilton Trinity School, Bridgwater (TA6 3JA),7thand/or 8th July – Dig out your old gadgets and help us deliver our Evolution of Technology workshop. No preparation required other than to revisit any retro technology you have knocking about at home and let incredulous youngsters try and figure out what it’s for, how it’s used, and how their future jobs could involve developing the next generation of gadgetry. Get in touch for more information.
DELIVER YOUR OWN WORKSHOP - Wellsway School, Keynsham (BS31 1PH) - 12th/or 13thJuly – The School is looking for Ambassadors to come in and deliver a workshop to Year 10 students. These can be either half or whole day sessions.
DELIVER YOUR OWN WORKSHOP - Digitech Studio School, Warmley (BS30 8XQ) – ongoing, Tuesdays/Thursdays, 3.30-4.30pm –support the school’s enrichment programme by giving talks, running workshops or taking part in Tea with a Scientist/Engineer. If you’d like to get involved, get in touch with your availability and what you’d like to do.
SUPPORT A WORKSHOP -Knowle West Media Centre – Looking for volunteers who would like to help deliver Maker Lab in a Box workshops in Bristol schools on any aspect of making – innovation, design process, digital manufacturing, coding, and so on. Experienced facilitators from Knowle West Media Centre will run the workshops and volunteers will provide the imagination, insight and inspiration, as well as some practical hands-on help. Session dates / times can be arranged to suit. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss this opportunity further.
SUPPORT A WORKSHOP -Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, Bath (BA1 2HN) – ongoing – The Institution runs workshops for local children on the second Saturday of every month and outreach workshops at various locations around Bath during the week. The workshops are based on a variety of STEM topics and you can commit to as many sessions as you like. Contact Paul Thomas () to volunteer and for more info go to:
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