Teams ready to go on the Cisco Red Button Challenge

Friday 18 October - teams from nine schools were briefed on the challenge at Cisco’s offices at Bedfont Lakes. They will spend the next five months working with Cisco mentors on their apps before returning to have them judged – generous prizes await the winners. Derek Nottingham spoke about the importance of STEM and arts subjects. Pete Rai, also from Cisco, encouraged teams to include some programming. Three teams unable to attend will be briefed this week and meet their mentors after half term.

FEELING THE FORCE OF SCIENCE

SATRO’s engineering volunteers were out in full force when they visited Reigate Priory Junior School. All 660 pupils experienced a practical, informative workshop which provided them with an opportunity to investigate new skills. Ranging from “Is packaging fit for purpose?” to “How does an electric circuit works?”, the children learnt lots of new ideas from the experts.

Teachers were delighted with the activities: “[pupils] had to use investigative skills – a very good challenge”; “What a fantastic day! Both children and teacher learnt lots whilst having fun”

Children’s comments included: “It has improved my confidence about science” “it has inspired me to do more at home” “I learnt to keep on trying if it does not work first time”

This two day event was kindly sponsored by Councillor Peter Lambell.

Pole Position for SATRO!

We were delighted to be joined by over 20 innovators and entrepreneurs this morning at a Business Breakfast hosted by Mclaren at their stunning headquarters in Woking.

With the support of David Munro, Chair of Surrey County Council, SATRO presented our work to a dynamic and enthusiastic audience. We were all then treated to a tour of the historic championship cars and trophies. Thanks to all who took part – next stop, Monaco!

A-Maze-ing Maths

The new academic year got off to an amazing start with a Fun Maths workshop at Cordwalles Junior School. Working with all KS2 pupils, 190 in total, the SATRO team delivered 3 separate sessions during the day, in which the children were challenged to a variety of mathematical puzzles. The pupils were paired to give them a team-working experience; this enabled them to communicate and share their knowledge with each other. We introduced a completely new set of puzzles which incorporated some different aspects of maths, such as time and measurement of length – this was well received by teachers and pupils alike, with the following comments:

“Really good activities which are good for the children’s teamwork skills. We were all amazed to see the children engaged for so long” - teacher

I feel “really happy because it was so fun and amazing, it taught me to like maths” - Year 3 pupil

Awards for the County’s Brightest and Best

Skilled and talented young people from across Surrey, together with their parents and sponsors, gathered at County Hall, Kingston-upon-Thames for the 12th annual Surrey County Scholars and Surrey County Apprentices organised by SATRO: www.satro.org.uk. Awards including trophies, certificates and cash prizes were presented to students by Dr Helen Bowcock, DL, High Sheriff and Mr Paul Coleman, DL, Coleman Charitable Trust.

One of the highlights of the evening was the presentation of the John Coleman Trophy to the overall winning apprentice, Chris Bowman. Chris attends Brooklands College and is employed by Paramount Precision Engineering where he is involved in 3D modelling techniques.

Two other Trophies were also awarded to Apprentices in recognition of their dedication and commitment. The Wates Cup was awarded to Ryan Crook who is undertaking an apprenticeship in Advanced Fibrous Plastering with George Jackson Ltd and attends NESCOT.

The Gordon Cockburn Trophy was awarded to Mark Pokorny who is employed by Southern Railway and currently working on his final project for a National Diploma in electrical and electronic engineering at East Surrey College.

Surrey County Council Leader, David Hodge, said: "Apprenticeships are good for business and a successful career. Our aim by next April is to give 500 young people the leg up they need to find work at a difficult time and provide employers with the skilled workforce they require to thrive."

Eight of the County’s brightest and best Scholars were awarded bursaries to enable them to study science and engineering at university and to open up exciting career opportunities with leading Surrey-based companies.

Paying tribute to all of the nominated students and scholars, the High Sheriff, Dr Helen Bowcock, DL, said, “The students receiving these awards are a fantastic example of what our young people can achieve and we should all be extremely proud of them.”

MENTORING SCHEME SUCCESS!

12 schools participated in SATRO’s Mentoring Scheme during the last academic year, with a total 157 mentor/mentee pairings.

Their feedback from the scheme has been compiled, and, 80% of the participants that responded found it helpful to have a mentor and 94% would recommend having a mentor to other students.

When asked what the best thing about having a mentor was, responses were:

• It’s someone to talk to and it does help
• It helped me think clearly about school, exams, etc
• It’s nice to have someone to talk to about school work and problems
• It’s good fun and very useful
• Having someone to encourage me
• They are not teachers so you don’t have to talk to them about just school work
• Being able to have a mentor that understands
• Keeps me on track
• Getting told about different career paths I could choose
• It gives you someone to talk to and gives you the experience of talking to a new person

Mentors reported that it helped them understand young people better, and helped them develop a better understanding of the education system and helped them give something back to the community. They feel that the company benefits by being seen to support the local community and fulfilling Corporate Social Responsibility requirements.

If you want to learn more about Mentoring opportunities, please contact Liz Edwardes via liz@satro.org.uk

CHAPTERS FINANCIAL - BUSINESS BENEFITS OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Who?

Chapters Financial was established in 2004 in Guildford, Surrey, and have over quarter of a century of experience in the financial services industry, dealing in a range of areas to provide you with a wealth of knowledge. They have chosen to maintain an independent status (IFA) to ensure that they can offer you a bespoke service, whether looking at your overall financial planning, new plans or reviewing your existing arrangements. Chapters Financial Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Registration number: 402899).

They are a Chartered Financial Planners. This means they have satisfied rigorous criteria relating to professional qualifications and ethical good practice. It means you can be confident that you are dealing with one of the UK’s leading firms that is wholly committed to providing you with the best possible financial planning advice, service and support.

What?
Support Headway and Guildford Shakespeare Company; have taken on two Apprentices.

So What?!
An apprentice brings; youthful energy, fresh thinking, enthusiasm, social media and IT skills and they are keen to take work on and progress, which provides you with time to concentrate on your company.

Also, supporting charitable organisations within our local community is vital to us in ensuring that the fabric of our community remains robust.

Click here for website.