Downe House hosts STEM Day with local Secondary School

The Downe House Upper Fifth year group and a group of pupils from Park House School in Newbury enjoyed a packed day of STEM-related talks and workshops.

The annual STEM Day is designed to engage girls in the diverse range of opportunities on offer at university and in the workplace. The day started with an inspirational keynote presentation by Mr Rob Bennett from the Bloodhound Project, a global engineering project aiming to set a new World Land Speed Record of 1000mph. Mr Bennett described the evolution of the cars involved since the very first attempts at the Land Speed Record in 1898 with an electric-powered car, and the challenges and problems that each generation of scientists and engineers has faced.

STEM Day then offered a choice of sessions run by expert speakers covering neuroscience, joint replacement, studying Medicine and addressing medication waste as well as an engineering challenge, followed by a lively Q & A session at the end of the day.

Aims

The STEM Day provides a fantastic opportunity for students to learn first-hand about real life projects from experts working in highly specialised fields.

Resources

DH provided teaching staff, specialist equipment for workshops and science labs.

Classrooms and the school's main Auditorium were used for the presentations and talks.

The school also provided the IT, AV and technical support for external speaker presentations. 

Impact

Students in attendance are given greater insight into STEM subjects and are then more informed as to the options available in further education. Many students will go on to choose to study STEM-related subjects at university - ranging from biochemistry and neuroscience to engineering and product design. 

Pupil Involvement

The pupils were from Year 11.

Frequency

This is an annual event.