St Paul’s Way Trust School’s Science Summer School 2016 with Professor Brian Cox OBE

“Britain needs more scientists and engineers” says our patron Physicist Professor Brian Cox

This is one of the key reasons why the St Paul’s Way Trust Science Summer School has been running for 5 years. The project aims to inspire young people to become the next generation of Britain’s scientists. It is also part of a major transformation initiative for the local community led by social entrepreneur Lord Andrew Mawson OBE.

Since 2012, St Paul’s Way Trust School has changed from being a school without a sixth form to one that now sees most of its students attend top universities.

This year’s event ran over 2 days at the start of the summer holiday and was our largest and most adventurous challenge to date! Students joined with leading scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs for a programme of seminars, discussions and hands-on experiments and workshops.

  • 409 students attended across the two days, ranging from Year 6 to 6th formers.
  • 31 different schools participated from East London and the North of England as the Science Summer School went ‘National’ for the first time.
  • 8 London boroughs were represented: Tower Hamlets, Bromley, Barking and Dagenham, Newham, Hackney, Greenwich, Lewisham, and Redbridge.
  • A large student cohort attended from North Cumbria heralding the launch of  Science Summer School North in Autumn 2017.

Student feedback was excellent.

  • 91% said that they would like to study a STEM subject at university after attending the event
  • 77% said that they were either already studying or intended to study Science at Sixth Form after attending the event
  • 95% said they would recommend attending the 2017 event to a friend
  • “It was absolutely brilliant!”  – Student
  • “Excellent idea, please continue to do this for future generations.”  – Student
  • “Out of all the events to which I take students to over the year, this one has tremendous potential to change lives. It is so inspirational. Thank you!’   – Teacher

Media coverage

The Science Summer School attracted strong media coverage including Reuters and 2 ‘live’ early-evening TV interviews with Professor Cox for BBC News Channel and ITV London. An estimated 2 million viewers watch BBC News Channel and 1.3 million watch ITV London.

Science Summer School 2016 Programme

Science Summer School 2017

Provisional dates for Science Summer School next year are: 25th and 26th July 2017. If you are aged 11-18 and are interested in attending the next event please get in touch with Ms Ahmed: wajihaahmed@spwt.net

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