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”.