STUDENTS from schools around Reading took part in an event to help girls get into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Reading College invited female students in Years 7-9 the Kings Road Campus to get hands-on experience with technology, hear from industry representatives, and take part in career workshops.
Students from Blessed Hugh Faringdon Catholic School, Highdown School and Sixth Form Centre, Langtree School, Maiden Erlegh School, Slough & Eton CofE Business and Enterprise College, and The Piggott School took part.
They heard from representatives from Mace, Morgan Sindall Construction, Salt Hill VR, and Sir Robert McAlpine, who gave talks and held the workshops.
After an introductory presentation, attendees took part in a workshop where they took on development roles for a for a spaghetti tower building project with Mace.
They then explored what career options were open to them and available in construction in the Sir Robert McAlpine workshop, before designing sustainable outdoor spaces promoting eco-friendly practises and community engagement.
Salthill held a virtual reality workshop where they tried playing VR games and took part in a demonstration of the uses of a 360° camera.
Ben Mitchell was among the students on placement at Salthill who helped with their workshop.
He said following the event: “I really enjoyed taking part in the event. Most of the pupils haven’t experienced VR before so it was nice to see them get to grips with it and enjoy the activities.
“I was part of the VR plank experience, so I told the pupils what they needed to do to take part in the game properly and enjoy it to the best.”
Alex Scates, stakeholder and engagement manager at Mace said: “The Girls in STEM event was a great mechanism to effectively showcase some of the opportunities available across the industry for our managers of the future.
“Getting them involved at managing a very small-scale project exposed them to non-traditional opportunities at the right stage in their education, which broadens their horizons in terms of where their careers will take them in the future.”
Jay Younes, immersive producer at Salt Hill VR, said: “It’s always great to share the technology, meet students and encourage them to get involved in more types of STEM careers because VR covers quite a few aspects.
“They were able to try a range of different virtual reality applications and we gave them a short course on 360 video camera and the use cases for the technology in different industries.
“It went well. There were lots of interactions and great questions from the young people and it’s been great to hear about their career aspirations.”
Natasha Bright-Thomas, a teacher at Maiden Erlegh School said: “I think it’s really important that girls get the opportunity to experience possible options and outcomes that they can have control over, and I think the events was really interesting because there’s a variety of things that the girls are accessing, utilising and connecting with.
“The activities were tailored to their age group which is really good–the support from the companies was really positive.
“They are clearly versed in how to run workshops and they were very well planned.”
Lauren Davies, schools partnership executive at Activate Learning, said: “We were delighted to welcome over 100 pupils and their teachers from schools in Reading, South Oxfordshire, and Slough. Thank you all who attended and assisted with the event.
“This event was run by our four local employer networks and our in-house Events team. I am truly grateful for the support from our employers: Sir Robert McAlpine, The Mace Group, Salt Hill VR, and Morgan Sindall Construction who inspired the pupils and helped them see different skills within the STEM industry.”
