TEAMWORK TRIUMPHS!

Last Wednesday saw a faithful band of SATRO volunteers head to The Park SEN School in Woking to help support and guide 34 Years 10 & 11 students through the vagaries of the SATRO Business Game. The students were placed into six teams which later became stationery companies and each team had their own SATRO Business Advisor. Teachers were on hand to play the various roles inherent in business with ‘the buying team’ negotiating hard with the students, many of whom refused to compromise. Bank accounts were opened and money managed whilst ‘the bosses’ kept everyone on track.

The pupils had varying degrees of learning difficulties ranging from moderate to severe but all were engaged from the start.

As one teacher remarked, "there was a real buzz in the hall and it was good to see the students working with others they haven’t worked with before. The game gave them an overview of a real company, and real life – on work experience they only see the area they are working on and may not understand how their part fits into the whole-a truly valuable life experience."

For the SATRO Volunteers, and indeed the Game Manager, it was one of the most rewarding mornings with everyone being impressed by the students’ eagerness to learn and take part.

As one of them observed, “what I thought was particularly good about my team was that everyone was involved and wanted to contribute and support each other regardless of ability.”

 The event was funded by a generous donation from Councillor Liz Bowes.

HAPPY HALF TERM

Last week saw an exceedingly busy week for SATRO, in which we delivered eight different events covering Junior Business Games, Fun Maths and Discovery Science workshops in both primary and secondary schools. 

A staggering total number of 1067 pupils/students were involved just in this one week!

Science days were held at Liphook Infant & Junior School, St Hugh of Lincoln Primary School in Woking and Beacon Hill Primary School in Hindhead; all three days offered a range of activites for Years 1-6 covering topics such as Lighthouses, Egyptians, Forces and Electric Circuits. 

SATRO events offer young people the opportunity to learn new skills in a dynamic way and many comment that they feel inspired by the experience. We certainly leave behind a buzz of "positiveness" at the end of a workshop and we hope that the students retain this sense of achievement as they now enjoy a well-earned half term break.

BUDDING BUSINESS ENTREPRENEURS

Forty-four Year 6 children from Springfield Primary School in Sunbury-on-Thames took part in a SATRO Junior Business Game on Monday 20th May. 

The basic premise of the game is that the children are stationery companies for the day, manufacturing bookmarks, which they have to then sell to a discerning panel of buyers.  They have to choose roles, decide on a company name and logo, manage their finances and negotiate orders for their companies whilst trying to learn to work with new people and meet various deadlines.  Each team has a business person acting as a facilitator to guide, support and encourage them throughout the day.

Judging from the pupil's feedback, they had a superb day which definitely opened their eyes to the world of business.  Here are a couple of comments about what they learned...

"How to discuss money professionally and why the accountant is so important in the business. I know you have to be dedicated and be mature in what you are doing and that business work is complicated."

"How the people on The Apprentice feel, when they are in business. I want to be boss at my work."

Look out Lord Sugar!

LIPHOOK SCHOOLS FEEL THE FORCE

Science was brought to life in an imaginative and novel way on Monday 20th May when 360 pupils at Liphook Infant and Junior schools had the opportunity to experience different science activities. 

Working with Years 2, 3, 4 and 5, an experienced team of SATRO volunteers delivered workshops on gravity, sound, friction and the property of materials.  The children were able to do practical investigations before making parachutes, musical instruments, land yachts or protective packaging boxes. 

The teachers were impressed that children of all level of abilities were engaged in the tasks and one commented that there was “a tremendous buzz around the school”.

OFSTED PRAISE SATRO

St Peter's Catholic High School & SATRO Business Game

The Lead Inspector at our recent OFSTED inspection valued the opportunity for our students to participate in a Business Game run by SATRO. She recognised the benefits of allowing students to explore which role they felt comfortable in when working as part of a business team. Feedback from students participating in the Business Game showed that the vast majority of our students had thoroughly enjoyed the experience and learnt a great deal about how, and how not (!) to run a business. The OFSTED inspector requested a copy of our student feedback on the activity to take away with her. Thank you SATRO and we look forward to working again with you this year.

Cathy Thompson (Careers Co-ordinator, St. Peter’s Catholic School, Guildford).

READING GIRLS SCHOOL WIN SIEMENS CHALLENGE



Reading Girls School, winners of The Siemens 'Next Big Thing' Challenge

Last Friday, 17th May marked the end of over three months’ work for six Key Stage 4 teams. Since early February they have been working with their mentors from Siemens to identify and develop a product which could be the ‘Next Big Thing’ in one of Siemens main business areas.

After lengthy consideration by the judges, Reading Girls School were named winners. Their product was Diagnostik, a device allowing basic self-testing for a number of medical conditions.

