May - a month for celebration and record numbers

May is always a month of highlights for us at EDT, with so many events, in particular the Celebration events for the Engineering Education Scheme (EES) and Go4SET.

Although I couldn’t be present the Midlands EES Celebration and Assessment Day (CAD) saw a record number of teams, participants and attendees; more than 800 in total. A superb turnout and wonderful showcase for EES and of course for the students. This was a great lead in to the next EES cycle which will see the scheme celebrate its 30^th anniversary. More about that another time. However this does showcase what a well structured work related experience programme can do for young people. In this sense EES is a gold standard programme providing a series of work inspired experiences (and does indeed qualify for Industrial Cadets Gold award).

The reason I couldn’t attend the Midlands event was because I was at the Industrial Cadets (Go4SET) graduation at Dumfries House in Ayrshire supported by GSK. A very impressive location and an excellent start for Industrial Cadets in Scotland. Teams were mentored by staff at Montrose and Irving GSK sites who were all very enthusiastic. The displays and project work were to the usual high standard shown by so many Go4SET teams.

A couple of weeks after the Dumfries House event, the Go4SET final was held at the Scottish Parliament and was supported by Viridor. This is an annual event that the Scottish team run to complete the Go4SET cycle and is always held at a prestigious location. It showcases the “hub” winners from around Scotland and the overall winner this year was from Kemnay Academy. Needless to say the projects are always very impressive. The event gained good coverage.

We are coming in to the busiest time of year for First Edition. I was fortunate to attend a First Edition day at Watford Boys School. This took place during a STEM activity day for the whole of year 9. The feedback was very positive and the activities were enjoyed by most. It is always interesting to observe how the best results are achieved from the teams who organise themselves best, one of the main learning points from the day. The other main focus is on careers and how maths and science learnt can be applied to problems and model building.

Looking ahead into June, activities will continue to gain momentum with Headstart courses commencing, National Women in Engineering Day celebrations and much more to come.