Bob Paton, Deputy Mayor for Surrey Heath, presented the prizes. Key Stage 5 judging will be next month.

Surrey Schools are Finalists in TeenTech Awards!

Tomlinscote School team review their prototype

From space-age technology aiding natural disasters to ending pollution through vacuum-driven, carbon-free transport – finalists in the TeenTech Awards are show casing some of the truly exciting and inspirational talent of young people in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

Hundreds of enthusiastic teams across the UK registered for the competition. Pupils from about thirty schools have now been shortlisted for the finals and will battle it out for prizes at a special award ceremony at The Royal Society attended by top science and technology celebrities in London on 24th June.

Two Surrey schools have been selected to go through to the finals with three projects:

1. Environment & Sustainability- Sponsor Cummins Power - Howard of Effingham School, Effingham, Surrey. KT24 5JR -  “ipod Charging Kettle”
2. Communication – Sponsor HP - Howard of Effingham School, Effingham, Surrey. KT24 5JR – “password storing device”
3. Communication – Sponsor HP - Tomlinscote School, Frimley, Surrey. GU16 8PY – “i-halo”

The TeenTech Awards are all about celebrating that talent and enabling young people to make real-life contact with experts in the world of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). Thousands of pounds in cash prizes are on offer for schools, and the winning team will be invited to tea with His Royal Highness, The Duke of York.

SIGN UP FOR SCIENCE FESTIVAL!

We are all gearing up for our Annual Festival of Science and Engineering which is to be held at the Brooklands Museum on Wednesday 26 June this year.  Nearly 20 secondary schools in and around Surrey have signed up to exhibit their Science, Design and Technology projects and compete for a handful of cash prizes.  We also have over 30 companies lined up to provide hands-on exhibits and give careers advice to the hundreds of students who will be passing through the Festival during the day. 

If you have students in your school with some outstanding scientific, design or engineering projects to display, IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO SIGN UP – we still have a few places for exhibiting secondary schools and visiting students who will be timetabled to visit all areas of the Festival throughout the day.  E-mail Julia@satro.org.uk for more details.

Surrey Young Superstars announced!!

Satro was delighted to be involved with the first Surrey Young Superstars Awards on 1st May at a sparkling ceremony at GLive.

TWM Solicitors along with independent travel agent Haslemere Travel joined together to launch the Surrey Young Superstars Awards 2013, to spotlight the many achievements of young people in the county.

The inaugural awards, in support of the Surrey Air Ambulance (SAA) charity rewarded and showcased young people's efforts and honoured them for their hard work and achievements.

There were seven Awards in all, including recognition for fundraising and volunteering work - but Satro sponsored the Award for Business Superstar.

We are delighted that the Award was given to Dilesh Solanki, of Blenheim High School.

Dilesh started his first business aged just 13 years old. When he was in year 9 he first came to Satro's attention as part of his school's team in the NDS Red Button Challenge - designing an innovative App which he also displayed at our annual Festival of Science. He clearly learnt a lot during the experience, and put this into practise in his Young Enterprise Company during the following year - during which he was highly commended.

He is highly ambitious, and has recently started his own website business. All of this, and he is still just 15 years old!

Well done, Dilesh - may you go on to even bigger and brighter things - a true inspiration to us all!

BRIDGING THE SKILLS GAP

Students at Glebelands School in Cranleigh had the chance to hone skills in team working, problem solving and creative designing when they undertook a challenge to build a bridge with 1.5m span.  Having planned their design, the teams set about manufacturing their own building materials – rolled paper sticks.  The construction phase required the students to work together, combining communication and technology skills to achieve a strong bridge.  The completed models were tested for load-bearing, which added an exciting and competitive element to the challenge. 

Students agreed that the challenge had enabled them to learn more about engineering, design and technology.  Positive outcomes were:

“learning how to build bridges in an effective way”         “competing against others”        “the outstanding achievement me and my team have shared together”

Teachers commented that the challenge “supported the idea of ‘reaching every child’s potential’” and provided opportunities for “leadership, co-operation and sharing ideas”.

LOG IT AND LOVE IT

A day of data logging recorded great success for pupils and teachers at Westfield Primary School in Woking.  The children worked in pairs to measure light, sound and temperature at different locations around the school.  They learnt how to download the information to create graphs and charts.  The session provided an opportunity to introduce new ideas and the children were able to apply their skills in a practical way.  The success of the day was measured in the positive feedback:

“I learnt why technology is important”   “I learn that graphs and charts are both used in science and that data loggers are used in many jobs” “I feel inspired to be an engineer”

The teachers were equally impressed with the session: 

“It was great for the children to be able to do practical hands-on science… and how these skills can be used in everyday life”

“It was excellent CPD for the teachers and TAs who supported the session”.